Do you know the difference between a chimera and a gargoyle? What is tintinnabulum? What is the difference between a buttress and a flying buttress? Then this book-reference book on architectural styles and eras will come in handy.
It is unlikely that, having closed this pretty pocket guide, we can easily (as its author, American architectural historian Denis R. McNamara promises) answer the question “What did the architect want to say using this or that detail in the design of the building?”. This is just a first approximation, the first knowledge about the styles of different eras, about materials, about layout options for cathedrals and churches, an explanation (including elegant illustrations) of special architectural terms: nave, apse, vaults and domes, buttresses, porticos and portals … But then it is easy to determine the area of your further interest. And if it turns out that he is already satisfied with this edition, he can go over in his mind, like multi-colored pebbles, a lot of interesting facts and names. For example, “tintinnabulum is a small bell, meaning papal attention to the basilica.” Did you know it? Not? What is the difference between a chimera and a gargoyle? Also no? Then this book is for you!
RIPOL CLASSIC, 256 p.