The symbol at your door : number and geometry in religious architecture of the Greek and Latin Middle Ages / Nigel Hiscock.

Main entry:

Hiscock, Nigel, 1940-

Title & Author:

The symbol at your door : number and geometry in religious architecture of the Greek and Latin Middle Ages / Nigel Hiscock.

Publication:

Description:

xx, 421 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 385-403) and index.
Prologue -- The sphere and the cube -- Temple and body -- Ad triangulum -- Ad quadratum -- The architectural geometry of the pentagon -- "The whole frame of the universe" -- Epilogue.

Summary:

"The present book explains how the architectural symbolism proposed could have been understood at the time, as supported by medieval texts and its context, since it is context that can confer specific meaning. The introduction locates the study in its critical context and summarizes Christian Platonism as it determined the meaning of number and geometry. The investigation opens with the recurrent symbolism of the dome and the cube as heaven and earth in the Byzantine world and moves to the duality of the temple and the body in the East and West as reflections of Plato's universal macrocosm and human microcosm. The study then examines each of the figures of Platonic geometry in the architecture of the West against the background of their mathematics and metaphysics, before proceeding to their synthesis with the circle, as seen in circular and polygonal structures, the divisions of circles in Christian art, and their display in window tracery, culminating in the rose window. In view of the multivalency of the symbolism, the investigation establishes systematic occurrences of it, winch strongly suggest patterns of thought underlying systems of design. The book concludes with a series of test cases, which show the after-life of the same symbolism as it overlapped with the Renaissance."--Jacket.

Resources:
Table of contents
Table of contents only

ISBN:

9780754663003
0754663000

Subject:

Symbolism in architecture.
Geometry in architecture.
Religious architecture.
Architecture, Medieval.
Architecture, Byzantine.
Symbolisme en architecture.
Géométrie en architecture.
Architecture religieuse.
Architecture médiévale.
Architecture byzantine.
religious buildings.
Church architecture.
Kyrkoarkitektur historia medeltiden.
Church Architecture
Symbolism. Architecture
Stained Glass.
Glass Painters.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 259174
Call No.: BIB 190038
Status: Available

Actions:

Add to folder

Request these items

Email this list to yourself (or someone else)

Your folder is empty.

Please complete this form to make a request for consultation. A copy of this list will also be forwarded to you.

Your contact information

First name:

Last name:

Email:

Phone number:

Notes (optional):

We will contact you to set up an appointment. Please keep in mind that your consultation date will be based on the type of material you wish to study. To prepare your visit, we'll need:

— At least 2 weeks for primary sources (prints and drawings, photographs, archival documents, etc.)
— At least 48 hours for secondary sources (books, periodicals, vertical files, etc.)

Back to list

Submit