Customer Reviews

CATHEDRAL, The Story of Its Construction

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Having just finished a great book called "Great Cathedrals", filled with 400 pages of jaw-dropping photographs, I kept wondering how in the world they could have built such marvelous edifices with rudimentary implements over 800 years ago. David Macaulay's "Cathedral" is a book ostensibly written for children but which will fascinate readers of all ages. In scarcely 80 pages, Macaulay takes us back in time to the year 1252 in the fictional French village of Chutreaux where the people decide to build the "longest, widest, highest and most beautiful cathedral in all of France" for the glory of God. Macaulay's text is minimal, but his exquisite black and white line drawings say it all: the step-by-step stages in the building's construction, the craftsmen and the tools they used, and the dedication that kept this project going for 80 years until its completion. We feel a sense of awe at the dedication of the original architects and craftsmen and builders who knew that they would be long dead before the cathedral was finally finished. Macaulay's glossary at the end of the book helps us to understand the major elements of the Gothic cathedral, and his cross-sections and diagrams provide clear illustration of just how the cathedral rose from its foundations. At the end of this volume, we share the awe and pride the townspeople felt at having shared a goal for over 80 years and making it a reality. Macaulay's "Cathedral" is a marvelous creation in more ways than one.

Pyramids, temples, castles, cathedrals - humanity built like giants in olden days. We ponder these structures in photographs, gape at them as tourists. How could such mighty edifices have been erected during eras lacking bulldozers and derricks?

This book answers the question so far as a cathedral is concerned. (What distinguishes a cathedral from other churches is that a bishop regularly performs rites there. Cathedrals built during medieval times tended toward monumental design; however, huge size is not a universal characteristic of cathedrals. Some are smaller than parish churches. The difference in size depended on the economic prosperity of the community paying for the construction.) An army of workers toiled nearly a century to build this Christian edifice. Stone, glass, timbers and lead were shaped and fitted together in an towering assembly.

No photograph of say, Notre Dame or Rheims, could capture the skill and toil involved in the building of these cathedrals. They are a fait accompli, magnificent but finished. Cities today do not construct churches on such a scale; the cost would be astronomical. Portraying past methods must be hypothetical. A researcher has to harvest old records, drawings, testimonies penned by long dead writers, and from all project the artisans, tools, and techniques as an imaginary cathedral in an imaginary city in France. Nearly every page in CATHEDRAL displays a pen and ink drawing of each stage in the construction. The type of Christian church focused on is the gothic, distinguished by its overall crucifix shape, bell towers, spires, gargoyles, and flying buttresses.

The size of CATHEDRAL - 9 by 12 inches - the profuse drawings, the unembellished prose, imply this is a book aimed at the high school and junior high level. A thin book (80) readings pages, one ought to read it in an hour without strain. To say this much and no more suggests CATHEDRAL does not merit older readers. A curious adult would find this book interesting as well as informative. It gives the reader insight into what is perhaps the greatest engineering feat of the middle ages, an undertaking so immense that a boy at its commencement would die of old age before the cathedral's doors opened to its first congregation.

It is indeed a book that can be read easily in a couple of hours. However, if you read "between the drawings", if I may say so, you will discover a very deep knowledge of structural design. In fact, I had the chance to read first John Fitchen's The Construction of Gothic Cathedrals, and I can assure that I enjoyed Mr. Macaulay's work much more. Perhaps "Cathedral. The Story of Its Construction" falls short in words and should have been beefed up with more text. Still, I recommend this book. It is hard to find another book with drawings so detailed showing perhaps the most accurate construction means used by the medieval builders, from the very beginning of the construction of these espiritual and community gothic buildings to the end.

I began reading David Macaulay's books when I was about eight or nine years old. But his style is so addictive, it's really ideal for all ages. In addition to "Cathedral," he has similar books entitled "Castle," "Pyramid," "City" and more.

"Cathedral" introduces a fictional 12th century French village named Chutreaux, whose church was destroyed when it was struck by lightning. The citizens decide to have a new one built, which will be the largest, tallest and widest in the world. And this is where the story begins.

Like Macaulay's other books, it describes in great detail the process involved in the planning and construction of such a structure. In addition to the informative, entertaining text, nearly every page is filled with massive, detailed illustrations. Although the town and cathedral of Chutreaux is fictional, it is typical of its respective time.

Reading this book, you will find yourself immersed in the lives of Chutreaux's citizens, not to mention trying to grasp the enormity of the construction project (since it takes nearly a century to complete, those who started the project will not live to see it finished).

All of Macaulay's books in this series are fascinating. But this is my favorite.

MacAuley clearly loves his subject and attends to fine details that provide a landscape for studies of medieval Europe. The complexity of the society that chose such grand architecture is revealed in drawings that engage child and adult in a reading partnership. The ingenuity of the engineer, the courage of the workers on the perilous stage of religious expression, the minuatae of life in the period, all combine in an extraordinarily respectful book. Respect is accorded to the original workers, and to you dear reader as MacAulay permits you to claim your own ignorance and delight you with marvels and wonders. "City" and "Castle" make companion volumes of the highest order.

Having seen a number of European cathedrals, it is mind boggling to try to imagine how they were constructed by medieval people. This book uses beautifully detailed pen and ink drawings to show how it was done. The book goes step-by-step through the over 80 year process by which successive generations of the local citizens built a fictious French cathedral. All of the key aspects of the procedure are depicted, including designing the structure, obtaining materials, digging the foundation, building walls and flying buttresses for a ceiling over 100 feet high, casting and hoisting bells, and creating huge stained glass windows. This book is really not for children under about 10 years old--although people assume it is because it is illustrated and has text which can be read in under one hour. Given the complexity of the topic, it was just much easier to describe the process using drawings. If you are interested in how cathedrals were built, this is a great introduction.

Second only to his magnum opus, Castle, this 1981 book continues David Macaulay's tradition of creating intricate (but welcoming and friendly) illustrations as an accompaniment to the telling of his informative tales. Taking its place in a grand series that has included Pyramid, Mill, Castle, Unbuilding, and others, Cathedral details the design and creation of one of the great Gothic churches that came to exist across western Europe during the Age of Faith. The setting here is France during the intellectually-towering High Middle Ages, and in careful steps we come to understand firstly what motivated people to undertake a construction project on such a scale, secondly how the construction was carried out, and finally how a Gothic cathedral, truly a structure that seems to soar untethered to earth, is able to stand so proudly close to a millennium after its dedication. Most marvelously of all, unlike virtually every other Medieval building, the great worship places are still largely in use today, fulfilling their original purposes and continuing on as a tribute to and testimony of the genius of those who erected them. David Macaulay is a master and a treasure, and a book like his teaches without effort. Like all great things, his books are joys to re-visit over the course of a lifetime.

I really enjoyed this book. As an artist the artwork is up the author/artist's usual standards. What really made this book great to me was recently having read Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth". "Cathedral:The Story of Its Construction" did so much to clarify the novel. I think they should be sold together!

I was reminded the other day how much I used to love these books when I was a kid so I bought a couple of them. They're still great - and surprisingly dense. I liked the pictures when I was young; now I like the extremely detailed explanation of each step of the process of building.

Cathedral's my favorite so far; it was just a lot more complicated than a pyramid. (No offense, dead Egyptian dudes, please don't show up all staggering around in my living room with bits of rotting flesh dripping out from under your bandages; it's bad enough that the cats shed all over the couch.)

I first found out about David Macaulay when I got this book as one of the many text books I had to get in my French Culture class in college. It is a wonderful book showing us how a fictional cathedral was made in France. The sketches are lovely in their detail, and the book is a fine gift for either a child or an adult. I urge you to collect are many of his books are you can get you hands on. I have!