Product Details

• Actors: David Macaulay
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Pbs Home Video
• VHS Release Date: March 10, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000FAHN
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,599 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Documentary > History > World History & Culture

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Combining spectacular location sequences and cinema-quality animation, this program takes you to France's most famous and awe-inspiring cathedrals. You'll travel in time back to 1214 to explore the design of Notre Dame de Beaulieu, a magnificent Gothic cathedral shaped by cultural and religious forces. Take a close look at the vaulted arches, shimmering stained-glass windows and dizzying vaulted ceilings. This award-winning program also tells compelling stories of life and death, faith and despair, prosperity and intrigue. Narrated by David Macaulay.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for two reasons, August 26, 2006

By	matt (the reading room) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This film is great for two reasons. Firstly, it is a very detailed account of the purpose and development of the cathedral based around the account of a fictional cathedral construction project complete with a very dated (but wonderful) cartoon, interspersed with current (1983) on location examinations of cathedrals. The viewer will certainly gain an understanding of the social, economic and religious contexts of cathedrals in a light-hearted, amiable documentary.

Secondly, this film's dated quality appeals greatly to my sense of nostalgia for my childhood. I was only 7 when I first saw "Cathedral" and it captivated my imagination with a sense of wonder about the days of old when monks and kings and maidens were not just the stuff of legend. It was the beginning of a lifetime's interest in the subjects of religion and medieval history. Everytime I watch it, I feel like I am reliving two histories- the days of the great cathedrals and my own childhood afternoons in the long and cold winters of Michigan. Everyone needs those touchstones that remind them of the past's magic and sense of wonder, and this film does that for me. Give it a shot. I think you'll like it.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, May 29, 1999

By A Customer

A wonderful and dramatic telling of the most famous French cathedrals of the Middle Ages. Not only do we learn about the marvels of this architecture in standard documentary style through David Macaulay's narration, but we are also treated to an animated story of the building of the fictional (but representative) Notra Dame de Beaulieu. Exceptional.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Edifying!, December 10, 2000

By	W.Khan (Providence, RI United States) - See all my reviews

Next to the Doric temple the structure that most ineffably captures the concept of "purity" is the Gothic cathedral .With their soaring spires and flying buttresses these Gothic marvels incarnate the eternal human yearning for the infinite and the undefinable .This video walks you through the layout of a Gothic cathedral : nave , transept, altar,chapels , the crypt etc. Most of these cathedrals were erected in the late 12th to mid 13th century AD (Chartres c.1194-1221 AD , Rheims c.1209-1290 AD, Amiens c.1219-1269 AD , Bourges c.1195-1255 AD, Notre Dame c.1152-1240 AD & Laon 1153-1223 AD ). To me these cathedrals represent the first stirrings of creative energy in medieval Europe after being shrouded in the Dark Ages for more than 700 years . This same energy and love of learning and adventure spills over into the Crusades and culminates in the Rennaissance .Finally I must mention the animations in this video which liven up some of the human interest stories that went into the construction of these cathedrals : they are cute but a bit overdone . I would have much preferred it if the narrators had spent the extra time going over the finer details of the statuary & architecture at these masterpieces i.e. the aristocratic figures that face the west portal at Chartres .