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The Gothic Cathedral Expanded Edition

by Otto Georg Von Simson (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 9 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0691018676
ISBN-10: 0691018677
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Product Details

  • Series: Bollingen Series (General) (Book 48)
  • Paperback: 364 pages
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press; Expanded edition (July 1, 1988)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0691018677
  • ISBN-13: 978-0691018676
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #456,401 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 81 people found the following review helpful
The contextual foundations of Gothic Architecture
By Richard G. Oman on March 12, 2000
Format: Paperback
As an art historian, museum curator, and traveler to France I found this book very useful. Most books on Gothic Architecture look at style as though it exists for its own sake. Simson places the beginnings of Gothic Architecture into the intellectual and historical context that gave this archetectual style its birth. The two sections that I most enjoyed were the theology of light that Suger was trying to express through architecture and the historical/political life of Suger. Both of these elements had a profound effect on the developement and impact of the Abby Church of St. Denis. This book represents architectural history as it should be written. Simson's approach is only possible because of his ability to draw upon a broad and deep educational framework. Reading this book caused me to lament the shallowness of much of what passes for scholarly training and writing in our time. You don' t have to be an architectural historian to enjoy this book. But you should be passionate about ideas. Simson shows us how ideas have consequences. This is one of the best books I have ever read.
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40 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam
By FrKurt Messick HALL OF FAMEVINE VOICE on September 12, 2005
Format: Paperback
There aren't many books available looking at the phenomenon or idea of the Gothic Cathedral as a whole, and few of those are generally accessible reading. There are countless books on particular cathedrals and churches - Notre Dame, Salisbury Cathedral, Chartes, the Abbey of St. Denis. There are other books that look at particular aspects of the architecture or function; particular books on flying buttresses, stained-glass windows, and such are also numerous.

This third edition of Otto von Simon's book (originally published in 1956, updated in 1962 and again in 1987) looks at the Gothic Cathedral as a whole from many different standpoints - architecture, artistic value, spiritual value, economic value and influence, functional and practical concerns. 'The cathedral,' Simson wrote in his first preface, 'was designed as an image, and was meant to be understood as one.' Simson is direct in his admiration of Gothic style, calling Gothic architecture 'perhaps the most creative achievement in the history of Western architecture'. It is indeed hard to find rivals to this claim.

The Gothic Cathedral, according to Simson, is the earthly representation of supernatural reality. It is a physical manifestation of the theological ideas and aspirations of the Middle Ages. However, Gothic has become a bit too commonplace in some respects - being at the centre of many European and North American cities and towns, it also suffers from being seen as a relic more appropriately the object of archaeological examination than current appreciation.

Simson highlights many of the aspects of Gothic architecture, including the use of light in new, unparalleled ways, and the relationship between structure and appearance.Read more ›
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
In-depth examination of the ideas behind the Gothic cathedral
By farington on December 5, 2014
Format: Paperback
I'd visited numerous French Gothic cathedrals and read a few "overview" books before buying this book, which gives one an understanding and appreciation of the cathedrals at a much deeper level. You learn that the stained glass windows aren't just beautiful, they embody the notion of light as an organizing principle of the universe; and the bulding doesn't just have nice balance, it was designed in accordance with principles of cosmic geometric proportion. I liked von Simson's observations that modern man may not be capable of as profound an architectural expression as the Gothic cathedral because of the relatively trivial program requirements of modern buildings. The program of the Gothic cathedral, according to von Simson, was nothing less than to allow the worshippers to experience the eternal City of God.

I read this book prior to a recent trip to France. It's true that von Simson's discussion focuses primarily on St. Denis and Chartres, and the book greatly enhanced my understanding of those places when I visited them; but I found his discussion of their underlying Dionysian/Neoplatonic theories to be applicable to other cathedrals as well (e.g. the wonderful light in the cathedral in Tours). I found myself spending hours in each cathedral savoring the details I'd come to appreciate from having read this book. It's not a bright and breezy general introduction to Gothic cathedrals, but it's the book you should read to get below the surface and truly grasp what the Gothic cathedral is about.
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7 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Misleading Title - a Thesis, not an Overview
By Evenor on June 15, 2011
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This is not a general introduction or overview text, as the title suggests but a thesis that with about two Gothic structures only: Suger's St.Denis abbey church in Paris and Notre-Dame de Chartres cathedral. These two structures appear only to serve the writer's thesis: that medieval christian aesthetics are light and harmoneous geometry with harmonic ratios. The pictures in this book are B&W concetrated in the middle and offer no advantage on what you could find on the internet or other books.
To conclude, this book is for academicals and scholars and not for the general audience. For an introduction to Gothic architecture I suggest Christopher Wilson's "The Gothic Cathedral" (with only B&W pictures unfortunately, but still, they are many and are very illustrative) or Ralf's Thoman "Gothic" with many colored photoes.

Reviewed by Zachi Evenor
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