Product Description: Text and detailed drawings follow the planning and construction of a magnificent Gothic cathedral in the imaginary French town of Chutreaux during the thirteenth century.
Amazon.com Review: The Gothic cathedral is one of humanity's greatest masterpieces--an architectural feast that couldn't help but attract the attention of renowned author-illustrator David Macaulay. Once an architectural student at the Rhode Island School of Design, Macaulay glories in the intricacies and beauty of structure, as evidenced in his masterful pen-and-ink drawings in critically acclaimed children's books such as Castle, Pyramid, and Rome Antics. He begins Cathedral in 1252, when the people of a fictitious French town named Chutreaux decide to build a cathedral after their existing church is struck by lightning. We first meet the craftspeople, then examine the tools, study their cathedral plans, and watch the laying of the foundation. Week by week we witness the construction of this glorious temple to God. Macaulay intuitively hones in on the details about which we are the most curious: How were those enormously high ceilings built and decorated? How were those 60-foot-high windows made and installed in the 13th century? And how did people haul those huge, heavy bells up into the skyscraper-high towers? Thanks to Macaulay's thorough, thoughtful tribute to the Gothic cathedral, not a stone, turret, or pane of stained glass is left unexamined or unexplained. (Ages 9 and older) --Gail Hudson
DIY on a Cathedral... 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!
Stories for Children Magazine 4 Star Review This first book in David Macaulay's series of well illustrated descriptions of how things in history were built explains the construction of a thirteenth-century Gothic cathedral. In 1252, the people of Chutreaux, France, wished to erect a new cathedral to express thanks for peace, the end of the plague, good weather, plenty of food to eat, and successful business for the city's merchants, after the old one was struck by lightning and damaged. Both the cathedral and people of Chutreaux are imaginary, but the methods of the cathedral's construction correspond closely to the actual building of a medieval cathedral, and the single-minded spirit of the city's populace is typical of people from the twelfth through fourteenth century in Europe.
The book makes a very good resource to accompany a study of the Middle Ages. The Church was extremely important to life in medieval Europe. Since the work on the cathedral covered 86 years, it took three architects--William of Planz, Robert of Cormont, and Etienne of Gaston--to guide the choosing of timbers and stone, laying the foundation, building the walls, installing the glass, and all the other activities needed for the completion of the cathedral in 1338, said to be the longest, widest, highest, and most beautiful cathedral in all of France. The wonderful drawings are quite helpful in being able to see what was happening and to understand the terms that are used. Cathedral was a 1973 Caldecott Honor book.
REVIEWED BY: Wayne S. Walker
Gothic Cathedral Excellent book with fascinating illustration. Good for children and at the same time for universitary pupils!
Macaulay's books This book lives up to my expectations of David Macaulay's books in that it's very well drawn, has an abundant amount of useful information and is presented in a clear, exciting manner!
Another Macaulay Masterpiece 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.
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