Universe of Stone: A Biography of Chartres Cathedral

Universe of Stone: A Biography of Chartres Cathedral

Universe of Stone shows that the Gothic cathedrals encode a far-reaching shift in the way medieval thinkers perceived their relationship with their world. For the first time, they began to believe in an orderly, rational world that could be investigated and understood. This change marked the beginning of Western science and also the start of a long and, indeed, unfinished struggle to reconcile faith and reason.

Phillip Ball

The isle rises: Chartres in the kingdom of France -- Change of style: invention of Gothic -- Heaven on earth: what is a cathedral? -- Seek not to know high things: faith and reason in the Middle Ages -- Building by numbers: science and geometry at the school of Chartres -- Masters of works: men who planned the cathedrals -- Hammer and stone: medieval masons -- Underneath the arches: house of forces -- Holy radiance: metaphysics of light -- Hard labour: how the cathedral rose -- New beginning: first renaissance.

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