At last available in English, this classic text was originally published in Germany in 1951 and has been continuously in print since then. Gunter Bandmann analyzes the architecture of societies in western Europe up to the twelfth century that aspired to be the heirs to the Roman Empire. He examines the occurrence and recurrence of basic forms not as stylistic evolutions but as meaningful expressions of meta-material content and develops an architectural iconography of symbolic, historical, and aesthetic elements.
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Bearing Bandmann’s Meaning: A Translator’s Introduction
- 1: The Problem of Meaning in Architecture
- The Essence of Meaning
- The Medieval Work of Art
- Aesthetic Meaning
- The Current State of Research on Symbolic and Historical Meaning in Architecture
- Sources and Methods: The Sources
- Sources and Methods: The Methods
- 2: The Symbolic Meaning of Buildings According to Written and Visual Sources
- The Written Sources
- The Medieval Copy
- Historical Consciousness in the Middle Ages
- The Intended Purpose
- The Allegorical Meaning
- The Church as Heavenly City
- The Visual Sources
- The Formal Consequences of Allegorical Meaning
- The Meaning of the Keystone
- The Column as Figure
- City and Castle as Model of the Church
- The Two-Towered City Gate
- The City Wall
- The Three-Tower Group
- The Niche-Portal
- The Three-Arched Opening
- Summary
- 3: Historical Meaning
- Tradition and Habit
- Turning Toward Historicity
- State, Religion, and Law
- Sacred Kingship
- Writing
- Portraiture
- Images of Events
- The Demarcated Area
- Dwelling, Tomb, Temple
- Building in Stone
- The Holy Place
- Spolia
- Axial Arrangement Within a Structured Area
- Axial Arrangement Within a Building
- The Effects of Historical Meaning
- The Emperor and Architecture
- The Transept as Throne Hall
- The Cruciform Tomb
- The Three-Chambered Layout
- The Architectural Baldachin
- The Transept Basilica and Cruciform Basilica of the Franks Before Charlemagne
- The Central-Plan Building
- The Westwork
- Tendencies of the Western Imperium
- The Beginnings of Norman Architecture in Relation to the Architecture of the Empire
- The Roman Idiom of the Western Imperium
- The Double Choir
- Architectural Ornament
- The Emperor’s Rivals
- The Roman Curia
- The Monastic Orders
- The Italian Cities
- Bishops and Regional Lords
- The “Nations”
- 4: The Decline of Symbolic and Historical Meaning
- Reform and Secularization
- The Predominance of Artistic Tendencies
- The New Awareness of Space
- Summary
- Afterword
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
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