Heavenly Vaults

topics

Publishers

Architecture

ISBN: 9781568988405
English edition
Princeton Architectural Press
Hardcover, 192 pages
27,9 x 29,2 cm
colour/black & white
November 2009
€49,50 (excl. VAT)

Heavenly Vaults

From Romanesque to Gothic in European Architecture

David Stephenson

Photographer David Stephenson, author of our best-selling book of dome photography, Visions of Heaven, continues his exploration of the architecturally sublime by focusing his camera on the amazing vaulted ceilings of the medieval churches, cathedrals, and basilicas of Europe. Stephenson presents more than eighty Romanesque and Gothic vaults in kaleidoscopic photographs that reveal their complex geometrical structures, decorative detailing, and ornamental painting in ways they have never before been seen.

Stephenson’s visual taxonomy of this ancient structural form is strikingly beautiful and showcases numerous varieties across time and location. In an accompanying essay, the author charts the history of the vault and explains its technological developments. A foreword by photography curator Isobel Crombie puts Stephenson’s work in context.