Westminster Abbey Chapter House: The History, Art and Architecture of 'A Chapter House Beyond Compare'

Author:   Warwick Rodwell ,  Richard Mortimer
Publisher:   Society of Antiquaries of London
ISBN:  

9780854312955


Pages:   305
Publication Date:   15 March 2010
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

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Westminster Abbey Chapter House: The History, Art and Architecture of 'A Chapter House Beyond Compare'


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Overview

This volume tells the complete story of the Westminster Abbey chapter house, which ranks as one of the spectacular achievements of European Gothic art and architecture; and that is precisely what its builder, King Henry III, intended. Begun in the mid-1240s, and completed within a decade, its pre-eminence was recognized in its own day, when the chronicler Matthew Paris described Westminster as having 'a chapter house beyond compare'. Papers by leading scholars in the field of medieval art and architecture reveal the reasons for the construction of the chapter house and trace the possible influences upon the master mason in charge of the project. The subsequent history of the structure is revealed as it evolved from a meeting place of the king's Great Court, the predecessor of the English Parliament, and as a royal treasury into a repository for government archives after the Dissolution, home to the Public Record Office until the late 1850s, and its subsequent restoration at the hands of Sir George Gilbert Scott. Now under the care of English Heritage, the chapter house has just been cleaned and restored again, leading to the spectacular light-filled building that we see today, to which full justice is done by this richly illustrated book, filled with pictures of the architectural and sculptural details, the medieval tilework and the wall painting that justify the motto inscribed in the chapter house floor: 'as the rose is the flower of flowers, so is this the house of houses'.

Full Product Details

Author:   Warwick Rodwell ,  Richard Mortimer
Publisher:   Society of Antiquaries of London
Imprint:   Society of Antiquaries of London
Dimensions:   Width: 21.10cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 29.70cm
Weight:   1.429kg
ISBN:  

9780854312955


ISBN 10:   0854312951
Pages:   305
Publication Date:   15 March 2010
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

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Professor Warwick Rodwell, OBE, D.Phil, D.Litt, FSA, is Consultant Archaeologist to Westminster Abbey and formerly Visiting Professor in Archaeology at the University of Reading. He has written or edited several volumes on Westminster Abbey. He is also author of volumes on Wells Cathedral, Dorchester Abbey and The Archaeology of Churches (2012).

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