A Short History of Architecture, Europe (Classic Reprint) PDF Book Download *FREE

Excerpt from A Short History of Architecture, Europe

It is to be remembered also that the subjects of this enquiry are in themselves full of interest. The buildings which we study are always singularly attractive and often of extreme beauty. The beauty is increased, and the attractiveness of the less beautiful is multiplied many fold by minute examination into the ways in which their builders and sculptors did their work. In the study of any fine art, gain in the power of distinguishing the better from the less good is accompanied by a still increasing power of enjoying the best. It is better to sit at home with a plan and twenty photographs, with a sense of what that architecture truly means, than it is, without that sense, to visit the cathedral itself or all the cathedrals in France.

The sense of what is fine in architecture is to be gained by the study of the buildings themselves; and the more, the better. It is not too much to say, however, that a few weeks rightly spent, among the best examples and with a knowledge of what to look for, is worth many seasons of travel under other conditions. It is therefore with some confidence that this book is offered as a guide to those who would study architecture for themselves.

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