William Richard Lethaby Books
William Richard Lethaby was an English architect and architectural historian whose ideas profoundly influenced the late Arts and Crafts movement and the early Modern movement in architecture. His impact extended significantly into the fields of conservation and art education. Lethaby's approach emphasized a deep connection to history and craft tradition, laying groundwork for future architectural discourse. His work continues to inspire those seeking to understand the fundamental principles of design and built heritage.
The Church of Sancta Sophia, Constantinople: A Study of Byzantine Building
- 316 pages
- 12 hours of reading
Sancta Sophia is the most interesting building on the world’s surface. Like Karnak in Egypt, or the Athenian Parthenon, it is one of the four great pinnacles of architecture, but unlike them this is no ruin, nor does it belong to a past world of constructive ideas although it precedes by seven hundred years the fourth culmination of the building art in Chartres, Amiens, or Bourges, and thus must ever stand as the supreme monument of the Christian cycle. Our first object has been to attempt some disentanglement of the history of the Church and an analysis of its design and construction; on the one hand, we have been led a step or two into the labyrinth of Constantinopolitan topography, on the other, we have thought that the great Church offers the best point of view for the observation of the Byzantine theory of building. “A work as they report surpassing every edifice in the world.” - William of Malmesbury “The fairest church in all the world.” - Sir John Mandeville
