Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent unused condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> In three centuries – from 1050 to 1350 – several million tons of stone were quarried in France for the building of 80 cathedrals 500 large churches and some tens of thousands of parish churches. More stone was excavated in France during these three centuries than at any time in Ancient Egypt although the volume of the Great Pyramid alone is 2500000 cubic metres. The foundations of the cathedrals are laid as deep as 10 metres (the average depth of a Paris underground station) and in some cases there is as much stone below ground as can be seen above. In the Middle Ages there was a church or chapel for every 200 inhabitants or thereabouts so the area covered by Christian churches was quite considerable in relation to the modest size of the towns; it is known that in Norwich Lincoln and York cities with a population of between five and ten thousand there were re- spectively fifty forty-nine and forty-one churches and chapels. The ambitious who wanted to rebuild and enlarge their churches were confronted with serious prob- lems: one or two neighbouring churches often had to be demolished and homes had to be built for the dispossessed householders. (LL)