Catholic Architecture—Study Aids

Catholic Culture #1
Architecture
covers innovations in Church design and ornamentation with special emphasis on structural principles and artistic styles of the great Abbeys and Cathedrals of Christendom.

Information Pages

These pages summarize the material needed to study for the Catholic Architecture unit review questions and are derived from Public domain sources.

Read OnlinePrintable
Cathedral Architecture—Overview
PDF
Architectural Structures—Arches, Buttresses, etc.
PDF
Architecural Ornaments and Features
PDF
Architectural Styles through the Ages
PDF
Great Cathedrals, Abbeys, and Basilicas
PDF

Printable Homework Questions

Worksheet
Recommended Reading

These books are recommened for students interested in Catholic Architecture.
CLICK ON COVER IMAGE to purchase online.

Cathedral     by David Macaulay
This book uses beautifully detailed pen and ink drawings to show how Cathedrals were built during the Middle Ages. It goes step by step through all of the planning and construction, including design, obtaining materials, laying the foundation, building walls and buttresses for a 100 foot ceiling, creating stained glass windows and casting bells. Supposedly a children's book but fascinating for all ages.


How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas Woods
No institution has done more to shape Western civilization than the two-thousand-year-old Catholic Church—and in ways that many of us have forgotten or never known. In this book Professor Thomas E. Woods explain the Church's profound role in shaping Western civilization and goes far beyond the familiar tale of monks copying manuscripts and preserving the wisdom of classical antiquity. Gifts such as modern science, free-market economics, art, music, and the idea of human rights come from the Catholic Church.

Recommended Chapter: (6) Art, Architecture, and the Church


Online Videos of Interest
Websites Links of Interest