Book Reviewof church <strong>for</strong>ms, architectural censers,and many icons which incorporatean architectural motif or structure,whether it be a single element such asa tower or saint’s shrine, or an overallorganization of figures representinga church or a city. <strong>The</strong> catalogueis grouped into themes, from GenericRepresentations, Specific Representations,Symbolic Representations, finallyculminating in Jerusalem, orientingthe entire book towards that holy cityand its liturgical meaning. It is in thissection that we find the cover imageof the book, the icon illustrating theHymn to the Virgin, “In <strong>The</strong>e Rejoiceth…”This Russian icon from the sixteenth-centuryserved as a guide to thehymn within the liturgy of Saint Basilthe Great, giving visual <strong>for</strong>m to thepriest’s silent prayers to all the ranksof saints. <strong>The</strong> base of the icon is a bandof martyrs, saints, and bishops, lookingup toward the central enthroned VirginMary with Christ Child, who are surroundedby the archangels in front ofa multi-domed church and paradisiacalpalm trees. <strong>The</strong> image and its accompanyinghymn intend to lift prayersfrom the earthly realm to the heavenlyrealm, transcending finite space anddirecting the sung hymn to she whois “wider than the heavens.” <strong>The</strong> icon,often thought of as a devotional tool,unites private prayer, liturgy, music,painted image, and architecture.In Orthodox theology the icon is “awindow to heaven.” <strong>Architecture</strong> as Iconoffers a provocative theme that projectsthe trans<strong>for</strong>mative nature of Byzantinearchitecture, as witnessed anddocumented by Vladimir’s emissariesof Kiev in 988 AD, one of the greatestevangelical conversions in history,where it was proclaimed, “We did notknow whether we were in heaven oron earth. For on earth there is no suchsplendor or such beauty, and we are ata loss how to describe it.”WChrist J. Kamages, AIA is the principalof CJK Design Group in San Rafael, CA.A graduate of the Boston ArchitecturalCenter and SUNY at Buffalo, Christ hasbeen designing Orthodox churches <strong>for</strong><strong>for</strong>ty years and was inducted as an ArchonArchitekton by Patriarch Bartholomew inthe year 2000. cjkamages@cjkdesign.comFrom the Publishing HousesA Selection of Recent BooksLost in Wonder: Essays on Liturgy and theArts, by Aidan Nichols, OP. Burlington,VT: Ashgate Publishing Company,2011. 184 pp. ISBN 9781409431619. $80.In the middle of the book, Nicholscovers some architectural principlesand contemporary difficulties, includingthe domestication of church interiors.He proposes suggestions <strong>for</strong> thealtar and tabernacle, and states that thechurch building is an icon of the spiritualreality of the Church. He writes achapter on the theology and history ofthe Russian icon, and another on thepoet Paul Claudel and sacred art. Ultimately,Nichols argues that Christianitycan and should inspire high culturein both the East and the West.W<strong>The</strong> Cathedral of Christ the Light, by Skidmore,Owings & Merrill LLP. Ostfildern,Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2012. 192pp. $52.50.This monograph on the newly dedicatedOakland Cathedral includes 72illustrations, including full page colorphotographs and black & white plandrawings. Essays in the book are composedby the Most Rev. Allen Vigneron,Paul Goldberger, Maristella Casciatoand Craig Hartman, FAIA.W<strong>The</strong> Cathedral of Saint Joseph, by theDiocese of Sioux Falls, 2011. 221 pp.$30.This monograph on the restoredSaint Joseph Cathedral tells the historyof the cathedral and a detailed story ofits restoration over the last three years.<strong>The</strong> Old Mass and the New: Explaining theMotu Proprio Summorum Pontificum ofPope Benedict XVI, by Marc Aillet, CSM.San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2010.126 pp. ISBN 9781586173623. $12.95.<strong>The</strong> author is a priest of the Communityof Saint Martin, which celebratesthe Mass of Paul VI in Latin. Easy tounderstand, this book gives an overviewof the history and theology of theliturgy. Aillet also looks to a reconciliationof the two <strong>for</strong>ms of the Latin rite.Devotion by Design: Italian Altarpiecesbe<strong>for</strong>e 1500, by Scott Nethersole.London: National Gallery Company,2011. 184 pp. ISBN 9781857095258. $34.This book provides beautiful color illustrationsof Italian altarpieces paintedbetween 1250 and 1500, most of whichare in the collection at the National Galleryin London. Scott Nethersole of theCourtauld <strong>Institute</strong> of Art, London, exploresthe original purpose of the altarpiecesand how they were made.W34 <strong>Sacred</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong> <strong>Issue</strong> 21 2012WStephen Dykes Bower, by Anthony Symondson.London: RIBA Publishing,2011. 185 pp. ISBN 9781859463987. $33.Dykes Bower was a 20th-centuryBritish architect who rejected modernismand emphasized fine detailand craftsmanship. He built four newchurches, including St John’s at Newbury,and designed the high altar andbaldacchino at Saint Paul’s Cathedral.This book reveals Dykes Bower’s workand his widely unknown career.WSt Paul’s Cathedral Be<strong>for</strong>e Wren,by John Schofield. Swindon, UK:English Heritage, 2011. 386 pp. ISBN9781848020566.This research book consists of an archeologicaland historical study of thesite of St Paul’s Cathedral, includingthe Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods,the medieval St Gregory’s Church andthe Great Fire of 1666.
SACRED ARCHITECTUREArticles“A flowering of traditional church architecture has occurred far beyond even the optimistichopes expressed in the year 2001...a perusal of the last thirteen years of <strong>Sacred</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong>,diligently produced by the Institue <strong>for</strong> <strong>Sacred</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong>, surveys well the achievements ofthe last decade and more.” - Dr. Denis R. McNamara, <strong>The</strong> Liturgical <strong>Institute</strong>Donations of $35 or more to <strong>Sacred</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong> will receive the newbook by Denis R. McNamara, How to Read Churches:A Crash Course in Ecclesiastical <strong>Architecture</strong>.Visit www.sacredarchitecture.orgor fill out the enclosed card to subscribe or make a donation.For more in<strong>for</strong>mation, telephone (574) 232-1783, fax (574) 232-1792 ore-mail editor@sacredarchitecture.org.
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