Early medieval architecture as bearer of meaning /

First published in German in 1950, Bandmann's Mittelalterliche Architekhur als Bedeutungstrager was one of several scholarly publications at the time that sought to explain the meaning rather than the form of medieval architecture. Bandmann (now deceased) focused primarily on early medieval and Romanesque architecture, exploring the intended meanings in the minds of the patrons who erected the buildings and separating the symbolic from the historical. An attempt to systematize the study of meaning in architecture, Bandmann's book was initially well received by the scholarly community but failed to stimulate a following among the succeeding generation of architectural historians, who tended to concern themselves with more concrete aspects of architecture. Today, in reassessing the historiography of 20th-century approaches to the study of medieval architecture and reconsidering directions for future study, it is worth taking a new look at Bandmann's contribution. This book, with Kendall Wallis's lucid and readable translation into English of a difficult German original, will make this heretofore-daunting work more easily accessible to a wide range of American medievalists and architectural historians. As such, it makes a timely, welcome addition to essential library holdings in those areas. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. E. B. Smith Pennsylvania State University, University Park Campus