Gothic cathedrals are monuments to God witnesses to the historic power of the Church & symbols of the faith of the thousands of believers who contributed to their creation. They are also astonishing feats of construction & engineering from a period before steel-making machine tools & computer simulation; breathtaking in their scale & grandeur even hundreds of years after the religious impulse that produced them has largely faded away. How to Build a Cathedral is a visual exploration of the building of these masterpieces from the initial groundplan to the topping out of the spire. Illustrated throughout with beautiful engravings it looks at each element of the structure in turn explaining the process of construction & the methods that were used. At intervals though the book special gatefold pages offer a detailed snapshot of the evolution of the building as it rises into the heavens. A 16-page colour section allows for appreciation of stained glass & decorative stonework. With text written by a leading architectural historian How to Build a Cathedral is an illuminating portrait of the genius of the medieval architect.