The Stonemason: A History of Building Britain
Autor Andrew Ziminskien Limba Engleză Paperback – 4 mar 2021
Abordarea lui Andrew Ziminski în The Stonemason este una profund tactilă, transformând istoria dintr-o înșiruire de date abstracte într-o experiență senzorială. Ca cioplitor în piatră cu o carieră de trei decenii, autorul nu privește monumentele Marii Britanii doar ca pe niște vestigii, ci ca pe rezultate vii ale muncii umane. Credem că această perspectivă „din interior spre exterior” oferă o prospețime rară literaturii de specialitate, deoarece Ziminski înțelege structura internă a pietrei și modul în care aceasta a modelat cultura insulară.
Parcurgem, alături de autor și câinele său, un traseu care leagă băile romane, turnul catedralei din Salisbury și marile apeducte ale Revoluției Industriale. Stilul narativ este unul personal și onest, evitând jargonul academic arid în favoarea unei relatări vii despre meșteșugari uitați și tehnici străvechi. Această metodă de a povesti amintește de Building Britannia de Steven Parissien prin dorința de a explica schimbările sociale prin prisma mediului construit, dar adaugă o dimensiune practică, de atelier, pe care doar un practician o poate oferi. Dacă The Stones of Britain de Jon Cannon explorează legătura dintre geologie și peisaj, Ziminski merge mai departe, arătând cum mâna omului intervine pentru a transforma roca în simbol cultural.
Reținem faptul că acest volum reprezintă punctul de plecare pentru explorările sale ulterioare din Church Going. În timp ce lucrarea de față acoperă o gamă largă de structuri, de la megalituri la situri industriale, ea pune bazele pasiunii sale pentru „umila biserică de țară”, temă pe care o va detalia mai târziu. Este o lectură cu un ritm așezat, asemenea muncii cu dalta, care invită la observație atentă și apreciere pentru detaliul arhitectural discret.
Preț: 65.93 lei
Preț vechi: 91.71 lei
-28%
Carte disponibilă
Livrare economică 16-30 iunie
Livrare express 30 mai-05 iunie pentru 46.40 lei
Specificații
ISBN-10: 1473663946
Pagini: 336
Dimensiuni: 128 x 196 x 26 mm
Greutate: 0.23 kg
Editura: John Murray Press
Colecția John Murray
Locul publicării:London, United Kingdom
De ce să citești această carte
Pentru cititorul pasionat de arhitectură și istorie care s-a săturat de manualele teoretice, această carte oferă o lecție practică despre cum a fost construită civilizația. Veți câștiga o privire nouă asupra clădirilor din jur, învățând să descifrați urmele lăsate de unelte pe piatră. Este recomandarea noastră pentru oricine dorește să înțeleagă legătura dintre geologia pământului și identitatea unei națiuni, explicată de un expert care a restaurat propriu-zis aceste monumente.
Descriere
In his thirty-year career, stonemason Andrew Ziminski has worked on many of our greatest monuments. From Neolithic monoliths to Roman baths and temples, from the tower of Salisbury Cathedral to the engine houses, mills and aqueducts of the Industrial Revolution and beyond, The Stonemason is his very personal history of how Britain was built - from the inside out. Stone by different stone, culture by different culture, Andrew Ziminski (with his faithful whippet in tow) takes us on an unforgettable journey by river, road and sea through our countryside showing how the making of Britain's buildings offers an unexpected and new version of our island story.
'My school history lessons were focused around flat pages of facts, events and royal personalities, but for me it was the material aspects of the past, the tangible remnants left behind that were thrilling, and that it was these buildings and places, and learning how they worked, that really brought the past alive.'
Recenzii
In attempting to reconnect us to this continuous narrative of English history and architecture, Ziminski is undertaking something more profound than the charm of this delightful book first suggests. Delicate as the threads that tie us to the past can seem, thanks to work like Ziminski's, both as mason and as author, we can hope they will remain unbroken
Andrew Ziminski is the man who rebuilt the West Country. For 30 years, this skilled stonemason has renovated some of Britain's greatest buildings . . . The author skilfully explains the history of these stones and - this is what makes his book so entertaining - relates them to jobs he has done . . . Ziminski is one of those lucky souls with rural X-ray spectacles. He looks at the countryside and sees a series of historical slides going back over several millennia . . . Ziminski has a wonderful way of describing the look and feel of stone . . . What a magician!
The author's eagerness to experience the past physically sets him apart from drier academic historians . . . Ziminski's writing is vividly evocative and craftsmanlike . . . it's a fascinating book and a wise one
Like nurses, masons must know in detail about the lives of the buildings they care for. This intimate knowledge has given Andrew Ziminski unique insights into some of England's oldest and most beautiful structures. But this book is as much about people as mortar and stone. It's a conversation with the past, from which I learnt so much. My book of the year!
Thoughtful, observant and well-informed, as much at ease with words and emotions as with the stone he works with
A wonderful behind-the-scenes history, where time works on a different scale and stone is a living, breathing entity . . . by a master craftsman whose expertise connects him to the generations that came before him
There are few reading pleasures that compare with a passionate expert describing their work, and Ziminski stands proudly in this field . . . Remarkable . . . Ziminski weaves together architecture, craft, landscape, archaeology and natural history, all the time keeping a sharp eye on modern everyday life around him
Most of us won't be jetting off to foreign adventures in the next few weeks, so there has probably never been a better time to discover or rediscover this magical land
This is a compelling book: part travel journal - paddling along misty streams in the South-West by canoe - part builder's manual - you learn about formwork and lateral thrust - and part hymn to the art of sustaining stone structures over centuries . . . it is rooted in the making of England and is a magical read
[A] surrogate travel book, part memoir, part history, in which Andrew Ziminski describes his career as an itinerant craftsman. Refreshingly, he too recognizes how Eastern skills and styles arrived in Europe
In this delightful book about the places he's worked (from Wells Cathedral to Bath's Roman ruins) [Ziminski] reconnects us to our past
Lyrical as much as it is factual and quickly grips the reader
Enthralling . . . Along with riveting personal insights into this ancient craft, he immerses us in the past lives of the long-forgotten everyday craftspeople whose legacy is the buildings we so treasure today