Architecture, Mysticism and Myth - With Illustrations by the Author

W. R. Lethaby

Description

First published in 1892, this vintage book looks at religious, mystical, and mythological influences on architecture throughout history and from all over the world, exploring in detail similarities, design, purpose, and much more. Profusely illustrated throughout, “Architecture, Mysticism and Myth” will appeal to those with an interest in religious architecture and would make for a worthy addition to any collection. Contents include: “The World Fabric”, “The Microcosmos”, “Four Square”, “At the Centre of the Earth”, “The Planetary Spheres”, “The Labyrinth”, “The Golden Gate of the Sun”, “Pavements like the Sea”, “Ceilings like the Sky”, “The Windows of Heaven and Three Hundred and Sixty Days”, and “The Symbol of Creation”. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with the original text and artwork.

Sujets

• Architectural theory

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 06 août 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9781528767651
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

ARCHITECTVRE MYSTICISM AND MYTH.
By W. R. Lethaby with illustrations by the Author
Are there symbols which may be called constant; proper to all races, all societies, and all countries? C SAR D ALY .

1892
Copyright 2018 Read Books Ltd.
This book is copyright and may not be
reproduced or copied in any way without
the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

And upon pelers grete, of Jasper longe I sawgh a temple of glas ifounded stronge . -C HAUCER .
PREFACE
IN sending out this essay, I must ask for indulgence .
In the first place, because this is, so far as known to me, the only attempt to set out, from an architect s point of view, the basis of certain ideas common in the architecture of many lands and religions, the purposes behind structure and form which may be called the esoteric principles of architecture .
And secondly, for an attempt to deal with a subject that could only be rightly handled by one having the equipments of a wide scholarship; while I can only claim that there should come of regular apprenticeship and long practice in any craft or art, a certain instinct of insight not possessed by mere outsiders though never so learned. The author who asks the question quoted on the title-page, says that Mr. Herbert Spencer s essay on the origin of the styles of architecture fails because he was not himself an architect, and no architect had prepared the way. I refer to this in the hope that writing thus, on my own art, may be sufficient excuse for any appearance of affectation and presumption in quoting unfamiliar matter at second hand; for I must say at once, what will be sufficiently apparent on any page, that my knowledge of books is only that of the general reader, and that I have made use of such inferior editions, translations, and chance extracts as have come in my way; venturing to suppose that, if the thought were clear, a passage originally in hieroglyphs, or on clay tablets, might be dealt with as readily as a paragraph from an evening paper .
In such a wide field I have thought it well to concentrate my attention on some few definite points, and I fear, in doing this, there may be some unnecessary insistence and repetition: a tendency to overprove, and an attempt to explain too much; on the one hand to burden with what is obvious, on the other to weaken by unfounded conjecture .
The main proposition occurred to me after collecting and comparing a large number of architectural legends, and it was not until I read definitely, for further confirmation, that I found statements, a sentence here and there, anticipating me on nearly every point. It is only since this has been in the publishers hands that I have seen Dr. Warren s Paradise Found, to find there several coincidences with my chapters IV . and V .
To clear the page of footnotes, and to strengthen the structure of the argument by expert evidence, I have generally preferred to transcribe my authorities directly rather than attempt, by paraphrasing them, to give an air of ease and unity to my own work. Equally by either method- Would you know the new, you must search the old.
I have the pleasure of thanking friends who have helped me, especially Mr. Ernest Newton and Mr. E. S. Prior. The figures 22 , 24 , and 30 are from sketches kindly lent me by Mr. Brindley, Mr. Schultz, and Mr. Barnsley .
2 GRAY S INN SQUARE .
The prince Humayun fitted up seven houses of entertainment, and named them after the seven planets, ordering all the furniture, paintings, and also the dresses of those who waited upon him, to bear something that was an emblem of the tutelar star of the house. In the house of the Moon met foreign ambassadors, travellers, and poets. Military men attended him in the house of Mars, and judges, lawgivers, and secretaries were received in that of Mercury .
F ERISHTA S H ISTORY OF I NDIA .
CONTENTS
FRONTISPIECE
Ziggurat of Belus at Babylon
INTRODUCTORY
I. THE WORLD FABRIC
II. THE MICROCOSMOS
Fig . 1. Chinese Hall of Distinction Buddhist Plan of the World Astrologers Houses of the Sky
Fig . 2. A Buddhist Tope
III. FOUR SQUARE
Fig . 3. Ezekiel s City
Fig . 4. Chinese Plan
IV. AT THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH
Fig . 5. The Four Rivers and Central Tree
Fig . 6. The Central Stone of Delphi
Fig . 7. The Same
Fig . 8. Plan of Dome of the Rock
V. THE JEWEL-BEARING TREE
Fig . 9. Indian Lamp Tree
Fig . 10. Greek Lamp Tree
Fig . 11. The Golden Candlestick from the arch of Titus
VI. THE PLANETARY SPHERES
Fig . 12. Seven-Walled City, from 1481 Dante
Fig . 13. The Throne on Seven Steps of the Heavens
VII. THE LABYRINTH
Fig . 14. Floor Labyrinth at Ravenna
Fig . 15. Early Coins of Crete
Fig . 16. Isle of Crete, from the Hereford Map
VIII. THE GOLDEN GATE OF THE SUN
Fig . 17. Door Lintel, Ebba, Carthage
Fig . 18. Syrian Tomb Door, Galilee
Fig . 19. East Toran, Sanchi Tope
Fig . 20. Ph nician Toran, Coin of Paphos
Fig . 21. Chinese Tomb Door, Canton
IX. PAVEMENTS LIKE THE SEA
Fig . 22. Marble Pavement, Constantinople
Fig . 23. Roman Pavement, Cirencester
Fig . 24. Pavement Patterns, The Baptistery, Florence
X. CEILINGS LIKE THE SKY
Fig . 25. Mosaic Dome, Ravenna
Fig . 26. Egyptian Goddess of the Sky
Fig . 27. Egyptian Temple Ceiling
XI. THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN AND THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY DAYS
XII. THE SYMBOL OF CREATION
Fig . 28. Italian Canopy, from a Tile
Fig . 29. Italian Lamp from Mantegna
Fig . 30. Ostrich Egg from Mycen
ARCHITECTVRE, MYSTICISM AND MYTH

INTRODUCTORY
Invention, strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those images, that have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory: nothing can come of nothing: he who has laid up no materials can produce no combinations . -R EYNOLDS, Discourse II .
THE history of architecture, as usually written, with its theory of utilitarian origins from the hut and the tumulus, and further developments in that way-the adjustment of forms to the conditions of local circumstance; the clay of Mesopotamia, the granite of Egypt, and marble of Greece-is rather the history of building: of Architecture it may be, in the sense we so often use the word, but not the Architecture which is the synthesis of the fine arts, the commune of all the crafts.
As the pigments are but the vehicle of painting, so is building but the vehicle of architecture, which is the thought behind form, embodied and realised for the purpose of its manifestation and transmission. Architecture, then, interpenetrates building, not for satisfaction of the simple needs of the body, but the complex ones of the intellect. I do not mean that we can thus distinguish between architecture and building, in those qualities in which they meet and overlap, but that in the sum and polarity of them all; these point to the response of future thought, those to the satisfaction of present need; and so, although no hut or mound, however early or rude, but had something added to it for thought s sake, yet architecture and building are quite clear and distinct as ideas-the soul and the body.
Of the modes of this thought we must again distinguish; some were unconscious and instinctive, as the desire for symmetry, smoothness, sublimity, and the like merely sthetic qualities, which properly enough belong to true architecture; and others were direct and didactic, speaking by a more or less perfect realisation, or through a code of symbols, accompanied by traditions which explained them. The main purpose and burthen of sacred architecture-and all architecture, temple, tomb, or palace, was sacred in the early days-is thus inextricably bound up with a people s thoughts about God and the universe.
Behind every style of architecture there is an earlier style, in which the germ of every form is to be found; except such alterations as may be traced to new conditions, or directly innovating thought in religion, all is the slow change of growth, and it is almost impossible to point to the time of invention of any custom or feature. As Herbert Spencer says of ceremonial generally: Adhering tenaciously to all his elders taught him, the primitive man deviates into novelty only through unintended modifications. Every one now knows that languages are not devised but evolve; and the same is true of usages. It has, rightly, been the habit of historians of architecture to lay stress on the differences of the several styles and schools of successive ages, but, in the far larger sense, all architecture is one, when traced back through the stream of civilisations, as they followed or influenced one another. For instance, argue as arch ologists may, as to whether the columns at Beni Hassan are rightly called proto-Doric, it is a fact to be read as in an open book, that a Greek temple and an Egyptian temple are substantially at one, when we consider the infinite possibilities of form, if disassociated from tradition.
It has often been pointed out, how early examples of stone construction still repeat the forms of the manner of building in wood that went before, and so is it always. How long the steamship retained survivals of the sailing vessel, and how the vocabulary of the coachroad still answers for the railway.
What then, I want to ask, are the ultimate facts behind all architecture which has given it form? Mainly three: First , the similar needs and desires of men; secondly , on the side of structure, the necessities imposed by ma