The Fires of Excellence: Spanish and Portuguese Oriental Architecture

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent and detailed Spanish and Portugese architecture
Review: For depth, visual grandeur and sheer beauty, you can't do much better than this book. With buildings ranging from the Nasrid palace to the Umayyad mosque at Cordoba the author reveals the history and aesthetic techniques used in Spanish and Portugese Oriental architecture. Anyone wanting a fuller appreciation or knowledge of this rich architectural legacy would do well to linger over this one. Chapters are arranged by historical period or movement (Christianity in the North...Confrontation and Reconquest...Revival and Transformation...etc). The photos deserve special mention. They were specially commissioned for this book and are so gorgeous that I have picked up the book again and again (even when I was too tired to read the text) just to enjoy looking at them. Truly stunning photography!