Xavier Barral i Altet

This is a stunning photographic survey of Romanesque architecture, with a text that does not live up to the pictures. Like the precursor volume in the Taschen series, "The Early Middle Ages", it is chock full of beautiful photographs that show off many aspects of Romanesque architecture. Anyone with serious interest in this topic should consider buying this book, for the photographs alone. Unfortunately, for me at least, the text was not as illuminating as the photos. It may be lack of knowledge on my part that prevented me from profiting from the text to the full, but it seemed to me too focused on the details of particular buildings, and too little on broader trends and patterns.… (more)

This book examines European architecture from about 300AD until, as the title notes, the millenium. What emerges most clearly is the persistence of Roman architectural models into the emerging architecture of Christianity, long after the empire had collapsed. The book is broadly arranged in chronological order, but within each time period, each of several national styles is examined.
The photographs, as is usual with Taschen, are magnificent. There are not that many examples left from this period, but what there is they show, in truly beautiful pictures that capture the astonishing beauty and sophistication of many of these buildings. And, as to the buildings that have been destroyed or remodeled into oblivion, the book provides clear plans and elevations.
The text is good on history and on explaining the religious functions that affected the development of church architecture. (Church architecture, by the way, is virtually the only architecture that remains from 500-1000AD.) It does, however, bog down a bit in descriptions of individual buildings. I would have liked something that drew more generalizations, but the lack thereof may reflect the very limited number of buildings that survive, and the virtual absence of written material about architecture from the period.
All in all, if you are interested in the architecture of this period, this book is worth buying, particularly given the low purchase prices. I thought about giving iit four and a half stars, but the pictures tip the balance up.… (more)