Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Pyramids and the Taj Mahal are witness to the extravagant architectural tributes that, throughout human history, the great and the wealthy have paid to their dead. In this book, an architectural historian provides a history of funerary architecture in western Europe from the earliest megalithic tombs of prehistory to the establishment of public cemeteries in the 19th century. The author traces the ways in which these structures represent changing ideas about the after-life as well as changes in architectural style.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In this book Howard Colvin attempts to analyze a special niche in architecture design for the afterlife. Although not as philosophical, theorectical, or narrowly focused as Richard Etlin's The Architecture of Death: The Transformation of the Cemetery in Eighteenth-Century Paris (CH, Jun'84), Colvin's book contains many fine (mostly black and white) photographs of funerary design. The book, organized in the typical architectural history chronological order, contains an outstanding bibliography and index. This reviewer found some chapters particularly interesting for their novelty, for example "The Family Chapel in Protestant England and Sweden," but most of the major examples are included in general architectural histories. Eastern funerary examples, landscape design, late 19th- and 20th-century examples are not included in this book.-G. F. Hisel, University of Kentucky

Booklist Review

This fascinating and accessible study examines the earliest monuments of Western Europe--megalithic tombs, mausoleums, and churches containing funerary chambers. From underground neolithic structures found in France, Britain, and Spain, to the grand Christian edifices of medieval, Renaissance, and Gothic periods, Colvin elaborates upon the diversity of forms within the context of historical and cultural implications, as well as evolving architectural styles. The clearly articulated commentary is accompanied by hundreds of black-and-white photographs, drawings, and colorplates in a beautifully composed volume. ~--Alice Joyce