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The cicada on the omphalos: an iconological excursion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Herbert Hoffmann*
Affiliation:
Podere Istine, 53017 Radda in Chianti (Siena), Italy

Extract

Chartres is made of stone and glass. But it is not just stone and glass; it is a cathedral, and not only a cathedral, but a particular cathedral built at a particular time by certain members of a particular society. To understand what it means, to perceive it for what it is, you need to know rather more than the generic properties of stone and glass and rather more than what is common to all cathedrals. You need to understand also – and, in my opinion, most critically – the specific concepts of the relations among God, man and architecture that, since they have governed its creation, it consequently embodies. (Geertz 1973: 50.)

Information

Type
Special section: Classical matters
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1988

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