This first volume of Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc’s celebrated Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française covers French architecture from the eleventh to the sixteenth century, beginning with the letter A. Viollet-le-Duc, the great nineteenth-century architect and restorer, created an encyclopaedic and richly illustrated study of medieval French building, analysing its principles, forms, and construction. The dictionary remains a landmark of architectural scholarship and a foundational work on Gothic architecture.
Written in French, the volume reflects Viollet-le-Duc’s deep understanding of medieval structure and ornament, gained through his restorations of cathedrals and castles. His rational analysis of Gothic engineering profoundly influenced later architecture and theory. Note that this edition is in French. Readers interested in medieval French architecture, the Gothic, or the history of restoration will find it indispensable. This free EPUB edition makes available the first tome of Viollet-le-Duc’s monumental dictionary.