Book of Cathedrals
Subtitle: Ms. Fr. 19093
Publisher: Bibliothèque nationale de France
Place of publication: Paris, France
Language: und
Number of pages: 66
Other titles: Buch der Kathedralen.; Sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt.; The Portfolio of Villard de Honnecourt.
Notes: This mysterious fragment of a 13th century manuscript represents the most important architectural treatise of the High Middle Ages. El Libro de las Catedrales is an encyclopedic text that covers masonry, architecture, surveying, carpentry, geometry, zoology, and contemporary mechanical devices related to the exciting and mysterious art of cathedral construction. Almost nothing is known about the text or its author, Villard de Honnecourt, other than that, judging by his name and dialect of Old French, he likely originated from France’s Picardy region. Nonetheless, this is considered to be one of the most important manuscripts to survive the 13th century, and Honnecourt has even been considered to be a forerunner to the Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci.