Includes bibliographical references (p. 196) and index.

The great European cathedrals of the 11th to the 16th centuries -- Chartres, Strasbourg, and Milan, to name a few -- are monuments known around the world. But how were they commissioned, designed, and built? Historian Francois Icher has written a lively, detailed account of the process by which these architectural masterpieces were erected.

Icher explains how bishops and wealthy patrons funded these projects and chose the architects and master builders, and how teams of craftsmen were assembled and brought to the site. Working conditions, daily schedules, contracts, the apprentice system, and the specific jobs performed by stonecutters, masons, sculptors, roofers, and makers of stained glass are all described, and set in historical and economic context.

Building the Great Cathedrals is extensively illustrated with photographs, architectural drawings, and mosaics and pages from illuminated manuscripts that depict construction scenes, craftsmen at work, tools and instruments, and symbols and emblems of the artisans' guilds and orders.