Stories Set in Stone
Stories Set in Stone

Summary/Abstract: On András Kovács: Késő reneszánsz építészet Erdélyben, 1541–1720 (Late Renaissance Architecture in Transylvania, 1541–1720). Cluj (Kolozsvár)–Budapest, Teleki László Alapítvány–Polis Könyvkiadó, 2006, 215 pp. It is rare, very rare indeed, that the second edition of a strictly scholarly work should arouse the interest of the general reading public, and even rarer for it to do so within such a short time. The first edition of András Kovács’s book was published a bare three years ago and every single copy has been snapped up. This is not a coffee-table book: it is a serious treatise which delivers precisely what the title promises, examining the history of Late Renaissance architecture in Transylvania from the period immediately after Buda Castle fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1541 to the beginning of the eighteenth century, a slightly broader span than the near century and a half during which Transylvania existed as an independent principality. The profusely illustrated volume, printed on high-quality paper, undoubtedly appeals to the ordinary reader, with its many (300 in total) colour and black-and-white photographs and drawings which provide a clear back-up to the text. The extensive bibliography and detailed index will greatly facilitate its use by specialists. Finally, a long Romanian-language summary of the contents will give non-Hungarian-speaking Romanians access to the book’s main theses.[...]

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