Books are the most popular Christmas presents, and a beautifully published copy can make an extraordinary gift. Dom Wydawniczy REBIS takes care of every detail to ensure that the most beautiful books reach the hands of its readers. Regardless of whether we are dealing with co-editions or whether the book is created from start to finish according to the publisher’s concept, attention to both content and technical aspects is a priority. We choose the best possible paper, appropriate fonts, and we publish most books in hardcover with wrappers. Some of the bindings are cloth and the wrappers are gilded, in order to best reflect the value of literature in its material aspect as well. It is from such combinations that unusual and unique works on a global scale are created, such as the series ‘The Chronicles of Dune’ with illustrations by Wojciech Siudmak, which was one of the inspirations for the director of the latest Dune – Denis Villeneuve, who provided Siudmak’s album ‘Fantastic Worlds’ with an introduction.
In its nearly thirty-five years of activity, Dom Wydawniczy REBIS has provided readers with some of the most beautiful books on the history of art, and richly illustrated classics such as Gombrich’s On Art are still popular with readers. There are also new titles on offer, such as A Brief History of Art by Charlotte Mullins, which is generating a great deal of interest, or On Architecture by Witold Rybczynski, a book that is ideal as a gift for architecture and design lovers and enthusiasts.
In this cross-cutting story of architecture, which begins in the Stone Age and ends in modern times, Witold Rybczyński describes how technological, economic and social changes, as well as transformations in tastes and preferences, influenced architectural ideas and ideals.
To illustrate this, the author details a plethora of examples: from temples such as the Hagia Sophia and St Paul’s Cathedral in London, to residential buildings including the Katsura Imperial Villa and the Alhambra, public buildings including the Crystal Palace and the Rudolf Petersdorff department store in Wrocław, national icons such as the Eiffel Tower and the Sydney Opera House, to skyscrapers including the Seagram Building and the CCTV building in Beijing. Rybczynski emphasises that all buildings are linked in time and space by the human need for order, meaning and beauty.
This is an engaging, accessible and coherent story about the architectural manifestation of man’s universal desire to celebrate, revere and commemorate. Rybczynski’s book will delight all readers interested in understanding the buildings they visit and pass by every day.
The book features more than 160 illustrations, photographs and graphics depicting works of architecture.
“Architecture is not only about beauty, but also about functionality, construction and building materials, so the art of architecture is inextricably linked to its utility. This state of affairs has several implications. Buildings are extremely expensive, so somewhere in the background there is always an economic aspect .
Isn’t architecture a fancy name for a building? Or, to put it another way, isn’t architecture a fancy name for a fancy building? If fancy means something extraordinary, then architecture fits this definition. The human need for shelter under a roof is one of the basic ones, and so an architecture that rises above caves in the hills, huts in the woods or tents in the desert corresponds to this aspiration: not only does it fulfil a practical function, but it also allows us to worship, to celebrate and, moreover, to inspire awe.
Architecture stands out, it is something special in our everyday world.
Fashion changes from era to era; we measure the useful life of smartphones and computers in years – a car that is twenty-five years old is an antique. The thirty-year-old Cunard Line cruise ship that I sailed from England to Canada with my parents was scrapped three years later because it had become redundant due to the growth of air transport. The supersonic Concorde aircraft, on the other hand, were only in service for twenty-seven years. With buildings it is different – they last for centuries.
Unlike modern technological devices, which perform their task until something better comes along, buildings have many lives. The Roman Pantheon was originally a temple and five hundred years later became a church. The great Byzantine basilica Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (now Istanbul) was a Christian temple for almost a thousand years before becoming a mosque. The Church of Saint Genevieve in Paris, whose construction was started by Louis XV in 1758, was converted into a secular mausoleum in the wave of the French Revolution.
Many world-famous museums started life as something completely different:
florence’s Uffizi Gallery originally housed administrative offices; Paris’s Louvre and Vienna’s Belvedere were palaces; Madrid’s Prado was created as a natural history museum; and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington was originally a patent office. Cities are full of buildings that have changed function: banks have become restaurants, mansions have turned into office buildings and offices into flat blocks. The loft where I now work was built more than a century ago as a factory, a place for workers to work, and today is a residential building.
Of course, buildings are the result of great investment, time, money and materials, so it makes sense to use them for a long time. But it is not just an economic issue. Highclere Castle in England, known to TV viewers as Downton Abbey, really exists, it has been the home of the same family since the 17th century and, as in the series, the identity of its owners is closely linked to the architecture of the house. Some buildings last for centuries because they cannot be replaced in any way. Famous concert halls, such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam or Symphony Hall in Boston, were all built in the 19th century and survive because they are excellent places to listen to music.
Some buildings become national icons. Could anyone imagine demolishing the UK Parliament building, the Kremlin or the US Capitol? And others are simply too beautiful to live without, such as the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, the Ca’ d’Oro in Venice or the Taj Mahal in Agra.
Architecture is a reminder of past ages, but old buildings have a functional stake in the present.
We admire and use them, preserve and adapt them. And when they deteriorate or are demolished, we rebuild them. In the 16th century, the 200-year-old Doge’s Palace in Venice was partially consumed by fire, and its delicate Gothic façade was rebuilt and restored to its original state. The Presidential House (today’s White House) in Washington D.C. was set on fire by the British during the British-American War of 1812; it was later rebuilt, and its burnished stone exterior walls were painted white (hence its current name).
In the not-too-distant past, the Church of the Virgin Mary in Dresden (Frauenkirche), which was severely damaged by bombs during the Second World War, was rebuilt with all its baroque splendour after German reunification. The royal castle in Berlin, which was damaged during the war and demolished in 1950 by the East German authorities, was similarly reconstructed.
“First we shape our buildings and then they shape us” – Winston Churchill remarked.
He said this during a parliamentary debate on the fate of the House of Commons Chamber, which was bombed during the Second World War. The debate was whether to rebuild the old chamber or build a brand new one. Churchill opted for rebuilding, arguing that the cramped, cosy room had become a vital and essential part of British political life. Old buildings – whether they are parliament buildings or concert halls – not only shape our behaviours and lifestyles; they are like our warm-hearted friends. They accompany us throughout our lives; even when their functions change, they remain a reassuring and enduring element in a changing world. Buildings also remind us of the people who built them, people who, although they were like us, were at the same time very different. And we are grateful to them for what they left us. Will people in the future be grateful to us for what we have built?
From Witold Rybczyński’s introduction to the book On Architecture.
More art publications from Dom Wydawniczy REBIS can be found HERE.
photo: Krystian Daszkowski
source: Dom Wydawniczy REBIS
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