Deep Exploration Series -- Disappearing Architecture: Pursuing the Poetic Elegance of Breathing Elsewhere

Author: Michel Cohen (France), translated by Liu Fan and Gu Guangshu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: There are only two kinds of architecture in the world—one we can see, and another we can no longer see. This book tells the story of the latter. Though they have disappeared, they still exist, lingering in our imagination, dating back three thousand or five thousand years, or even existing in the not-so-distant past. These once magnificent structures, which stood tall for centuries, have now either turned into desolate ruins or faded into mere dust due to the ravages of time or human destruction. As someone once said, architecture is a frozen symphony—when that frozenness is shattered, the poignant beauty remains just as breathtaking. And the secrets hidden among the piles of ruins can be anything but alluring. This book, in a combination of images and text, showcases the appearances of once-glorious buildings before and after their disappearance, focusing on the origins and fates of world-famous structures that can never return. It serves as a historical witness to the civilizations that vanished under the forces of nature and human hands.