Heaven on Earth: The Lives and Legacies of the World's Greatest Cathedrals

by Emma J. Wells

A glorious illustrated history of twenty of the world's greatest cathedrals, interwoven with the extraordinary stories of the people who built them.

Heaven on Earth covers an entire millennium of cathedral-building from c. AD 500 to the sixteenth century. The central core of Emma Wells's book focuses on the explosion of ecclesial construction that began with the emergence of the Gothic style in twelfth-century France, which produced such remarkable structures as the cathedrals of Notre-Dame, Canterbury, Chartres, Salisbury, St Mark's Basilica in Venice and the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. From Constantinople's Hagia Sophia to London's Westminster Abbey, from Florence's Duomo to St Basil's in Moscow, Emma Wells tells the story of the feats of engineering that brought twenty great cathedrals into being.

More than architectural biographies, these are human stories of triumph and tragedy that take the reader from the chaotic atmosphere of the mason's yard to the cloisters of power. Together, they reveal how 1000 years of cathedral-building shaped modern Europe, and influenced art, culture and society around the world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Architecture, Art, Christianity, Religion, Medieval

432 pages, Paperback

Published March 11, 2025

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a visually beautiful book!!

[Meagan | The Chapter House · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really proud of myself for reading this, on a few levels! It's very much a dense read--a lot of niche history, which (granted) was initially what drew me to the book in the first place--but since you get maybe 15 pages per chapter/cathedral, it was a high-level view that often seemed to boil down to church-and-state squabbles. Not much "drama," per se, which made me second-guess the selections a little bit. I realize not all of them can have the same action and adventure of Canterbury Cathedral (and really, that's a good thing, given Thomas Becket's martyrdom played a large role); however, I did find the read quickly tedious and hard to keep track of the details.

Canterbury, Salisbury, Wells, York, and Florence proved my favorite chapters--largely because I've been to each, so had the personal connection (in addition to any plot tension therein).

I'm looking forward to branching out into some of the recommended reads that Blackwell's booksellers included when this was a featured book of the month a couple years back. This book provides a good starting point/overview.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In anticipation of a trip to the UK, listened to a podcast with the author and thought it sounded interesting. The pictures are Amazingly beautiful and show the work of generations across Europe, from York to Canterbury to Florence, Cologne to Prague, and Paris to Constantinople.

Read out loud to wife, and my goodness the words you read in your head are much more taxing when spoken out loud!

Has helped us add extra stops to our UK trip and the important spaces to stop and ingest.

Highly recommend but not a light read, if you don’t want to really get into it.

[Tom Sheridan]

DNF @ 16%. Very surface level history. When you say you’re covering ~1000 of cathedral building but skip approx 500 years of that between chapters one and two, you’ve got a problem.

[Richard Hakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought the book full price as I found it in a book shop and I still think its churlish to see a book and buy elseware. Strangely the ebook is 1/4 of the price. It wasn't worth it. The book is just a selected history of a number of the more significant cathederal. There is very little to tie their stories together or of the progression of design and building. Mentions of external politics are somewhat simplistic. Henry didn't undertake the Reformation just to facilitate a bit of wife swapping. There is always some good in books like this and it's not a bad book I just think I was expecting better.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is both visually beautiful (full of gorgeous pictures and illustrations) and beautifully written. 10/10 recommend for anyone who likes cathedrals, history, architecture, or just learning about something new via engaging, impossible-to-put-down writing.

[Artie LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is beautifully produced, and is a joy to handle.

The histories of the genesis, construction and development of a number of gothic cathedrals are full and ane generally interesting: but in the end it proved difficult to read them all, as the similarity meant that they became increasingly jumbled in my mind. I do wonder if a thematic approach, illustrated by reference to these same cathedrals, might have had more longterm imact on my understanding.

[Sifa Poulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

HEAVEN ON EARTH explores the history of cathedral building in the Middle Ages through sixteen (mostly) Western European edifices.

This is very much a collection of mini histories, each of the sixteen chapters focusing on a different cathedral in (Western) Europe. (I don't know why Goodreads say twenty and has examples in the blurb of non-included cathedrals?) You could probably pick and choose your chapter order according to which cathedrals you know best - there wasn't an obvious reason why the book was in the order it was, other than Saint-Denis listed as the first of the gothic (being the "first").

Each chapter goes through the history of the building, stories of clerical competition and the desire to fund their future through impressive work and saintly associations. It shows the very human side of funds and labour and ego involved in these mega projects, but does touch on the theology that was tied up in the designs and purposes of these buildings.

The focus is very much on England and France, probably partly due to familiarity and ease of access for a British author (and UK-published book!) I really didn't mind this as this are the cathedrals I know best (and also the architectural styles common in these countries are my favourite ones!) My favourite chapters were definitely the ones on the buildings I am most familiar with as I was able to better visual the stages of construction.

One thing I would have really liked to see that this book didn't have are floor plans. This is a book about changing buildings, additions and replacements. Even being someone with a good working knowledge of general religious architecture, I found it a little hard at times to work out the scales of these changing buildings. I think a floor plan (or two, in the cases of the structures that changed the most!) that showed how the building changed over time would have been really nice.

[Mackay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book. The illustrations alone are worth every penny. I withhold a higher rating because of a few issues (bigger than quibbles, smaller than problems).
First, the prose is a bit clunky, scarcely up to the subject matter and the illustrations, and there are copy-editing problems that are absolutely unacceptable in any book, and especially in a purported scholarly work.
Second, while author Wells knows her subject, she doesn't often bother to explain the arcana of architectural vocabulary, meaning - stop reading and go look it up, or try (and often fail) to figure it out from context. A glossary would held enormously!
Third, her focus is a little too narrow: on the building/remodeling/rebuilding in the medieval-into-renaissance eras, and nothing much later: e.g., brushed past in a sentence or two are the heroic efforts to save Winchester Cathedral by deep sea divers underneath the structure in the early 1900s, or how restoration happened at Reims after it was badly shelled and horribly damaged during World War 1 (including the Chagal windows!), and nothing gets mentioned about how or why the Nazis didn't steal the vast silver treasure of St Vitus in Prague...all things at least as interesting as the initial building. Also absent is any discussion of what these immense, lovely, and expensive-to-maintain monuments mean today.
So, three stars... Some of the "lives" are told, but nothing of the "legacies." (See subtitle)
But a book to keep as reference for the many and beautiful illustrations.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

After finishing the book, I really understood and enjoyed the order in which the cathedrals were presented. It helped paint a more complete picture of the development and evolution of the styles of cathedrals from immediately before through the end of the Gothic period. The beautiful illustrations added enormously to my enjoyment of the book.

It could get slightly tedious at time with the details of the building of the specific cathedrals, but most of the histories were filled with enough intrigue and drama to not make this the case. Added a lot of new places to my list of places to visit and enjoyed an introduction to the histories of some cities with which I was less familiar.

[Simon Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 2022, this is a brief history of sixteen cathedrals. Most of this book was detailed histories of buildings with which I have no particular relationship. Therefore, while I’m sure these histories represent years of detailed research, if I’m honest, I found it all a bit dull. However, it did still give me some tangetial food for thought. This was, in part, because this isn’t normally the sort of thing I read.

More at https://sjhoward.co.uk/ive-been-readi...

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully illustrated scholarly history of sixteen cathedrals in Turkey, Spain, France, England, Germany, Czech Republic, and Italy. I am delighted to say I have visited three of them: Canterbury, Wells, and York Minster. Plenty of illustrations, along with plenty of endnoted text, as most of these buildings took centuries to build and/or rebuild. Also includes a glossary, select bibliography, and index.

[Henry McFarland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives very detailed accounts of the history of 16 of the most beautiful and historically significant churches in Europe. The emphasis is on their architectural history and how the building of the cathedrals fit into the power struggles of the time. The book is beautifully illustrated, competently written, and well-researched. If you love the great Gothic cathedrals and want to learn more about them, then this book will be a good choice for you.

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore visiting cathedrals so I was incredibly excited to see this book in Waterstones.
It’s clearly well researched and I loved the cathedral images. However, I found it dull unfortunately and could not wait to finish.

[William Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book, I think I read it too quickly so didn’t absorb most of it, but I enjoyed. Equally wasn’t planning on reading 2/3 of it waiting in urgent care so can’t blame the book x

[Shaun Lyons]

DNF. The history is interesting so I might read it another time. I was actually looking for a book that showed more pictures of the cathedrals

[Heidi Schramm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will purchase this book.

[Jo Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

fascinating history and especially for the cathedrals I know very well

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolutely wonderful book with an abundance of beautiful photos. The writing flowed with great detail without getting bogged down in minutia. I loved the compliment of architectural history with the masters who created the great monuments to God. I’ve visited 13 of the 16 highlighted cathedrals and aim to see the rest in the next few years. It has been a long time since I couldn’t put a book down, and I can’t remember the last time I felt that way about a book that wasn’t nonfiction. If you are a lover of cathedrals, this is book you won’t want to miss.