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Monumental: Great Buildings of the World Through the Hands and Eyes of a Stonemason
Discover ancient stone wonders and architectural preservation secrets in the hands of one of the world’s greatest stonemasons.
Across the world and across time, the buildings of the gods and royalty have mostly been made of stone, towering over the homes of us lesser beings who have had to make do with mud, wood or brick. When civilisations wish to create beauty to last – for veneration of the gods or mortal men – it is to stone they turn. Crossing oceans and hauling blocks across thousands of kilometres, to quarry and sometimes plunder pillars and statues to stand sentinel for glory.
As one of the world’s most pre-eminent stonemasons and conservators Simon Warrack has worked in more than thirty different countries and with all major religions. In this book, Simon explores ten different places where he has learnt and plied his trade. From the Trevi Fountain to Angkor Wat, via Great Zimbabwe, Canterbury Cathedral and many more, he takes us to some of the greatest buildings and monuments in the world. Everywhere he goes, despite vast cultural diversity, he finds a communality through stone – a shared desire to conserve and maintain heritage that has spanned continents, cultures and millennia.
The story he tells is of the beauty of stone, restored and accompanied by the sound of chisels. He captures both the joys, skills and the challenges of conservation, as well as how easily restoration can damage the values and traditions it seeks to preserve if conducted with insensitivity. Underlying all his work is his passionate belief that stonemasons and conservators must be guided by the spirit with which people built, carved and cared for their monuments. Without this, monuments may have form and beauty, but they lose the essence and spirit of everything that caused them to be created.
Across the world and across time, the buildings of the gods and royalty have mostly been made of stone, towering over the homes of us lesser beings who have had to make do with mud, wood or brick. When civilisations wish to create beauty to last – for veneration of the gods or mortal men – it is to stone they turn. Crossing oceans and hauling blocks across thousands of kilometres, to quarry and sometimes plunder pillars and statues to stand sentinel for glory.
As one of the world’s most pre-eminent stonemasons and conservators Simon Warrack has worked in more than thirty different countries and with all major religions. In this book, Simon explores ten different places where he has learnt and plied his trade. From the Trevi Fountain to Angkor Wat, via Great Zimbabwe, Canterbury Cathedral and many more, he takes us to some of the greatest buildings and monuments in the world. Everywhere he goes, despite vast cultural diversity, he finds a communality through stone – a shared desire to conserve and maintain heritage that has spanned continents, cultures and millennia.
The story he tells is of the beauty of stone, restored and accompanied by the sound of chisels. He captures both the joys, skills and the challenges of conservation, as well as how easily restoration can damage the values and traditions it seeks to preserve if conducted with insensitivity. Underlying all his work is his passionate belief that stonemasons and conservators must be guided by the spirit with which people built, carved and cared for their monuments. Without this, monuments may have form and beauty, but they lose the essence and spirit of everything that caused them to be created.
362 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 21, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Who knew a stonemason's memoir would be so fascinating? So moving? If you are looking for something a little different, something which will hold your attention and teach you something, try Monumental by Simon Warrack.
Warrack starts with exploits from his student days, up through becoming the teacher himself, although he never stops learning from local experts. He shares stories from London, Venice, Rome, Cambodia, Ethiopia, the Middle East, and Zimbabwe. I would devour a second volume where we learn about all the sites he didn't have space to mention in this book. His stories are WILD. Full of characters and adventure. There are also deeper themes. He discusses repair, restoration, and preservation in depth. Subjects I didn't know I was interested in until he introduced me to them. It is impossible to talk about significant sites around the world without talking about the impact of violence, climate, and colonialism. This is one of those special books with a narrow focus and broad appeal. By closely examining how we maintain buildings from the past, we confront our values, priorities, and possibilities.
I enjoyed Warrack's narration and am in awe of his language fluency. Thank you to everyone involved in the production of the audioARC, including Tantor Media and NetGalley.
Warrack starts with exploits from his student days, up through becoming the teacher himself, although he never stops learning from local experts. He shares stories from London, Venice, Rome, Cambodia, Ethiopia, the Middle East, and Zimbabwe. I would devour a second volume where we learn about all the sites he didn't have space to mention in this book. His stories are WILD. Full of characters and adventure. There are also deeper themes. He discusses repair, restoration, and preservation in depth. Subjects I didn't know I was interested in until he introduced me to them. It is impossible to talk about significant sites around the world without talking about the impact of violence, climate, and colonialism. This is one of those special books with a narrow focus and broad appeal. By closely examining how we maintain buildings from the past, we confront our values, priorities, and possibilities.
I enjoyed Warrack's narration and am in awe of his language fluency. Thank you to everyone involved in the production of the audioARC, including Tantor Media and NetGalley.
July 11, 2026
Truly fascinating from start to finish.
September 6, 2026
Part memoir and part discussion of stonemasonry, Monumental is a fascinating look at a subject many would probably think is a bit boring. What, they might ask, is exciting about stacking stones up? Given that stone buildings are a profound part of the history and culture of people around the world, the subject of stonemasonry is a more relevant– and sometimes more contentious– thing than we give it credit for. But Simon Warrack provides an eye-opening account of historical stone buildings, their construction techniques, and developments in conservation that seek to keep these ancient buildings from deteriorating so they can continue to keep us in awe.
Warrack begins by describing how he got into stonemasonry in the 1980s. He had a history degree but wasn’t sure of what to do with himself when a chance encounter sent him to Canterbury where he began to learn the mason’s trade at the cathedral. One he’d completed his apprenticeship he traveled to Italy where he fell in love with Venice, helped restore damaged fountains and churches in Rome, then ended up on a team that went to Cambodia to restore sculptures in Angkor Wat. There, he learned that working with the local people about their culture and religion was just as important to the conservation of a site as the stone itself– a philosophy he carried on to his work in Lalibela in Ethiopia, to Zimbabwe, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, and then into his teaching work as he began training a new generation of masons who will help keep the trade– and our architectural heritage– alive.
Though the discussions of building and conservation materials and techniques is very technical in nature, Warrack presents it in such a way that even someone like me, who knew absolutely nothing about stonemasonry, could understand it and gain a new respect for the people who figured out how to construct these monumental buildings and deal with the unique challenges their environments provided. Our ancestors were intelligent and fully capable of creating these incredible buildings, and thanks to people like Simon Warrack and the teams he has worked with throughout the years, we have the ability to preserve them and ensure that they can last for many, many years to come. Monumental is a fascinating book written by an expert in his field who loves what he does, cares deeply about all the sites he has worked on, and has the ability to communicate it all to the layperson.
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton and Company for the free advance copy for review.
Warrack begins by describing how he got into stonemasonry in the 1980s. He had a history degree but wasn’t sure of what to do with himself when a chance encounter sent him to Canterbury where he began to learn the mason’s trade at the cathedral. One he’d completed his apprenticeship he traveled to Italy where he fell in love with Venice, helped restore damaged fountains and churches in Rome, then ended up on a team that went to Cambodia to restore sculptures in Angkor Wat. There, he learned that working with the local people about their culture and religion was just as important to the conservation of a site as the stone itself– a philosophy he carried on to his work in Lalibela in Ethiopia, to Zimbabwe, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, and then into his teaching work as he began training a new generation of masons who will help keep the trade– and our architectural heritage– alive.
Though the discussions of building and conservation materials and techniques is very technical in nature, Warrack presents it in such a way that even someone like me, who knew absolutely nothing about stonemasonry, could understand it and gain a new respect for the people who figured out how to construct these monumental buildings and deal with the unique challenges their environments provided. Our ancestors were intelligent and fully capable of creating these incredible buildings, and thanks to people like Simon Warrack and the teams he has worked with throughout the years, we have the ability to preserve them and ensure that they can last for many, many years to come. Monumental is a fascinating book written by an expert in his field who loves what he does, cares deeply about all the sites he has worked on, and has the ability to communicate it all to the layperson.
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton and Company for the free advance copy for review.
September 8, 2026
In addition to the intruduction and epilouge, the book has 10 chapters: First steps in stone [Canterbury cathedral, England]; The stones of Venice [Venice]; Doing as the Romans do [Rome]; Embracing Asia [Preah Ko, Cambodia]; The greatest temple in the world [Angkor Wat, Cambodia]; An obelist returns [transporting a stele from Rome to Axum in Ethiopia]; Carving a new Jerusalem[Lalibela, Ethiopia]; Temple of the sun [Umm Al Nar tombs, United Arab Emirates]; Two hundred chisels [Lebanon]; and The house of stone [Great Zimbabwe].
For some reason I was expecting this to be a book on the art of stone carving from the viewpoint of a stone carver, whereas it's actually a standard biography focusing on the author's training and work. The author has had a fascinating life and gives a lot of entertaining asides and digressions that add colour to the narrative. His writing style is fast paced and engaging, focused primarily on the various sites where he worked throughout his career. I appreciated the mini deep dives into local history that fleshed out the backgrounds of those monuments, making the book even more interesting.
There are 2 chapters that deal with Ethiopia, and as someone who's researched its churches and history, and read the Kebra Nagast (Glory of Kings) in translation, I was a little surprised by how he presented elements of their religious writings as historical fact. The sections are brief and hopefully they'll encourage people to research this rich and interesting culture.
The author tends to emphasize the bond of stone masons throughout history and how working with stone is a universal language in most of the chapters, which got repetitive and unnecessary as the book went on.
I had access to an early Advance Reader Copy, so there were more spelling and editorial errors than usual. Those should be cleared up by the time the book is published. Also missing were several illustrations, which simply had place holders. The images that were included were nice for understanding some of the more technical architectural language of the book.
On the whole this was an entertaining read. It was neat learning some of what goes into restoring and preserving ancient monuments made of stone.
For some reason I was expecting this to be a book on the art of stone carving from the viewpoint of a stone carver, whereas it's actually a standard biography focusing on the author's training and work. The author has had a fascinating life and gives a lot of entertaining asides and digressions that add colour to the narrative. His writing style is fast paced and engaging, focused primarily on the various sites where he worked throughout his career. I appreciated the mini deep dives into local history that fleshed out the backgrounds of those monuments, making the book even more interesting.
There are 2 chapters that deal with Ethiopia, and as someone who's researched its churches and history, and read the Kebra Nagast (Glory of Kings) in translation, I was a little surprised by how he presented elements of their religious writings as historical fact. The sections are brief and hopefully they'll encourage people to research this rich and interesting culture.
The author tends to emphasize the bond of stone masons throughout history and how working with stone is a universal language in most of the chapters, which got repetitive and unnecessary as the book went on.
I had access to an early Advance Reader Copy, so there were more spelling and editorial errors than usual. Those should be cleared up by the time the book is published. Also missing were several illustrations, which simply had place holders. The images that were included were nice for understanding some of the more technical architectural language of the book.
On the whole this was an entertaining read. It was neat learning some of what goes into restoring and preserving ancient monuments made of stone.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Monumental drew my attention as soon as I read the synopsis. I knew very little about stonemasonry but have always been beguiled by the idea of it as I admire the known and unknown stonework all over Europe. The skill, history, and knowledge which goes into carving stone, physics, and conservation is astonishing, Reading about author and master stone mason Simon Warrack's personal story and experiences is enlightening and gave me an inside glimpse into this fascinating world. He has worked on wondrous projects all over the world. Those which beguile me most are in Italy as I frequent that country.
So many things about this book stand out in my mind such as the fact that if one stone in an arch falls, the whole arch falls which showcases the extreme care and intelligence needed. Another is the peculiarities of stunning Venice painstakingly constructed in an inhospitable location. The Trevi Fountain story is gripping and bittersweet. I have had the opportunities to have ogled places mentioned in the book including Venice and Rome and live in an old Istrian stone house surrounded by a drystone wall not far from Italy. Strolling around ruins and admiring stonework is one of my most cherished pastimes. Learning more about design and strategic actual building and setting blocks grabbed me. The meticulous details are out of this world! But there’s more involved such as politics, perspectives, respecting cultures, and bureaucracy.
This book is very niche but beautiful in the hands of those who are intrigued by history, craftmanship, wonderful structures, and stone carving and conservation. I’m very pleased to have read it.
So many things about this book stand out in my mind such as the fact that if one stone in an arch falls, the whole arch falls which showcases the extreme care and intelligence needed. Another is the peculiarities of stunning Venice painstakingly constructed in an inhospitable location. The Trevi Fountain story is gripping and bittersweet. I have had the opportunities to have ogled places mentioned in the book including Venice and Rome and live in an old Istrian stone house surrounded by a drystone wall not far from Italy. Strolling around ruins and admiring stonework is one of my most cherished pastimes. Learning more about design and strategic actual building and setting blocks grabbed me. The meticulous details are out of this world! But there’s more involved such as politics, perspectives, respecting cultures, and bureaucracy.
This book is very niche but beautiful in the hands of those who are intrigued by history, craftmanship, wonderful structures, and stone carving and conservation. I’m very pleased to have read it.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Simon Warrack combined a degree in Medieval History with an apprenticeship as a stone mason to assist with the reconstruction of a church in Italy. From then on he was hooked, digging into the historic significance of a place or statue, how it was made, and collaborating on how best to preserve or reconstruct it.
Some of my favorite tales include restoring Rome’s Trevi Fountain prior to their hosting the World Cup (1990?), traveling to Cambodia to restore an important sculpture of a god at Angkor Wat (and how very respectfully he engaged with the Kmer community), and training a team of apprentices in Africa. There’s also an interesting discussion about antiquities and whether (and how) they might best be repatriated. Short answer: it depends.
The author does an amazing job with languages in the audiobook, but could have read with a bit more drama or enthusiasm throughout. He has a nice, strong voice, but I often found my attention wandering amid the minutiae of some of the projects.
In all, the book is rich with anecdotes, history, politics, and how stonemasons work. I love knowing there are particularly bawdy gargoyles and grotesques carved by these talented craftsmen that were installed in churches throughout Europe, (mostly) out of view of those who attend. 4.5 rounded up.
My thanks to the author, publisher, @TantorMedia, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook #Monumental for review purposes. Publication date: 8 September 2026.
Some of my favorite tales include restoring Rome’s Trevi Fountain prior to their hosting the World Cup (1990?), traveling to Cambodia to restore an important sculpture of a god at Angkor Wat (and how very respectfully he engaged with the Kmer community), and training a team of apprentices in Africa. There’s also an interesting discussion about antiquities and whether (and how) they might best be repatriated. Short answer: it depends.
The author does an amazing job with languages in the audiobook, but could have read with a bit more drama or enthusiasm throughout. He has a nice, strong voice, but I often found my attention wandering amid the minutiae of some of the projects.
In all, the book is rich with anecdotes, history, politics, and how stonemasons work. I love knowing there are particularly bawdy gargoyles and grotesques carved by these talented craftsmen that were installed in churches throughout Europe, (mostly) out of view of those who attend. 4.5 rounded up.
My thanks to the author, publisher, @TantorMedia, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook #Monumental for review purposes. Publication date: 8 September 2026.
September 15, 2026
I received an advance audiobook of this from netgalley. This book was fascinating to me. The first time I realized I was interested in anything having to do with stone masonry was when I was reading the Ken Follett Pillars of the Earth series. I found all of the details fascinating, so when I saw this book was available, I decided to check it out to see if this would be as interesting. It was very interesting to me. One of the things that I really liked is that it dealt with a few regions that I really know nothing about, specifically Cambodia and Zimbabwe. It was interesting hearing the perspectives of people who had worked in those areas as well as how much respect is given by people who are preserving the cultural heritage of an area. (There are also mentions of people who have no care for the indigenous people of a specific region as well).
One thing that was a little challenging about the audiobook is that there are a few spots where sentences are repeated - maybe 4 or 5 in the whole book.
I'm more curious to see some specific regions based on some of the information in this book.
One thing that was a little challenging about the audiobook is that there are a few spots where sentences are repeated - maybe 4 or 5 in the whole book.
I'm more curious to see some specific regions based on some of the information in this book.
May 29, 2026
Travelogue, stones, architecture, history - what more do you want?
Pitched as an insight into a niche, ignored, ancient, but still relevant craft - which it delivers on. But, really, the treat is the fascinating global travelogue revealed beneath the archeology and stonemasonry.
This seems like a life well-lived.
Probably also of interest to anyone in the world of heritage conservation...
Pitched as an insight into a niche, ignored, ancient, but still relevant craft - which it delivers on. But, really, the treat is the fascinating global travelogue revealed beneath the archeology and stonemasonry.
This seems like a life well-lived.
Probably also of interest to anyone in the world of heritage conservation...
July 29, 2026
Interesting.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews