The Rhine: Culture and Landscape at the Heart of Europe Book

From its twin sources high in the Swiss Alps to its delta in the North Sea, the Rhine is Europe's most important river—historically, culturally, and artistically. Flowing majestically through the continent, it serves as a boundary between nations and a unifying force, timelessly conveying both spiritual currents and merchandise and inspiring pilgrims, painters, sculptors, architects, poets, writers, and composers. This superb panorama of the Rhine's artistic landscape shows the river and the cities, villages, cathedrals, monasteries, and castles that abound along its course in all their true magnificence. World-renowned masterpieces of painting (such as Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece), sculpture (the Breisach Altar), and goldsmiths' work (the Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne) are among the astonishing variety of treasures in every field of art, all gloriously illustrated and knowledgeably described in their historical, art historical, and geographical context. For the armchair traveler and connoisseur who wishes to indulge in all that this great river has to offer, no journey could be more rewarding. 400 illustrations, 350 in color.