From ancient Persia to the Third Reich, imperial powers have built
cities in their image, seeking to reflect their power and influence
through a show of magnificence and a reflection of their values.
Statues, pictures, temples, palaces—all combine to produce the necessary
justification for the wielding of power while intimidating opponents.
In Power in Stone, Geoffrey Parker traces the very nature of power through history by exploring the structural symbolism of these cities.
Traveling from Persepolis to Constantinople, Saint Petersburg to
Beijing and Delhi, Parker considers how these structures and monuments
were brought together to make the most powerful statement and how that
power was wielded to the greatest advantage. He examines imperial
leaders, their architects, and their engineers to create a new
understanding of the relationship among buildings, design, and power. He
concludes with a look at the changing nature of power in the late
twentieth and twenty-first centuries and the way this is reflected
symbolically in contemporary buildings and urban plans. With
illuminating images, Power in Stone is a fascinating history of some of the world’s most intriguing cities, past and present.
