One of the most meaningful ways to fully understand kings, emperors, and popes is through the places that they created, including tombs, palaces, and cities. Ranging across sixteen centuries in Europe—from Prague to Seville, Palermo to the Oslo Fjord—David Rollason examines how such places conveyed messages of power. Illustrated with dozens of images, this grand tour encompasses the 10th century city of Madinat al-Zahra near Cordoba, the remarkably preserved palace-church of Charlemagne in Aachen, and King Louis IX's soaring shrine-church of the Saint-Chapelle.

"Rollason's dazzling treasury of site descriptions and pictures is the product of years of exploration, on-site and in libraries. . . . A well-guided and meticulously illustrated tour."—Times Literary Supplement (London)