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Siena — a UNESCO World Heritage site — was founded by Senius, son of Remus (the legendary co-founder of Rome), and is the home of St. Bernardino and St. Catherine. Renowned for its architectural splendor and its religious devotion, especially to the Holy Virgin Mary, Siena was dubbed by its medieval contemporaries “The City of the Virgin.”
Through its beautifully illustrated pages, replete with color photographs, maps, illustrations, and reproductions of original manuscripts dating from as early as the thirteenth century, Titus Burckhardt’s masterpiece, Siena: City of the Virgin, traces the spiritual, historical, and artistic development of one of the most important cities in the medieval world, in whose destiny the “spiritual development of the Christian Western world from the Middle Ages up to the present is exemplified….” Out of print for decades, this new edition has been painstakingly reproduced for a new generation to enjoy.
Awards
- Silver Midwest Book Award for “Political Science/History”
About the Author(s)
Titus Burckhardt
Titus Burckhardt (1908-1984) was one of the leading perennialist writers of the twentieth century. His writings showed remarkable scope. Burckhardt wrote on pure metaphysics, on tradition and modern science, on sacred art, on history and political science, and on various other aspects of traditional civilizations. Burckhardt was also a translator (from Arabic into French), an editor and publisher, and a respected consultant on restoring traditional cities to their former beautiful states.In addition, numerous Titus Burckhardt essays have appeared in various World Wisdom anthologies. Our free online Library has many essays and excerpts from Burckhardt's writings.
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William Stoddart
William Stoddart (June 25, 1925 – November 9, 2023) was a Perennialist author, editor, and translator who was active in advancing the understanding of the writings of Frithjof Schuon, Titus Burckhardt, and others, for over 50 years. Dr. Stoddart's most recent publications with World Wisdom are An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism: The Essentials of Buddhist Spirituality, What Does Islam Mean in Today’s World?, and Outline of Sufism: The Essentials of Islamic Spirituality. A compilation of his writings, Remembering in a World of Forgetting, was edited by M. Soares de Azevedo and A. Vasconcellos Queiroz. Stoddart also edited The Essential Titus Burckhardt, and was perhaps the greatest authority on the work of this great Swiss traditionalist. Dr. Stoddart's other contributions in World Wisdom books include:
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Reviews
- This pleasant, unpretentious book is illustrated by a number of excellent color photographs of the city of Siena and by reproductions of Sienese paintings and sculptures. In those who have visited Siena … [they] will evoke vivid memories of the town…. The text, which is also well conceived, consists in the main of translations from contemporary sources threaded together to form a political and spiritual history.
The Times Literary Supplement
- Dr. Burckhardt’s volume is an historical survey, illustrated pleasantly, with pictures of Siena itself, with lovely surrounding landscapes and associated works of art…. On the historical side, Dr. Burckhardt’s monograph is full of interesting detail.
History Today
- This work provides a very pleasant, and often beautifully illustrated, guide and introduction to the history of medieval politics and art in one of Italy’s most charming cities.
Teresa Hankey, University of London, in The Journal of Ecclesiastical History
- This masterly book is stunningly illustrated and surveys the history, culture, and spirituality of the Italian city of Siena, known in the medieval world as the ‘City of the Virgin.’ Burckhardt invites readers to immerse themselves in the architectural beauty and devotional splendor of this remarkable city through the medium of color photographs, maps, and reproductions of original manuscripts. Although years have passed since this volume was initially published, provoking readers to ponder its relevance for the present day, it has nonetheless endured and it is as relevant today as it will be tomorrow, as Burckhardt’s aim was to recover the essential principles underlying all sacred art, exemplifying what is beyond emergent trends and passing fads. Burckhardt upheld the following wish for Siena: ‘It is therefore to be hoped that widespread interest will be aroused … so that help may be forthcoming to preserve one of the most beautiful monuments of Western culture from destruction before it is too late,’ and yet he knew decisively that ‘My Kingdom is not of this world’ (John 18:36).
Samuel Bendeck Sotillos, in Studia Gilsoniana
