Stone: Ancient Craft to Modern Mastery

The relationship between humankind and stone is elemental and deeply ingrained in all of us. Stone, after all, has been the primary building material for more than five thousand years of human history, and it continues to record our triumphs and failures. In this searching history of the expressive and practical use of stone, based on his book, Stone, Richard Rhodes unlocks the underlying principles of stone’s highest and best use, and he illuminates rules codified by the medieval Freemason’s guild.

Century after century of stone use gradually produced the closely guarded Sacred Rules, as they are collectively known, considered to be the most important property of the ancient stone guildsmen. Previously available only to the initiated, the rules are explained here for the first time ever, through historical examples and photographs.

In our era of rapid development and expressive urbanization, Richard Rhodes encourages us to explore the essential qualities of stone that emerge from the Sacred Rules, not only to rediscover the ancient and traditional knowledge that governed the use of stone for so long but also to create a road map for how future generations might thoughtfully recapture the power this material offers.