Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1944, Qupperneq 220

198
LE NORD
of the church in published literature and in manuscript documents
in various public archives. ¥e describe churchyard and nearest
surroundings, the church building, its arrangement and movables.
Besides the present state of things we try to describe earlier stages,
so that the description often ends in the reconstruction of the
elder church building preceding the present one. A fixed sequence
is observed in the treatment, so that a reader may quickly find
the details for which he is searching. The arrangement decided on
may of course be discussed, but must be followed as once adopted
in order to facilitate the use of the volumes as works of reference.
In a final summary the parts of the description already given
are concentrated in chronological units, through which the church
with its equipment is reconstructed in the different periods of its
existence. Small perspective sketches illustrate the various archi-
tectural stages of development.
The summary is given in Swedish, English, and German. All
the three languages are also used beneath the illustrations, the
essential features of the inventory thus being completely and
quickly accessible to the international public.
The illustrations above all give full accounts of the archi-
tecture of the Middle Ages, with plan, longitudinal section and
necessary cross sections, always reproduced on the scale of 1/300.
Moreover autotypes from photographs of several exteriors and
at least two interiors, are given. The reproduction of paintings,
stained glass, and other important items of the inventory is
practically complete. This scheme is applied to churches of the
class of higher interest, but is radically reduced within lower
classes. A classification of the village churches on the ground
of their historical or artistical importance has been undertaken
with fixation of the maximum number of printed pages for each
type.
The programme as a whole is on a larger scale than in any
other existing undertaking of this kind. It certainly is not and
cannot be intended to create an absolutely decisive and final
monography; for to that end it would be necessary to know all
the ecclesiastical material at least in the whole of Sweden, i. e.
to be at the end of the work which is still at its start. But the
purpose is that of offering as far as possible a complete and truth-
ful description and history and of driving the investigations of
the more interesting points to the correct historical placement and
valuation, thus with determination of period and with charac-