Building the Presence of the Prince: The Institutions Responsible for the Construction and Management of the Buildings of European Courts (14th–17th Centuries), eds. José Eloy Hortal Muñoz and Merlijn Hurx. Architectura Moderna 14. Turnhout: Brepols, 2024, 343 pp, 66 color, 41 b&w ill.

The essays in this book derive from a conference of 2019 also titled “Building the Presence of the Prince,” discussing for the first time the concept of courtly building administrations in an international and comparative perspective. Whereas French and English royal Offices of Works have been extensively studied, similar institutions elsewhere in Europe have received less attention to date. This book considers examples ranging from England and Sweden in the north to the Iberian Peninsula in the south, and even to other continents. The published volume is comprised of three parts: Administrative Reforms and Procedures, Architects and Administrators, and Representing the Prince, plus an introduction that sketches the historiography of princely building works and a conclusion that draws together common threads of how European rulers from late fourteenth century onward on used, constructed, and refurbished their buildings through their territories.