Everybody knows Athens’ Acropolis, Paris’ Notre Dame or the Victory Column in Berlin – and nobody can imagine any of it without its impressive pillar constructions. Pillars always act as a symbol of grandeur and power but often they also have crucial functions in urban architecture. Thus, reduced on its raison d’être – pillars providing stability.

The richly illustrated book leads the reader into the midst of European metropolitan centers, on a path of discovering the base, shaft and capital in their purest form under balconies and roofs, over rivers and on city plazas. This collection of photographs documents the entire scope of pillar design from ancient to brand new, from fugal to pompously ornate, from functional to playful.

The volume is part of a series, which is focused not on prominent buildings at large but on ingenious and extraordinary details.