Mirror of the Intellect: Essays on Traditional Science and Sacred Art

Titus Burckhardt was Swiss and an eminent member of the traditionalist school. He is perhaps best known to the English-speaking public as the author of the following books: Sacred Art in East and West; Siena, City of the Virgin; Moorish Culture in Spain; and Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul. A generation ago, he won much acclaim for producing and publishing the first successful, full-scale facsimiles of the Book of Kells and other ancient manuscripts. In more recent years, he acted as a specialist advisor to UNESCO, with particular reference to the preservation of the unique architectural heritage of Fez, which was then in danger.

The present volume is a complete collection of Burckhardt's essays, originally published in a variety of German and French journals. They range from modern science in its various forms, through Christianity and Islam, to symbolism and mythology. It is a rich collection. Burckhardt blends an accessible style with a penetrating insight. He interprets the metaphysical, cosmological, and symbolic dimensions of these sacred traditions from the perspective of timeless, spiritual wisdom.

Titus Burckhardt, son of Swiss sculptor Carl Burckhardt and great nephew of famous art historian Jacob Burckhardt, was born in Florence in 1908. His youth was devoted to studies in art, art history, and oriental languages, and to journeys through North Africa and the Near East. In 1942, he became director of the Graf-Verlag publishing house, which specialized in facsimile editions of ancient manuscripts. He presided over the interesting series Statten des Geistes (Homesteads of the Spirit) covering Mount Sinai, Celtic Ireland, and Constantinople. To this he contributed two of his own works, Siena: City of the Virgin and Chartres and the Genesis of the Gothic Cathedral.

In 1972 he was appointed to UNESCO for the preservation of the ancient city of Fez, and at the same time, immersed himself in the Arabic language and assimilated the classics of Sufism in their original form. He later shared these treasures through his translations of Ibn Arabi's Letters of a Sufi Master and other works. He died in 1984.