Why is it that people refer to Dresden as "Florence on the Elbe"? And why is the nickname "Venice of the North" claimed by several cities, from Amsterdam, Bruges, and Hamburg, to St. Petersburg and Stockholm? And where will you not find a Rome—whether you're in Constantinople, the so-called new Rome with its seven hills, or in Moscow, which is known as "the third Rome"? It becomes really interesting when cities that model themselves after cities are themselves elevated to role models, as in the case of Paris. Is the pleasure that cities take in "citing" or imitating other cities even relevant today? The architectural historian Wolfgang Pehnt takes us along on an examination of all these questions in this informative and enlightening volume. Through his vivid, succinct writing style he explores the origins, legends, and role models of cities, from Athens to Jerusalem. He teaches his readers to read cities like a book.

WOLFGANG PEHNT (*1931, Kassel), architectural historian and critic, studied German, art history, and philosophy at the universities of Marburg, Munich, and Frankfurt am Main. From 1957 to 1963 he was an editor at the Gerd Hatje publishing company in Stuttgart. From 1963 to 1995 he was an editor and department head for Deutschlandfunk. From 1995 to 2009 he taught architectural history at the Ruhr University, Bochum. He is the recipient of honors in the fields of criticism and theory from a variety of groups, such as the Verband Deutscher Architekten- und Ingenieurverein, Bund Deutscher Architekten, and the Erich Schelling Foundation.