The purpose of the book by art critic Sergei Kavtaradze is to explain to the reader in the simplest and most understandable language what architecture is as an art form. The author shows how the mechanisms of perception of an architectural structure work, and why the viewer receives aesthetic pleasure from it. The book teaches you to independently see and analyze the plastic advantages of form and the endless layers of semantic content of architectural monuments, popularly outlining the history of European styles and the logic of their development. The book is addressed to a wide range of readers interested in architecture and art history.