When MacLaurin Institute Schaeffer Fellow Udo Middelmann was in the Washington, D.C., area last month, we invited him and several friends and acquaintances over for a time of coffee, dessert and discussion. Our discussion time, led by Middelmann, who is based in Switzerland and directs the Francis Schaeffer Foundation, focused on Islam but touched on many subjects. The evening was in many ways statement on how Christians are properly interested in ideas and how ideas have come to shape the direction of human culture.

On top of our upright piano in the living room, where we had the discussion, is a large panoramic photograph of Florence, Italy. It's there for a couple of reasons. First, I have never forgotten the wonderful time I spent in Florence in the early seventies, and my appreciation of that time and that city (including its pizza and cappuccino) has grown over the years. Second, despite its humanistic elements, and the social turmoil that characterizes much of Florentine history, the city has become a symbol for me of a proper and positive Christian interest in all of life, to appreciate the human drive for creativity, and to seek a flowering of life, thought and culture under the liberating vision of the living Creator and the cultural imperative set forth by the Biblical worldview.

The other day I was at bookstore, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a book with the word "Florence" on its binding. The binding was thick, an inch or so, but the book looked to be smallish, perhaps only about five inches tall. I hesitated. Could a volume as small as this begin to do justice to a subject as rich as that of the art and times of this world-renown Italian city? Let's just say that I was very pleasantly surprised. This little book seems as rich and dense as Florence itself.

Florence: Art & Architecture is authored by Rolf C. Wirtz, who is described on the inside of the back flap as having "studied art history in Cologne and Florence" and who "now lives and works as a freelance art historian in Cologne." The book was first published (by Konemann Verlagsgelsellschaft mbH) in 1999 in Germany under the title Kunst & Architektur Florenz. The English edition appeared in 2000.

The title page also says, "With contributions by Clemente Manenti." Nowhere in the book have I found a description of Manenti, but according to bylines in the volume, his contributions amount to several interesting essays on topics such as "The Battle of Anghiari," "Plato in Florence-The Florentine Academy Which Changed the History of European Culture," and "Giorgio Vasari and the Paper-mache City."

The book begins with an overview of the history of Florence, reaching back to its founding by Julius Caesar in A.D. 59. The city prospered and became an important center of trade under Rome, but faced uncertainty after the fall of the empire. By 1300, Florence had reached a population of 100,000, making it "not just one of the richest cities in the Christian world," but also a city "regarded as the biggest . . . in Western civilization." It largely escaped the wrath of World War II, "suffering minor damage in 1943." More serious damage occurred in 1944 when the Germans "exploded all the bridges over the [Arno] river-which the exception of the historic and picturesque Ponte Vecchio."

The rest of the book is divided into the five major sections, each of them with a three-page fold-out containing a map and images of significant sites in that section's part of Florence. They are: 1) "In the Heart of the City" (page 22), where you'll find the Uffizi Gallery, the Campanile, and the extraordinary Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore; 2) "South of Santa Maria Novella" (page 196), where await beautiful churches such as Santa Maria Novella and Santa Trinita, and the Piazza della Repubblica, where the reform-minded monk Savonarola was hanged and burned in 1498; 3) "From San Lorenzo to Piazza San Annunziata" (page 266), home of Michelangelo's David, the tomb of Lorenzo de'Medici, and San Lorenzo, the Medicis' family church; 4) "Around Santa Croce" (page 364), with the Museo Nazionale del Bargello some 400 meters away, but see several of Giotto's frescoes in Santa Croce before leaving the church; and 5) "Oltrarno-beyond the Arno" (page 418), which features sites such as Santo Spirito, with its plain facade but brilliant interior, and the Benedictine church of San Miniato al Monte.

Did I say the book was rich, dense? It is 560 pages long, and is printed on that glossy kind of paper that one associates with high-quality art books. Florence is positively laden with photographs, images of art, maps, illustrations-even the four-page timeline that folds out near the back of the book has more than 50 images. Flip through the pages of this book and you discover that nearly every single one features a magnificent piece of art, a stunning photograph or drawing. Some pages have multiple images.

The book welcomes casual strolls through its pages. I randomly open to page 128 and see a three-page fold-out that highlights the Uffizi Gallery. The fold-out displays 12 images of art and shows the layout of the gallery. From this I can navigate my way through the Uffizi to view works by da Vinci, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Caravaggio, Raphael, Durer, Michelangelo, and so on.

I turn further back in the book and land on page 340, which tells about the "Piazza Santissima Annunziata," "one of the city's most beautiful squares." At this site you will find the Filippo Brunellesci's famous Foundling Hospital, which "served as a model to all architects working here in later times."

Flipping to the front of the book, I see 13 pages (beginning on page 31) are dedicated to the three pairs of doors of the Baptistry (that is, the "Battistero San Giovanni or the St. John's Baptistery"). The text provides photo details and comment on panels of Andrea Pisano's south doors, Lorenzo Ghiberti's north doors, and then on his magnificent "Gates of Paradise" (a name originating from Michelangelo, who thought the doors beautiful enough to provide a suitable entry into Paradise).

There is much more to this book: an ample glossary of art and architecture terms, a section of "short biographies of the artists" (from Alberti to Verrochio), a section on "Forms of Florentine Building," and an index. And in addition to commentary accompanying the hundreds of pictures of major sites and works of art, the book also provides essays that fill out the context of what Florence is all about. There's "Filippo Brunelleschi-the Early Renaissance Uomo Universale," then "David-The Great Hero of the City of Florence," and "Niccolo Machiavelli," a famous man who wrote an infamous book (The Prince). And there's more on Dante, Boccaccio and Galileo, and "The Technique of Fresco Painting" and "The Discovery of Central Perspective."

One doesn't need to endorse every word of this volume to recommend it as a pleasing resource for students of all ages. And anyone viewing the "Renaissance" episode of the Schaeffer film series How Should We Then Live? will want to have it close at hand. Better yet, take it with you on a trip to Florence, and you'll get there before you arrive.

Mr. Pearcey is editor of Gophers Den.