This work is an examination of the way in which a building can embody and create meaning. Visser begins her study with the eighth century Church of St Agnes in Rome, built over the grave of a 13 year-old girl who was murdered. From this starting point, Visser takes us into the realms of history, mythology, culture, tradition, ritual and belief, never straying too far from the physical fact of the architecture which houses the events which have shaped the past and which still shape lives today. From this one church, Visser makes a study of all churches, allowing us to see how it is possible to find meaning in buildings and to see their lives as equally rich and individual as those of the humans who have stood beneath their roofs.