AFRC538 - Topics in Medieval Art: Art and Cultural Exchange in the Medieval Mediterranean System

Topic varies Spring 2019: Between the medieval metropolitan capitals of Constantinople and Paris lay the dynamic connecting sea -- the Mediterranean. This course begins by looking in depth at the birth and development of those two key capital cities, and their competitive interactions. Urban centers around the Mediterranean littoral contributed significantly to the networks linking and provisioning those two key metropoli: Venice, Palermo, Tunis, Sijilmasa, Acre, Cairo and Cordoba. This seminar will examine the urban fabric and the objects produced in an array of Mediterranean cities thriving in the Middle Ages, revealing the unexpected ways that they were connected by the sea. This seminar is limited to graduate students only, and permission must be sought from the instructors before enrollment.