Art History 280 - COLQ: RELICS & PILMGRIMAGE

Topics course. Students may take up to four semesters of ARH 280 Art Historical Studies, as long as the topics are different.: An interdisciplinary study of the cult of relics—one of the most distinctive and complex phenomena in the social, religious and artistic life of the Middle Ages. Using both primary texts and the rich body of scholarly literature, we examine a broad range of reliquaries—whether abstract or shaped into a body part; purely ornamental or enhanced with narrative scenes; made of humble or of luxury materials. Issues include: the evolving understanding of relics’ nature and powers; the development of Christian pilgrimages to holy shrines; cross-cultural perspectives; relic-collections as forerunners of museums, and pilgrims as the predecessors of tourists. Prerequisites: ARH 110, any Medieval Studies course, or permission of the instructor. Group A

Topic: Relics, Reliquaries and the Art of Pilgrimage.