The Murray Seminars at Birbeck
Not Quite 3D: Representing Architecture in the Early Middle Ages
Karl Kinsella
Birkbeck, School of Historical Studies
43, Gordon Sq. Room 114, The Keynes Library, London WC1H 0PD, UK
20 March 2023, 6:30-8:00PM GMT/2:30-4:00PM ET
(In-Person and Online)
A research seminar considering a 5th-Century mosaic of the Holy Sepulchre and f early strategies of architectural representation.
Karl Kinsella relates that in 1971 in Bordeaux, a mosaic showing a plan and elevation was uncovered during a flurry of archaeological excavation. The mosaic was likely made in the fifth century and shows the Holy Sepulchre's rotunda and basilica in stark black tiles set against plain white plaster. We are left with the impression of a diagram writ large (2m in height). The early date of the mosaic is surprising, and suggests that diagrams of the Holy Sepulchre were transmitted around Europe not long after the buildings were completed in the fourth century. This talk considers what the mosaic can tell us about the early development of architectural representation and the strategies needed to understand the complex figures they present to the modern reader. These strategies can offer insights into the evolution of architectural representation over the course of the early Middle Ages.
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