International Online Conference: Islamic Medieval Wall Paintings: towards an Interdisciplinary Approach, 4-5 September 2025

International Online Conference

Islamic Medieval Wall Paintings: towards an Interdisciplinary Approach

September 4-5, 2025 

Conference Programme Times are provided in Central European Summer Time (UTC/GMT +2 hours)

Conference language: English

Conference Organizers: Dr. Ana Marija Grbanovic (Centre for Heritage Conservation Studies and Technologies (KDWT), University of Bamberg) and Dr. Agnieszka Lic (Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures, Polish Academy of Sciences)

This conference is related to the Iranian Medieval Wall Paintings project funded by the German Research Foundation - the DFG, at University of Bamberg’s Centre for Heritage Conservation Studies and Technologies – the KDWT (Applicant: Dr. Ana Marija Grbanovic).

For more information and to register, visit https://www.uni-bamberg.de/forensische-organik/imwp-tagung/

Conference Program

Day 1 – September 4, 2025

09.00-9.30: Opening of the Conference

• Welcome and Greetings, Housekeeping Information

9.30-10.30: Keynote

• Prof. Dr. Markus Ritter, ‘Space Painting in Medieval Islamic Art and Abbasid Raqqa’

10.30-11.00: Break

11.00-12.30: Podium Discussion 1: Research and Conservation of wall paintings for a sustainable future

• Moderator: Franziska Prell, M.A. and Leander Pallas, M. A.

• Dr. Habil. Dobrochna Zielińska, ‘Technology of medieval Nubian wall paintings. An insight into a culture through the materiality of an image’

• Franziska Kabelitz, M. A., ‘Aspects of Sustainability in Exhibition Management (tbc)’ 

• Dr. Melina Perdikopoulou, ‘Layers of Memory: Preserving Ottoman Wall Paintings in Greece’

• Speaker tbc, ‘Title tbc’

12.30-13.00: Break

13.00-15.00: Panel 1: Setting the Ground: Conservation, Preservation and Production Technologies of Wall Paintings

• Chair: Dr. Ana Marija Grbanovic

• Prof. Dr.-Ing. May al-Ibrashy and Amina Karam, M.A., ‘The painted wood interior of al-Imam al-Shafi’i Dome in Historic Cairo: Discoveries and Observations from the Conservation Project’ 

• Dr. Yury Karev, ‘Self-image of the ruler: Qarakhanids and their contemporary Turcic dynastic rivals (Wall paintings of Samarkand/Afrasiab)’ 

• Dr. Melina Perdikopoulou, ‘The Wall Paintings of Alaca Imaret in Thessaloniki: A Comparative Approach to 15th-Century Ottoman Painting’

• Dr. Giovanna De Palma, ‘The conservation of Qusayr ‘Amra wall paintings: methodologies and discoveries’ 

15.00-15.30: Break

15.30 – 17.00: Panel 2: Cutting Edge Research of Wall Paintings in the Islamic West

• Chair: Dr. Peter Tamas Nagy

• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Victor Garcia Rabasco, ‘Abbadid Seville and the development of the Caliphate’s artistic language’ 

• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Umberto Bongianino, ‘Wall painting in the Islamic West and the aesthetic of naqsh’

• Walid Akef, M.A., ‘Islamic Mural Paintings: Propaganda and Power in the Age of Chivalry and Crusades’ 

17.00-17.30: Break

17.30-18.30: Special Session: Innovative Approaches to Research of Wall Paintings in Christian Nubia

• Chair: Dr. Agnieszka Lic

• Prof. Dr. Karel Christian Innemée, ‘Costumes of Authority, Images of Authority. Christian wall paintings of Medieval Nubia’

• Dr. Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka, ‘From mural to costume: The reconstruction process of medieval robes’

Day 2 – September 5, 2025

9.00-11.00: Panel 3: Archaeology of Islamic Wall Paintings in the Middle East

• Chair: Dr. Agnieszka Lic

• Dr. Thomas Leisten, ‘An Umayyad Painters’ Studio at Work: Design and Execution of Frescos at Balis, Syria’ 

• Dr. Julie Bonnéric and Solène Mathieu, ‘The Wall Paintings of the House of Hearts: Interpreting Archaeological Fragments from a Byzantine and Umayyad Urban Residence in Jerash, Northern Jordan’ 

• Dr. Ignacio Arce, ‘Umayyad Mural Paintings: from architectural decoration to narratives of power: some case studies from Qasr Hallabat/ Hammam as Sarrah, Qusayr Amra and Khirbat al Mafjar’

• Ass. Prof. Dr. Tawfiq Da’adli, ‘Khirbat al-Mafjar frescoes reconstruction – which pieces found their way in and why others were left out?’

11.00-11.30: Break

11.30-13.00: Podium Discussion 2: DEIA and gender-sensitive research of wall paintings: perspectives for societal cohesion

• Moderator: Dr. Mareike Spychala

• Cornelia Thielmann, M. A., ‘Gender-sensitive studies for architectural cultural heritage preservation’ 

• Dr. Ana Marija Grbanovic, ‘Intersectionality analysis for preservation of endangered monuments with wall paintings in Ottoman Baroque South-eastern Europe’ 

• Prof. Dr. Konstantinos Giakoumis, ‘Visual Artworks and Blind or Visually Impaired Persons: New Concepts for Independent Accessibility of Orthodox Icons’ 

• Dr. Jeanine Linz, ‘Gender sensitive research and gender dimension in proposals’ 

13.00-14.00: Break

14.00-16.00: Panel 4: Research and Preservation of Persianate Islamic Medieval Wall Paintings

• Chair: tbc

• Dr. Hamed Sayyadshahri, Ass. Prof. Dr. Mohammad Mortazavi and Dr. Mozhgan Mousazadeh, ‘A review on the Conservation of Historical Wall Paintings in Khurasan, Iran: An Ethical Discussion’ 

• Ass. Prof. Dr. Amir Hossein Karimy and Ass. Prof. Dr. Parviz Holakooei, ‘Gilding and glittering in wall decorations from the 12th to the 17th century Iran’

• Dr. Ana Marija Grbanovic, ‘Medieval wall paintings in Iran: a trans-regional phenomenon?’ 

• Mohammad Mahdi Amini Qomi and Mohammad Mahdi Mohammadi Iraqi, ‘Art historical research of damaged wall paintings at the Gunbad-i Azadan mosque near Isfahan’

16.00-16.30: Break

16.30-18.00: Podium Discussion 3: Role of digitization in research of wall paintings: challenges and perspectives

• Moderator: Dr. John Hindmarch

• Dr. Ines Konczak-Nagel, ‘Buddhist Murals of Kucha on the Northern Silk Road’

• Dr. Erik Radisch, ‘Buddhist Murals of Kucha on the Northern Silk Road’ 

• Dr. Ivana Lemcool, ‘Digitizing Fresco Paintings in the Balkan Area- Issues and Perspectives in Digital Preservation of Monumental Heritage in Multi-faith Environments’

18.00-18.30: Break

18.30-20.00: Special Session: AI, ML new technologies and ethical aspects for research of wall paintings

• Moderator: Dr. Julian Hauser

• Prof. Dr. Markus Rickert, ‘AI application in different domains: from production to agriculture to … cultural heritage?’

• Dr. Tomasz Michalik, ‘Eye-tracking as a tool to support informed presentations of wall paintings’ 

20.00-21.00: Conference Closing Discussion

Call for Papers for Sponsored Session: Music and the Visual Arts, ICMS Kalamazoo 2026, Due 15 Sept. 2025

Call for Papers for Sponsored Session

Music and the Visual Arts

Sponsored by Musicology at Kalamazoo

International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI May 14-16, 2026

Due 15 September 2025

This session focuses on the connections between medieval music and the visual arts. Scholars may adopt a wide range of approaches and methodologies drawn from musicology, art history, and elsewhere. We welcome papers that either consider specific and direct relationships (e.g., art that depicts musicians or instruments; marginalia in music books; music that describes handicrafts) or papers that investigate more abstract connections between sound and sight (e.g., philosophical/epistemological approaches). This session offers a space for cross-disciplinary discussion among art historians, musicologists, and others with the aim of enriching our understanding of the medieval period.

Abstracts are due on September 15, 2025, and may be submitted at this website.

Upcoming Exhibition: Gothicisms, Musée du Louvre Lens, France, September 24, 2025–January 26, 2026

New Exhibition

Gothicisms

Musée du Louvre Lens, Lens, France

September 24, 2025–January 26, 2026

From the birth of the cathedrals to the Goth counterculture and fantasy, Gothic art truly has traversed the centuries. In ground-breaking fashion, the Louvre-Lens is presenting its first ever panorama of Gothic art from the 12th to the 21st century, from its emergence through to the neo-Gothic style and right up to the “Goths” of today. 

Gothic art is closely associated with the age of the cathedral builders. As the first pan-European movement, it inspired exceptional artistic forms endowed with unparalleled expressive force. Sculptures, art objects, graphic arts, painting, photography, installations and furniture are gathered here in a journey through some 200 works of art. Together they reveal the recurrences and continuity of these Gothic languages, which blossomed during medieval times, came to life again in the 18th and 19th centuries, and still inspire us now. But where does the word Gothic come from? Why is this colourful art today associated with a dark aesthetic of black, night and the fantastic? How can this endlessly recurring attraction be explained? This chronological journey is interspersed with forays into specific topics, touching on the Gothic script, music, film and literature. It is an immersion into history and into society’s collective imagination to understand the origins and singularity of the Gothic movement: unique, multifaceted and very much alive today.  

Exhibition curators:
General curator: Annabelle Ténèze, director of the Louvre-Lens
Scientific curator: Florian Meunier, chief heritage curator at the Department of Art Objects, Musée du Louvre
Scientific advisor: Dominique de Font-Réaulx, general heritage curator, specialising in the 19th century, special advisor to the President-Director of the Musée du Louvre
Associate curator: Hélène Bouillon, general heritage curator
Assisted by Caroline Tureck, head of publications and documentation at the Louvre-Lens
Scenography: Mathis Boucher, scenographer, Louvre-Lens

This project was made possible thanks to the support of the Musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Âge, Cité de l’architecture et du Patrimoine, Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Musée des Arts décoratifs de Strasbourg.

For more information, visit https://www.louvrelens.fr/en/exhibition/gothicisms-2/

New Exhibition: Paws on Parchment, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, August 06, 2025–February 22, 2026

New Exhibition

Paws on Parchment

Centre Street Building, Level 3, Medieval Gallery

The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD

August 06, 2025–February 22, 2026

Flanders, Prayer Book, late 15th-century. Acquired by Henry Walters.

Cat lovers unite! The Walters is celebrating our feline friends with this paws-itively adorable exhibition. Paws on Parchment explores how medieval people thought about, engaged with, and admired cats through the animals’ presence in manuscripts from the period. Centuries before cat memes took over the internet, the antics of fanciful felines were already popular in the margins of medieval manuscripts. These furry animals delighted readers back then just as they amuse us today.

Cats played an important role in the medieval era. Like today, cats were considered beloved pets whose behavior amused and exasperated their owners. However, felines also served an important function as hunters that protected valuable books and textiles, food stores, and even people from disease-carrying rodents and other vermin. Cats also carried deep symbolic and moral meaning in this period.

In Paws on Parchment, visitors will enjoy medieval depictions of cats preserved in the pages of manuscripts from across the world, including a 15th-century “keyboard cat.” Most notably, visitors can see real pawprints left by a cat walking across the pages of a Flemish manuscript as the ink dried in the 1470s. A handful of these “pawprint” manuscripts are known around the world, and this is the first time the Walters’ example will ever be shown.

Curator: Lynley Anne Herbert, Robert and Nancy Hall Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts

For more information, visit https://thewalters.org/exhibitions/paws/

Upcoming Exhibition: Sing a New Song: The Psalms in Medieval Art and Life, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City, 12 Sept. 2025 - 4 Jan. 2026

Upcoming Exhibition

Sing a New Song: The Psalms in Medieval Art and Life

The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City, NY

September 12, 2025 through January 4, 2026

Chanting Clerics, from the Windmill Psalter, England, London, late thirteenth century. The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.102, fol. 100r (det). 

Traditionally ascribed to King David, the Hebrew Book of Psalms is a collection of sacred poems that constitute the longest and most popular book of the Bible. These poems include expressions of lament and loss, petitions and confessions, as well as exclamations of joy and thanksgiving— universal themes that speak to what it means to be human.

Sing a New Song traces the impact of the Psalms on men and women in medieval Europe from the sixth to the sixteenth century. It encompasses daily practices and performance, as well as the creation of Psalters (Books of Psalms), among the most richly ornamented manuscripts ever made. Stressing the integration of the Psalms in medieval life, topics range from children saying their prayers to people preparing to die.

The beginning of the exhibition is devoted to the Psalms’ origins, with special emphasis on David as composer. The following two sections show how Psalms permeated the intellectual culture of medieval Europe through translations into Latin and the vernacular. Children used Psalters to learn to read, patrons commissioned versions in their native languages, and theologians, glossing the Psalms, authored the most influential interpretive writings of the Middle Ages. The next section is dedicated to the medieval Psalter. More than any other text, Psalms informed the language of the liturgy, and the Psalter served effectively as the prayer book of the Church. Priests, monks, and nuns were required to pray all 150 Psalms weekly. Lay people across Europe, imitating these practices, fueled a demand for Psalters —often gloriously illuminated. Another section examines performance of the Psalms within the monastery, the church, and the private home. The final section examines the apotropaic function of Psalm texts, the use of Psalms as penitential atonement, and how Psalms comforted the dying.

For more information, visit https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/sing-a-new-song

Upcoming Exhibition: Going Places: Travel in the Middle Ages, Getty Center, Los Angeles, 2 Sept. - 30 Nov. 2025

Upcoming Exhibition

Going Places: Travel in the Middle Ages

Museum North Pavillion, Plaza Level, Getty Center, Los Angeles, California

2 September 2025 - 30 November 2025

Barlaam, Carrying a Shoulder Pack, Crosses a River (detail) from Barlaam and Josephat, 1469, follower of Hans Schilling. Ink, colored washes, and tempera colors. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XV 9 (83.MR.179), fol. 38v

Free exhibition.

In medieval art, the act of movement from one place to another was conceptualized in a variety of imaginative forms. Featuring manuscripts from the Getty’s collection, this exhibition explores the reasons for travel, different modes of medieval travel, and examples of typical travelers. Illustrations often accurately documented the realities of travel and prompted viewers to travel virtually through their imaginations. The exhibition showcases the wide variety of contexts for medieval movement, from religious travel to diplomacy, trade, exploration, and exploitation.

This exhibition is presented in English and Spanish. Esta exhibición se presenta en inglés y en español.

For more information, visit https://www.getty.edu/exhibitions/going-places/

Lecture: Virtue and Adornment in Byzantium: Beautiful Bodies in the Christian East, Alicia Walker, At The Cleveland Museum of Art, 28 Sept. 2025, 2-3 PM

The Dr. John and Helen Collis Lecture

Virtue and Adornment in Byzantium: Beautiful Bodies in the Christian East

Alicia Walker

Professor of History of Art and Director of the Graduate Group in Classics, Archaeology, and History of Art at Bryn Mawr College

Gartner Auditorium, Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio

Sunday, September 28, 2025, 2:00–3:00 p.m

Nereid (Sea-Nymph) from a Hanging (detail), late 300s–400s CE. Byzantine Empire (Egypt).

Free; Ticket Required - To book, click here.

Join Alicia Walker as she explores attitudes toward women and adornment in the Byzantine world. Walker discusses how jewelry and clothing decorated with Christian signs offered women ways to ornament the body while still conforming to religious values that censured personal embellishment and promoted modest piety. At the same time, Byzantine society remained connected to pre-Christian cultural traditions, allowing for Greco-Roman goddesses and other female mythological characters to persist as models for the cultivation of physical beauty and allure. Walker shows how Byzantine women navigated these diverse possibilities, displaying moral virtue and social refinement—but also captivating charm—through their dress and adornment.

For more information, visit https://www.clevelandart.org/events/virtue-and-adornment-byzantium-beautiful-bodies-christian-east

Conference: Boccaccio 650: 1375-2025, Newberry Library, Chicago, 18-20 Sept. 2025

Conference

Center for Renaissance Studies

Boccaccio 650: 1375-2025

Organized by the American Boccaccio Association

Newberry Library, Chicago, IL September 18–20, 2025

Portrait of Boccaccio from Il Decamerone di messer Giovanni Boccaccio, Venice: 1547 (Wing ZP 535 .G4)

Join us for the sixth triennial conference of the American Boccaccio Association.

The year 2025 marks the 650th anniversary of the death of Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), author of the Decameron and foundational author of the European narrative prose tradition. To commemorate this milestone, the American Boccaccio Association (est. 1974) and the Newberry Library, in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Chicago will celebrate the Certaldese author with a series of scholarly events.

For more information, visit https://www.newberry.org/calendar/boccaccio-650-1375-2025

Conference: Körper und Herrschaft, in Gotha, Germany, 11-13 Sept. 2025

Conference

Körper und Herrschaft

Referentialität, Räume und Transformationen von Körperlichkeit in politischen Settings im Übergang von Spätmittelalter und Früher Neuzeit

Forschungszentrum Gotha, Germany

11-13 September 2025

Abb.: What makes the King? William Makepeace Thackeray, The Paris Sketchbook, aus dem Exemplar der Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, um 1880.

A conference on "Körper und Herrschaft" (Body and Domination) is being held by the Gotha Research Centre at the University of Erfurt under the direction of Dr Benjamin Steiner and Dr Anja Rathmann-Lutz (Tübingen) from 11 to 13 September 2025 at the "Landschaftshaus" in Gotha.

Body history is more relevant than ever: Recent debates about the health of candidates in US presidential elections, for example, impressively demonstrate the extent to which physical appearance, vitality and health still influence political settings today. This is by no means a purely modern phenomenon. Even in pre-modern societies, the physical constitution of rulers played a central role in legitimising political power.

Despite its historical relevance, corporeality as a condition of political rule remained underexposed for a long time – even in research. Particularly in medieval and early modern monarchies, however, specific expectations were placed on the physical conditions of rulers in order to stabilise political orders or ensure dynastic continuity.

The conference in Gotha is now dedicated to the question of how bodies can be methodically and historically analysed in political contexts. How visible or invisible is the "mere" body behind the façade of staging, ritual and symbolism? What repercussions do political spaces, institutions and techniques of rule have on the bodies of those in power – and vice versa? And can specific transformations in the relationship between body and rule be recognised in the transition from the late Middle Ages to the early modern period?

Speakers have been invited who deal with corporeality in the context of rule from different perspectives - be it in the context of dynastic systems, medical-historical questions, individual biographies of rulers or with regard to comparative approaches that transcend epochs or regions.

The event is sponsored by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation.

Contact: PD Dr. Benjamin Steiner Inhaber der Vertretungsprofessur für Wissenskulturen der Europäischen Neuzeit (Faculty of Philosophy)

For more information, visit https://www.uni-erfurt.de/en/forschungszentrum-gotha/ueber-uns/news/news/newsdetail/koerper-und-herrschaft

Conference: Zwischen Himmel und Erde: Musik im Kloster (St. Gallen, Switzerland, 10-13 Sept. 2025), Register by 31 Aug. 2025

Conference

Zwischen Himmel und Erde: Musik im Kloster

Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland

September 10–13, 2025

Register by August 31, 2025

Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen, Cod. Sang. 542, S. 403 (e-codices)

Die Themen Musik und Kloster sind in der Kulturgeschichte untrennbar miteinander verbunden. Der sakralen Musik kommt viele Jahrhunderte lang eine weitaus größere Bedeutung gegenüber der profanen Musik zu, sie ist gleichbedeutend mit einer direkten Aussprache mit Gott.

Die vierte Veranstaltung der Fachtage Klosterkultur thematisiert die Funktion und Bedeutung von Musik im Kloster. Sowohl die Musikpraxis als auch das musikalische Schaffen durch Ordensleute nimmt die Tagung in den Blick, ebenso Fragen zur Erforschung und zu Austauschbeziehungen klösterlicher Musik.

Die Zahl der Teilnehmenden ist begrenzt. Es wird eine Tagungsgebühr von CHF 140,00 erhoben, darin enthalten ist die Tagungsverpflegung (gemäss Programm). Für die Teilnahme an der Exkursion werden zusätzlich CHF 50,00 erhoben.

Anmeldung jetzt möglich über das Anmeldeformular im Internet!

Organisiert wird die Tagung von der Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallen (CH) in Zusammenarbeit mit der Stiftung Kloster Dalheim. LWL-Landesmuseum für Klosterkultur (D) und dem Benediktinerstift Melk (A). Sie findet in St. Gallen statt.

Tagungsprogramm Und Website: https://www.fachtage-klosterkultur.org/de/.

Call for Papers: A History of Textile Cleanliness: Washing and Perfuming Fabrics from the Medieval to the Modern Period (Bern, 28-29 May 2026), Due by 30 Sept. 2025

Call for Papers

A History of Textile Cleanliness: Washing and Perfuming Fabrics from the Medieval to the Modern Period

Institute of Art History, University of Bern, Switzerland, 28-29 May 2026

Due by 30 September 2025

Two Japanese Women Posing with Laundry, 1870s, silver print photograph from glass negative with applied colour, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005.100.505.1 (39b)

International conference organized by Moïra Dato (University of Bern) and Érika Wicky (Université Grenoble-Alpes / LARHRA).

Scientific committee: Olivier David (Institut Lavoisier / Paris Saclay), Aziza Gril-Mariotte (Musée des Tissus, Lyon / Université Aix), Raphaël Morera (CNRS-EHESS), Corinne Mühlemann (University of Bern), Helen Wyld (National Museum Scotland).

In 2024, the Sleeping Beauties exhibition at the MET (New York) engaged visitors in the museum experience by recreating the displayed dresses’ scents – identified through chromatographic analysis – to illuminate their history and relationship to bodily senses. The analyses and interpretations published in the catalogue reveal not only the presence of perfumes but also traces of cosmetics, sebum, polluted air, and wine, among other aromas. While the poetic resonance of these sensory traces may evoke the ephemeral existence of these garments, their scents have not always been perceived as desirable. On the contrary, the history of textiles and clothing is deeply intertwined with practices of washing, stain removal, deodorisation, and perfuming, all of which were designed to ensure their longevity and reusability. This international conference seeks to explore these practices and their significance in textile history.

The historical study of textile cleaning has emerged at the intersection of cultural history, material culture studies, sensory studies, economic history, and archaeology. While textile production, trade, and consumption have been well-documented, research into the maintenance and cleaning of textiles – both as part of everyday domestic practices and in the care of symbolically significant textiles (such as liturgical garments and ceremonial fabrics) – has only recently gained scholarly attention.

Studies on hygiene underlined the role of textiles in approaches to and conceptions of bodily cleanliness, especially through the relationship between undergarments and the body. As noted by Georges Vigarello in his book Le propre et le sale, white clothing has long been associated with personal hygiene. Researchers have particularly focused on the laundering of linens and their symbolic role as indicators of health, moral, and spiritual virtues (Vigarello, 1985; Roche, 1989). Subsequently, the study of cleanliness and the purity of linens has been extended to colonial contexts, where these notions were intertwined with concepts of race and whiteness while also highlighting regional differences in perceptions of cleanliness and body care (Brown, 2009; White, 2012). Concepts connected to health, bodily hygiene, and clean textiles are also closely linked with questions of smells and techniques for scenting fabrics, an area that has been explored by historians and art historians specializing in the senses (Dospěl Williams, 2019; Schlinzig, 2021).

The inception and evolution of cleaning materials and technologies, from the use of soap to spot-removal recipes and chemical innovations, have also attracted the interest of historians (Leed, 2006). For example, some studies have shown how cleaning methods were adapted based on fibre type and colour stability, as well as how the manufacturing of undergarments itself was conditioned by their future washing (North, 2020). These practices of cleanliness have also been addressed through the lens of social actors, particularly in relation to gendered labour. The work of laundresses, who are rarely documented in written records, has been discussed as a form of embodied knowledge and skills (Morera and Le Roux, 2018; Robinson, 2021). Advertising imagery has also served to explore the dynamic between collective perceptions of clean laundry and its commercial dimensions (Kelley 2010).

Building upon this previous research, this international conference seeks to explore textile cleaning from a global perspective and its interplay with hygiene, olfaction, social opinion, aesthetic preferences, quality expectations, ecological issues, and economic imperatives, all of which are inherent to fabrics. The conference aims to investigate these various practices and their part in the everyday experience of life in the past. Who were the people involved in the daily or extraordinary cleaning of fabrics, and which ingredients and tools were used? What knowledge about textiles and their care was shared at the time, and how was it transmitted? How did these practices evolve during the 18th and 19th centuries, a period of intense development in chemistry and industrial science?

The question of care and cleaning becomes even more significant when considering the many lives of textile objects. Cleaning and maintenance certainly varied not only by fabric type but also by purpose and context of use. Household linens and work clothes were used to the last thread – mended, transformed and repurposed. More expensive and refined garments and textile decorations were used more sparingly; some were eventually passed down – and even preserved until today. This aspect prompts an exploration of the wide variety of textiles and the differing care practices for under and outer garments, furnishings, and domestic fabrics. Were undergarments the primary focus of cleaning routines? How were sartorial and furnishing fabrics with complex patterning techniques and precious materials (from silk to metal threads) cared for? How was the shape of specific garments, such as ruffs, maintained through washing? How did the intended use of a textile – ranging from menstrual cloths to ceremonial gowns – influence the choice of cleaning methods? Additionally, given that fabric itself was often used as a cleaning tool, what were the interactions between textiles of varying value?

Conceived as a bodily experience, the cleanliness of fabrics carries significant implications tied to the senses. Indeed, integrating sensory studies with the history of cleanliness enables an exploration not only of the sensory experiences associated with washing or wearing clean linen or clothes but also of the sensory knowledge that developed around it. Thus, it becomes possible to examine which notions of pleasantness or discomfort were associated with textile washing or with specific practices such as drying laundry outdoors. How were the smells associated with cleanliness and the thresholds of sensory perception defined? How was the temperature of the washing water evaluated? In what ways were textural changes in fabric during washing assessed? Moreover, attention to sensorial experiences invites us to consider the significant tradition of perfuming laundry, whether placing sachets in linen drawers or sewing them into the hems of garments.

This conference will encompass geographical regions from the Atlantic world to Europe, Africa, the Islamic world and Asia. Adopting this approach raises numerous questions about cultural differences as well as the circulation of cleaning practices and techniques. It enables an examination of the differences and evolutions in conceptions of hygiene and their relationship to textiles across countries and cultures. Moreover, it highlights how these practices were influenced by factors such as available resources, climate, and social norms, shaping distinct traditions of textile care across different societies. Similarly, a longue durée perspective (from the medieval to the modern period) provides an opportunity to explore both changes and continuities in cleaning habits, shaped by advancements in technologies, evolving medical theories, socio-philosophical morals, and shifts in cosmetic and aesthetic preferences. This approach invites us to map out conceptions of cleanliness and identify thresholds of sensitivity: What is considered clean? What criteria are applied in making this assessment? When do clothes become unwearable? What scents are associated with cleanliness? In this regard, the study of representations – such as those found in art and fiction – can offer valuable insights into historical perceptions of cleanliness and its limits.

The conference will take place at the University of Bern’s Department of History of Textile Arts (Institute of Art History) on 28-29 May 2026. We invite proposals from all researchers, particularly doctoral students and early career scholars, on topics ranging from the medieval to the modern period and across all geographical regions. Proposals (300 words), along with a short biography (150 words max), should be sent to Moïra Dato (moira.dato@unibe.ch) and Érika Wicky (erika.wicky@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr) by 30 September 2025.

For a PDF of the Call for Papers and the Select Bibliography, click here.

Call for Papers: Baltic Bloodbaths. The Use of Political Violence in the Baltic Sea Region 1400–1600, Stockholm University (23-24 Apr. 2026), Due 29 Sept. 2025

Call for Papers

Baltic Bloodbaths. The Use of Political Violence in the Baltic Sea Region 1400–1600

Stockholm University, 23-24 April 2026

Due 29 September 2025

A workshop in 2021 discussed international perspectives on the Stockholm Bloodbath, an important event in the history of the Nordic countries. However, it asks for a follow-up, in order to understand the events in a broader perspective, focusing the use of political violence in the Baltic Sea Region in late medieval, early modern times.

In 2021, we organized a workshop on occasion of the 500th commemoration of the Stockholm Bloodbath in November 1520 (one year late due to Covid). The workshop aimed at presenting new research on the historical events, in particular focusing the international consequences (which previously had not received proper attention in the Danish and Swedish research). We also focused on the aftermath of the event. The workshop has been published, the anthology appeared just a few weeks ago. For more information, see https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463724197/the-stockholm-bloodbath-of-1520.

Whereas the workshop was able to present new sources and perspectives, we think that one vital aspect of the picture is still missing. The Stockholm Bloodbath of November 1520 takes up an iconic status in Sweden and Scandinavia as a decisive turning point in Scandinavian history. Therefore, it has mostly be researched as a singular event, despite different other bloodbaths taking place in Sweden and other realms in the Baltic Sea Region between 1400 and 1600.

With the present conference, we intend to broaden the perspective by applying a comparative approach to the use of political violence in the Baltic Sea Region from roughly 1400–1600. We are especially interested in comparative approaches on acts of political violence, both within a certain realm as well as between different realms. How where these acts of violence legitimized in their times? How are they explained by contemporary and modern historians? What is the role of religious dissent, dynastic conflicts and social uprisings? How can violence be explained as a political instrument?

Papers should be 20 minutes long and in English. The number of presenters is limited to 20. We hope to be able to cover travel and accommodation expenses for all invited speakers.

Are you interested in participating in the conference, please send a paper proposal, no later than 29 September 2025 to the conference secretary at sekreterare@medeltid.su.se.

Contact: heiko.droste@historia.su.se and kurt.villads.jensen@historia.su.se

Call for Applications: Dr. Günther Findel-Stiftung / Rolf und Ursula Schneider-Stiftung, Doctorl Fellowship, Next Due by 1 October 2025

Call for Applications

Doctoral Fellowship

Dr. Günther Findel-Stiftung / Rolf und Ursula Schneider-Stiftung

Annual application deadlines: April 1 and October 1

Thanks to the initiatives by private foundations (Dr. Günther Findel-Stiftung/Rolf und Ursula Schneider-Stiftung) fellowships programmes for doctoral candidates have been established at the Herzog August Bibliothek. These programmes are open to applicants from Germany and abroad and from all disciplines.

Applicants may apply for a fellowship of between 2 and 10 months, if research on their dissertation topic necessitates the use of the Wolfenbüttel holdings. The fellowship is € 1.300 per month. Fellowship holders are housed in library accommodation for the duration of the fellowship and pay the rent from their fellowship. There is also an allowance of € 100 per month to cover costs of copying, reproductions etc. Candidates can apply for a travel allowance if no funds are available to them from other sources.

Candidates who already hold fellowships (eg. state or college awards or grants from Graduiertenkollegs) or are employed can apply for a rent subsidy (€ 550) to help finance their stay in Wolfenbüttel.

New: Thanks to generous financial support by the Anna Vorwerk-Stiftung, the monthly fellowship will be increased by € 150 per month until further notice.

Please request an application form, which details all the documents that need to be submitted, at ed.bah@gnuhcsrof. Reviewers will be appointed to evaluate the applications. The Board of Trustees of the foundations will decide on the award.

Application deadlines: October 1st or April 1st. The Board holds its selection meetings in February and July. Successful applicants can take up the award from April 1st or October 1st onwards each year.

If you send your applications by mail, please submit only unstapled documents and no folders.

You can find more information about the foundation here. 

Fellowship Programme Expanded: Footnote Fund

Former holders of fellowships from the foundations can apply for further financial support. The Footnote Fund supports scholars who are either at the final stage of their doctorate or are working on the revision for the publication and wish to return to the library for a short stay – for example, should they need to review or add further source material. The fellowship is € 500 for Germans and € 750 for international applicants.

New: Thanks to generous financial support by the Anna Vorwerk-Stiftung, the fellowship will be increased by € 100 until further notice.

Please request an application form at ed.bah@gnuhcsrof.

This expansion to the doctoral programme was made possible thanks to the generous response to an appeal for financial support launched on the occasion of the anniversary of the Dr. Günther Findel-Stiftung in 2013. Further contributions are of course welcome.

Call for Future Host Institution: 26th Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies 2027, Due By 8 September 2025

Call for Future Host Institution

26th Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies, 2027

Due by 8 September 2025

We are now soliciting applications for the Host Institution of Vagantes 2027!

Vagantes is an interdisciplinary conference focusing on the Middle Ages that is entirely organized and run by graduate students. This is a unique opportunity to showcase the Medieval Studies community at your institution, and to gain valuable professional development experience in planning and organizing the event. It is also an excellent opportunity to meet and network with other graduate students interested in medieval studies! Since 2002, Vagantes has been hosted by twenty-two different universities in the US and Canada. Is your institution next?

Applications should be submitted via email to vagantesboard@gmail.com and will be reviewed by the Vagantes Board of Directors. Submissions are due Monday, 8 September 2025.

You can access the application template, view past applications and programs, and learn more here: http://vagantesconference.org/hosting-vagantes/.

Please reach out to vagantesboard@gmail.com with any questions!

Conference: Medieval-Renaissance Conference XXXVIII, University of Virginia College At Wise, 18-20 Sept. 2025

Conference

Center for Medieval-Renaissance Studies of the University of Virginia’s College at Wise

Medieval-Renaissance Conference XXXVIII

September 18-20, 2025

Founded in 1986 by Professors Richard H. Peake and the late Jack Mahony, both of the Department of Language and Literature, the Medieval-Renaissance Conference began as a way of promoting scholarly activity on campus and providing visibility for the College in the larger academic community. The first conference was a success, hosting twelve speakers from mainly area colleges. Welcoming papers on all areas of medieval and renaissance studies, including literature, history, philosophy, art and music, the conference has enjoyed steady growth and increased national presence, with speakers representing institutions across the country – and the occasional international speaker. By the late 1990s it had grown to a gathering of thirty or forty presentations per year, growth that continues the legacy of Professors Peake and Mahony and confirms the value of an academic conference at the College. In spite of this growth, the conference remains small enough to foster a sense of academic community, generating lively discussions and feedback not always achievable at larger conferences. We also work to maintain an open, informal and friendly setting for participants. Many younger scholars, presenting their first academic paper, find their experience with the conference encouraging and helpful to their academic growth.

Sponsored by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the University of Virginia’s College at Wise Medieval-Renaissance Conference promotes scholarly discussion in all disciplines of Medieval and Renaissance studies. The conference welcomes proposals for papers and panels on Medieval or Renaissance literature, language, history, philosophy, science, pedagogy, and the arts.  Abstracts for papers should be 300 or fewer words.  Proposals for panels should include: a) title of the panel; b) names and institutional affiliations of the chair and all panelists; c) a 200-250 word description of the panel).  A branch campus of the University of Virginia, the University of Virginia’s College at Wise is a public four-year liberal arts college located in the scenic Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia. 

Keynote Address

Frederick de Armas, University of Chicago
Cervantes’ Architectures: Windows, Holes, Corners and Fissures

For more information and to register, visit https://www.uvawise.edu/academics/departments/language-literature/medieval-renaissance-conference

Call for Papers for Session: The Spatial Turn in Medieval Studies, IMC Leeds 2026, Due 19 Sept. 2026

Call for Papers For Session

The Spatial Turn in Medieval Studies

International Medieval Congress, Leeds 6-9 July 2026

Deadline: 19 September 2026

Space offers a valuable lens through which to rethink the practices in which religious rituals, material objects and written narratives, such as hagiography and historiography, were embedded. Scholars working within the spatial turn have emphasized that the location and physical spatial contexts of events are inseparable from the way in which they unfolded and the outcomes they produced. Space, both physically and socially constructed, plays a critical role in shaping human experiences, alongside other historical and social factors. This session explores how spatial configurations impacted medieval ways of knowing, by examining how space was conceptualized, structured, and transformed. In doing so, it aims to shed light on the ways in which spatial experience shaped the perceptions and actions of those who occupied it.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Digital reconstruction of medieval objects in their historical space

• Performative actions within the context of their space in which they were performed

• Medieval liturgy and its spatial dimensions and signs for meaning-making

• Space and locations and its influence on medieval audiences

• Descriptions of the use of space in medieval written narrative sources

• Spatial dimensions in medieval manuscripts and its effect on its reader

• Depictions of space in medieval visual images and artworks

• The influence of space and location on the practices surrounding material (ritual) objects

If you are interested in joining these sessions, please send an abstract of max. 250 words, a short bio with affiliation details (institution, department, email address) and an indication if you are joining online or in-person, to Anne Sieberichs (Utrecht University) a.p.sieberichs@uu.nl and Imke Vet (Yale University) imke.vet@yale.edu.
Deadline: 19 September 2025

Call for Papers for Journal: Church Archaeology, Vol. 2026, Due 20 Feb. 2026

Call for Papers for Journal

Church Archaeology

Deadline 20 February 2026

The SCA’s peer-reviewed journal Church Archaeology is seeking submissions for its Vol. 26 (2026) issue. We welcome and provide initial editorial feedback on main research articles, shorter articles, news pieces, and book reviews about all kind of ecclesiastical places of worship, their burial grounds, and material culture.

For a PDF of the Call for Papers, click here.

For more information on the journal, visit https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journal/churcharch

Contact: editorchurcharchaeology@outlook.com

NEW VIDEO! FRIENDS OF THE ICMA PRESENTS MEDIEVAL COMING ATTRACTIONS 2025-2026, Wednesday 21 May 2025, 11am ET (15:00 CET)

NEW VIDEO

FRIENDS OF THE ICMA PRESENTS MEDIEVAL COMING ATTRACTIONS 2025-2026

Wednesday 21 May 2025, 11am ET (15:00 CET)

https://chateaudechantilly.fr/en/collection/the-tres-riches-heures-du-duc-de-berry/; https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459202

The Friends of the ICMA held the latest in a series of special online events on Wednesday 21 May 2025, 11am ET (15:00 CET). The hour-long program previeweed three medieval exhibitions, each introduced by its curator.

Mathieu Deldicque, Director of the Château de Chantilly, presented on the exhibition that he curated, “Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry Musée Condé”, which is running from 7 June 2025 to 5 October 2025.

Melanie Holcomb (Manager of Collection Strategy at The Met Cloisters) and Nancy Thebaut, (Associate Professor in the History of Art at the University of Oxford), both Curators of “Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages”, introduced the exhibition, which will be at the MET Cloisters from 16 October 2025 to 29 March 2026.

Michael Rief, Assistant Director of the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen and Custodian of the Collection, and Till-Holger Borchert, Director of the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen, spoke on the exhibition, “Praymobil. mittelalterliche kunst in bewegung”, which will run from 29 November 2025 to 15 March 2026

The panel was introduced and moderated by Stephen Perkinson, Professor of Art History, Bowdoin College, President of the ICMA.

To watch the video, visit the Special Online Lectures section of the ICMA website.

Call for Applications: AVISTA Graduate Student Research Grant, Due By 15 Oct. 2025, 5pm ET

Call for Applications

AVISTA Graduate Student Research Grant

Due by 15 October 2025, 5:00pm ET

Our application for the Graduate Student Research Grant for the study of art and architecture across borders in the medieval world is open!

This grant of $750 is intended to support an early-stage graduate student’s research on the theme of art that crosses the borders or peripheries of the medieval world. Funds should support research and/or dissemination of scholarship, which may include expenses for conference travel, site visits, or archive visits. The award includes a one-year gift membership to AVISTA.

We are grateful to Robert E. Jamison, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, Clemson University, for underwriting this grant.

The deadline for submitting your application is October 15, 2025, 5:00pm ET.
For the full application instructions and guidelines please see the link here: https://www.avista.org/opportunities-prizes-and-grants

Call for Papers for Session: Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out: Psychedelic Approaches to Medieval Objects, ICMS Kalamazoo 2026, Due by 15 Sept. 2025

Call for Papers for Session

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out: Psychedelic Approaches to Medieval Objects

International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 14-16, 2026

Due By Monday, September 15th, 2025

Psychedelic art, an outgrowth of mid-century counterculture, features numerous motifs that may resonate with medievalists. Surreal imagery, animation, bright colors, and the cross-pollination of disparate media all conspire to evoke a hallucinogenic or heightened response in the viewer. We invite proposals for 20-minute papers considering medieval material culture through a psychedelic lens, or vice versa. A sampling of topics may include devotional objects and visionary or mystical encounters; medievalism in 1960s fashion and design; artistic representations of or, artifacts associated with, psychoactive plant and fungi cultivation; or the synesthetic/multisensory impact of objects.

Please keep in mind that this is an in-person session, which means that only people who plan to attend the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo next May (May 14 - 16, 2026) will be able to participate.

All proposals should be submitted as abstracts no longer than 300 words to the ICMS Confex site: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2026/prelim.cgi/Session/7248

Please contact Sophie Durbin (sophiekhdurbin@gmail.com) or Clara Poteet (clara.poteet@yale.edu) with questions.