Art and Architecture of Medieval Alsace
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Special Session
Organizer Name
Gillian B. Elliott
Organizer Affiliation
Corcoran College of Art + Design
Presider Name
Gillian B. Elliott
Paper Title 1
Hagiography versus Archaeology: Monuments of the Veneration of Saint Attala in Saint-Étienne in Strasbourg
Presenter 1 Name
Christian Forster
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Geisteswissenschaftliche Zentrum Geschichte und Kultur Ostmitteleuropa, Univ. Leipzig
Paper Title 2
Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Strasbourg as an Architectural Expression of Transitional Biblical Exegesis
Presenter 2 Name
Richard A. Nicholas
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Univ. of St. Francis, Joliet
Start Date
9-5-2013 10:00 AM
Session Location
Bernhard 210
Description
The Art and Architecture of Medieval Alsace
Nestled between the Vosges mountains in the east and the Rhine river in the west, the region of Alsace entered its Golden Age during the High Middle Ages, when numerous castles and churches were built under the patronage of wealthy local nobles and successive German emperors. As part of the Holy Roman Empire, Alsace was patronized by the Salian kings and emperors (1002-1125); being the homeland of the Staufen dynasty (1138-1254), it enjoyed commissions of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1152-90); while from 1324 Upper Alsace was pawned to the Hapburgs. At the same time, it was the center of Dominican convents and female mysticism as well as a crossroad for pilgrims and merchants on the routes leading from Italy to the Netherlands, and from France to Germany. This session seeks to explore the nature of the cultural and artistic interaction in medieval Alsace, the ways imperial, ecclesiastic, civic, and monastic patronage communicated ideologies through visual rhetoric. The relatively good documentation that has survived (for example in Sélestat) allows a glance into the various modes of experience and responses available to contemporaries. Following the recent publications of Roland Recht (Believing and Seeing, 2008), Bruno Boerner (Bildwirkungen, 2008), and Christoph Brachmann (Um 1300, 2008), the session intends to explore the function of space and objects, and their agency in the Alsatian multi-cultural milieu. What defines this region artistically and how is the art and architecture of Medieval Alsace unique?
Gillian B. Elliott
Art and Architecture of Medieval Alsace
Bernhard 210
The Art and Architecture of Medieval Alsace
Nestled between the Vosges mountains in the east and the Rhine river in the west, the region of Alsace entered its Golden Age during the High Middle Ages, when numerous castles and churches were built under the patronage of wealthy local nobles and successive German emperors. As part of the Holy Roman Empire, Alsace was patronized by the Salian kings and emperors (1002-1125); being the homeland of the Staufen dynasty (1138-1254), it enjoyed commissions of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1152-90); while from 1324 Upper Alsace was pawned to the Hapburgs. At the same time, it was the center of Dominican convents and female mysticism as well as a crossroad for pilgrims and merchants on the routes leading from Italy to the Netherlands, and from France to Germany. This session seeks to explore the nature of the cultural and artistic interaction in medieval Alsace, the ways imperial, ecclesiastic, civic, and monastic patronage communicated ideologies through visual rhetoric. The relatively good documentation that has survived (for example in Sélestat) allows a glance into the various modes of experience and responses available to contemporaries. Following the recent publications of Roland Recht (Believing and Seeing, 2008), Bruno Boerner (Bildwirkungen, 2008), and Christoph Brachmann (Um 1300, 2008), the session intends to explore the function of space and objects, and their agency in the Alsatian multi-cultural milieu. What defines this region artistically and how is the art and architecture of Medieval Alsace unique?
Gillian B. Elliott