CONGRESS CANCELED Cave Architecture and Art in the Middle Ages

Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

Description

Cave churches, monasteries and dwellings can be admired throughout the Mediterranean and Western Europe, where they often appear next to and even intertwined with the built environment. With notable exceptions in Cappadocia and Ethiopia, caves structures are often dismissed because of their small size and simplicity. However, caves and other underground spaces played essential roles in medieval cultures, as demonstrated by their mural decorations and how they appear in hagiographies, pilgrimage accounts and other genres of literature. The three papers in this session will focus on Ani in Armenia; Catania and Syracuse in Sicily and on Ireland, demonstrating the importance that cave structures have played in the environment and in the imagination of the Middle Ages.

Maria Harvey

 
May 7th, 10:00 AM

CONGRESS CANCELED Cave Architecture and Art in the Middle Ages

Schneider 1245

Cave churches, monasteries and dwellings can be admired throughout the Mediterranean and Western Europe, where they often appear next to and even intertwined with the built environment. With notable exceptions in Cappadocia and Ethiopia, caves structures are often dismissed because of their small size and simplicity. However, caves and other underground spaces played essential roles in medieval cultures, as demonstrated by their mural decorations and how they appear in hagiographies, pilgrimage accounts and other genres of literature. The three papers in this session will focus on Ani in Armenia; Catania and Syracuse in Sicily and on Ireland, demonstrating the importance that cave structures have played in the environment and in the imagination of the Middle Ages.

Maria Harvey