Medieval Famagusta: Protecting an Endangered Multi-Cultural Heritage
It is difficult to imagine how the cultural heritage of a city as celebrated and as important as Famagusta might find itself neglected and in an advanced state of decay. This was, after all, the coronation place of the kings of Jerusalem, singled out specifically in Dante's Inferno, and chosen by Shakespeare as the set on which to stage Othello. This was a city that once boasted extraordinary wealth, a multi-faith population, and some of the finest moments of Lusignan and Venetian architecture and art found anywhere in the Eastern Mediterranean. So, what was the sequence of events that led to its fall from grace, and what is it that prevents it's heritage from receiving the expertise it so desperately needs in 2014? This lecture explores theoretical notions of cultural heritage and national identity while offering a pragmatic insight into what inter and transdisciplinary work is nevertheless being done, by whom, and with what objectives in mind. It concludes with an appeal to revisit and up-date current international practices for territories that fall outside the system of nations.
Michael J. K. Walsh
Michael J. K. Walsh took his graduate degrees from the Universities of Cambridge, St. Andrews and York and then was, for nine years, employed at Eastern Mediterranean University in the Department of Archaeology and Art History. In this time he successfully nominated Famagusta for inclusion in the World Monuments Fund Watch List, brought the Global Heritage Fund to the same city, and in 2010 acted as team coordinator for the United Nations project ‘Cultural Heritage Data Collection in the northern part of Cyprus’. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in the same year. Some previous publications include: This Cult of Violence (Yale University Press, 2002), London, Modernism and 1914 (Cambridge University Press, 2010), Medieval and Renaissance Famagusta (edited with Nicholas Coureas and Peter Edbury - Ashgate, 2012) and Crusader to Venetian Famagusta (edited with Tamas Kiss - CEU Press, 2014). He is currently Associate Professor of Art History and Associate Chair (Research) in the School of Art, Design and Media, at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Kolloquium Cultural History
Prof. Dr. Michael J. K. Walsh, University Singapore
Prof. Dr. Thomas Dittelbach, Universität Bern
Datum: 12.12.2015
Zeit: 09:00 - 18:00 Uhr
Ort: Universität Bern, Hauptgebäude, Hochschulstrasse 4, Raum 114
Thomas Dittelbach
Thomas Dittelbach, Associate Professor at the University of Bern, Institute of Art History. Prof. Dittelbach established the research center for TransMediterraneanStudies within the Institute of Art History in 2010 with the primary aim to create a research environment that fosters trans- and cross-disciplinary research within the field of art history. Since 2010 he has been a member of the Advisory Board of the annual International Conference of Mediterranean Worlds. In 2005/06 he held the Mercator-Professorship at the Institute of European Cultural History of the University of Augsburg. He habilitated in 2002 in Basel, and received his promotion in 2002 in München. Research focus: art and architecture of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Ages, Norman heritage in Southern Italy and Sicily, Islamic art in the West, Koloritgeschichte, optics, perception theory.
Individual publications: Das monochrome Wandgemälde. Untersuchungen zum Kolorit des frühen 15. Jahrhunderts in Italien, 1993; Rex Imago Christi – Der Dom von Monreale. Bildsprachen und Zeremoniell in Mosaikkunst und Architektur, 2003; La Chiesa Inferiore della Cappella Palatina a Palermo. Contesti – Progetti – Rilievi / The Lower Church of Palermo’s Palatine Chapel. Context – Concepts – Plans / Die Unterkirche der Cappella Palatina in Palermo. Zusammenhänge – Ideen – Pläne, 2005; Geschichte Siziliens. Von der Antike bis heute, 2010; The Cappella Palatina in Palermo – History, Art, Functions. Results of the Restoration. Edited on behalf of the Würth Foundation by Thomas Dittelbach [German/Italian/English], 2011.
