Modernity and Lateness in Medieval Architecture, session at 56th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 13–15, 2021

This panel challenges Eurocentric progress models of stylistic change that presuppose a nascent, fully-realized, and late style in architecture. The panel aims to (re)situate the eclectic visual vocabularies of secular and religious buildings from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries that are indebted to medieval building practices and designs within the larger and more established narratives of art and architectural history. Individual papers might address historiographic, methodological, or theoretical concerns related to the study of medieval architecture and its forms, focusing on the legibility and currency of medieval stylistic conventions across cultures over time; the relationships between monumental architecture and other forms of artistic expression; the role of ornament as bearer of cultural meaning and identity; the coexistence of Gothic and antique features; and issues of hybridity and eclecticism in architecture.

Session organizers
Alice I. Sullivan (University of Michigan)
Kyle G. Sweeney (Winthrop University)