Contesting Images of Jerusalem

‌Although Jerusalem lies at the heart of Christian belief, and although the city marks spiritual centre of the world on medieval maps, there is surprisingly little agreement among the different Christian confessions as to what the city actually represents. In this paper I will examine the different ways in which Jerusalem has been imagined, reconstructed and reinterpreted across the medieval world, ranging from England to the Caucasus. I will examine the often radically contrasting ways in which the meaning and symbolism of the city and its holy sites have been conceived.

Antony Eastmond is AG Leventis Reader in the History of Byzantine Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. He has published books on medieval Georgia and the Empire of Trebizond, and is just finishing a study of global encounters on the frontiers of Christianity and Islam at the time of the Mongol invasions in the thirteenth century. He also has an interest in the visual qualities of inscriptions, and has edited Viewing Inscriptions in the Late Antique and Medieval World, to be published by CUP in autumn 2015.

Antony Eastmond presents this public lecture as part of the The Politics of Visual Translations of Jerusalem conference.  

Admission is free and everyone is welcome.