British artist J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) is known for innovative landscape paintings that captured nature’s power and drama. Tim Barringer, a professor of art history at Yale University, places a selection of Turner’s works in historical context. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
With its lavender-laced valleys, seashores, medieval hill towns, and lively cities, the south of France is downright seductive. Travel writer Barbara Noe Kennedy offers a 4-part virtual tour of Provence and the Côte d’Azur and a guide to the regions’ most intriguing sights, historical aspects, food and wine, and art. This session highlights Avignon and La Vraie Provence.
Florentine architecture in the 13th and 14th centuries was characterized by soaring towers, massive fortress-like palaces, breathtakingly beautiful basilicas, and public buildings that set an important precedent for the future palace builders of wealthy patrician families. From her home in Tuscany, art historian Elaine Ruffolo traces how the built environment of medieval Florence clearly reflects the historical development of the city at the dawn of the Renaissance. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Robert Oppenheimer never really thought about the ethics of the atomic bomb until the successful test of a plutonium device at Alamogordo, New Mexico, in July 1945. Then, one of the most highly educated men of the 20th century felt an inrush of ethical anguish and spent the rest of his life trying to come to terms with what he, what America, and what humankind had done. Historian Clay Jenkinson examines the gated world of Los Alamos, the race to build the bomb, Oppenheimer’s ethical quandary about nuclear warfare—and the price he paid for it.
Maimonides and St. Thomas Aquinas, the two pre-eminent Jewish and Christian thinkers of the medieval period, shared a passion for applying the rationalist methods of Aristotle to questions of belief. Ori Z. Soltes, author and Georgetown University professor, considers how these two gigantic thinkers differ and where they share common ground, both generally and in particular, and how they offer relevance to our own world of thought and action.
Expert on art fraud, author, and former FBI agent Robert Wittman draws from his book The Devil’s Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich to recount his 2013 recovery of the long-lost private diary of the Nazi Party’s chief ideologue, who laid the philosophical foundations for the Holocaust. Rosenberg’s diary had been lost for more than 60 years and its long-hidden contents offer first-person insights into the Nazi rise to power, the genesis of the Final Solution, and Germany’s brutal occupation of the Soviet Union.
Leo Tolstoy, Marcel Proust, and James Joyce never won the Nobel Prize in Literature, but Bob Dylan did. Joseph Luzzi, a professor of comparative literature at Bard College, delves into controversial decisions by the Nobel Prize committee and the history of the prize since it was first awarded in 1901.
The relationship between the United States and China has never been easy. Currently, Beijing and Washington view each other with profound distrust and both sides are planning for conflict even as they say they hope to avoid it. China scholar Robert Daly traces China’s 21st-century drive for wealth, power, and status to beliefs, geographic influences, and social and cultural practices rooted in its earliest dynasties.
Two faculty members of Harvard University, Martin Puchner, a professor of English and comparative literature, and Maya Jasanoff, a professor of history, converse on how humanity has sought to understand and transmit to future generations the meaning and purpose of our existence, as expressed in art, architecture, religion, and philosophy.
More than 100 years after his death, few figures in Russian history evoke as much fascination as Grigori Rasputin, often portrayed as the “Mad Monk” who became the political power behind Tzar Nicholas II and his family. Historian Ralph Nurnberger explores the labyrinth of stories surrounding the life and death of one of the early-20th century’s most intriguing characters.
A narwhal tusk and a meticulous painting of a tulip might seem to have little in common, but they were among the wonders of nature and artifice displayed proudly in Renaissance collections of marvels. These early private collections, or cabinets of curiosity, ultimately led to the genesis of the modern museum. Biologist Kay Etheridge describes how this passion for collecting provided naturalists with centers of study and source material for their quest to find order in nature.
During the second half of the 16th century, France was near anarchy, torn apart by vicious cycles of violence between Catholics and Protestants. Historian Alexander Mikaberidze discusses the complex origins of the Wars of Religion in France and provides concise analysis of the wars, their social and economic toll, and the lasting impact of political ideas that they generated.
From India’s elaborately decorated Ajanta Caves to the splendor of the Taj Mahal, UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites offers a spectacular window into South Asia’s past. Art historian Robert DeCaroli highlights palaces, grand temples, royal mausoleums, and more that showcase the subcontinent’s abundant historically and culturally significant destinations. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
In September 2022, the world watched the pageantry of Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral, including the committal ceremony, during which the emblems of royalty were taken from her coffin and placed on the altar. In May. the coronation of King Charles III and his wife, Camilla, will be celebrated. Tudor scholar Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger explores the protocols and traditions that continue the monarchy from one individual to the next.
Between 1779 and 1782, Spanish rangers from the region around San Antonio herded more than 10,000 cows over 500 miles to Louisiana to help feed Spanish soldiers fighting the British in the American Revolutionary War. Spain had joined the war on the patriots’ side in 1779 and would spend the next four years contributing a deluge of soldiers, sailors, ships, and cows to the war effort. University of Maryland historian Richard Bell reveals the hidden history of Spain’s participation in the American Revolution.
PBS television host Darley Newman shares great places to discover in Türkiye (the now-official name for Turkey) and how to get the most out of your travels, whether you’re visiting bustling bazaars in Istanbul or venturing off the beaten path. Discover the most intriguing places to experience food, culture, adventure, and history in Istanbul, Cappadocia, Anatolia, Antalya, and the Aegean Coast.
For over 40,000 years, people have lived and traveled among the islands that dot the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, establishing thriving and interconnected states and societies and creating artworks that express the excitement and vitality of their lives. Art historian Kevin Tervala surveys the artistic practice across 20th-century Oceania, examining the ways that European colonization and decolonization, the Pacific theater of World War II, and the increasingly globalized nature of the economy transformed the work that artists did and the forms that they produced. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
From the tangled jungles of Kerela, black pepper spread around the globe and altered the course of history as it did. Eleanor Ford, award-winning author of The Nutmeg Trail, delves into the history, botany, varieties, and culinary uses of the world’s favorite spice, then turns to the kitchen to explore flavor profiles, cooking tips, and recipes to put pepper to best use.
Gripping tales that abound with fantastic characters and astonishing twists and turns, Greek myths confront what it means to be mortal in a world of powerful forces beyond human control. In a journey from the origin of the cosmos to the aftermath of the Trojan War, classicist Sarah Iles Johnston takes an engaging and entertaining new look at some of the best-known tales—as well as others that are seldom told—and highlights the rich connections among the characters and stories, draws attention to the often-overlooked perspectives of female characters, and stays true both to the tales and to the world in which ancient people lived.
Many of Rome's greatest art treasures are displayed in the private collections of historically influential Roman families. Fortunately, a number of these art collections are now museums open to the public. Rocky Ruggiero, an expert in Renaissance art, surveys four of these private collections and explains how the artworks held there helped shape the Italian Renaissance. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Using powerful sensors and computers—and even a repurposed particle accelerator—cultural heritage researcher Michael B. Toth and his colleagues in humanities and science mine everything from ancient manuscripts to fossils to lacquerware panels for new information about their content and creation. Past projects include the earliest known copy of work by Archimedes, Gutenberg and other early Bibles, and Muslim manuscripts.
With its lavender-laced valleys, seashores, medieval hill towns, and lively cities, the south of France is downright seductive. Travel writer Barbara Noe Kennedy offers a 4-part virtual tour of Provence and the Côte d’Azur and a guide to the regions’ most intriguing sights, historical aspects, food and wine, and art. This session highlights Côte d’Azur.
Discover one of the finest and most personal museums in Washington in a private, small-group experience that invites you to spend a day exploring Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens, the former residence of businesswoman and collector Marjorie Merriweather Post. Stroll through themed gardens at their spring best and take in a mansion filled with stunning collections of French and Russian decorative arts (including Faberge eggs)—all reflections of the distinctive artistic focus Mrs. Post brought to transforming Hillwood into her own after purchasing the estate in 1955. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Many Americans recall the Cuban Missile Crisis as an American-Soviet faceoff that the United States won. Allen Pietrobon, a global affairs professor at Trinity Washington University, disagrees. He argues that the crisis consisted of two sides that came perilously close to destruction and pulled through mostly due to both luck and fear. He examines some close calls and assesses what lessons the crisis can teach about the potential for future nuclear armed conflicts.
Art historian Joseph Cassar explores Russian-born Wassily Kandinsky, a leading figure in the development of abstract painting. His illustrated overview includes a focus on the works Kandinsky produced in the pre-WWI Murnau Period and as part of the avant-garde Blaue Reiter group; his publications and teaching years at the Bauhaus; and a critical analysis of Kandinsky’s abstract paintings and his final years in Paris in the 1930s and ’40s. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Leonardo and Michelangelo: These towering geniuses of Western art disliked each other intensely. But their fraught relationship was fueled by a secret mutual fascination and a fierce competition that spurred them to new levels of artistic achievement. Art historian Nigel McGilchrist depicts the two men as perfectionists and brilliant craftsmen of radically different kinds who revolutionized painting and sculpting. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
Unicorns and centaurs—and other animals, both mythological and real—prance through the Physiologus (The Naturalist), a compilation written in Greek by an anonymous author, probably in Alexandria in the 3rd century A.D. Ilya Dines, a medieval manuscripts specialist, delves into the treatise’s text, illuminations, and legacy.
Siena’s beautiful townscape encapsulates everything we love about Tuscany—charming towns among rolling hills, rich history, and artistic and architectural treasures from its medieval heyday—rivaled only by its Tuscan neighbors, Florence and Pisa. Art historian and author Laura Morelli leads an immersive virtual tour of the city’s most iconic landmarks and masterpieces by Siena’s most enduring artists. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
According to the standard model of global politics, the world is cleanly divided into a set number of fundamental units called nation-states. But global political organization is far more complicated and chaotic, reminds Martin Lewis, senior lecturer in international history at Stanford University. He explores how the world is geopolitically constituted at the ground level, rather than as it is ideally imagined by diplomats, scholars, and foreign-policy experts.
Not long after Martin Luther’s 95 Theses were posted in 1517, dialogue between Protestants and Catholics broke down and devastating religious wars erupted across Europe. Desperate to restore the peace and recover unity, the Catholic church turned to its longtime allies, the arts. Art historian Elizabeth Lev traces how prelates enlisted the century’s best artists to create a glorious wave of beautiful works of sacred art to draw people together instead of driving them apart. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
Art historian Janetta Rebold Benton takes you on a vicarious visit to castle life in medieval and Renaissance England, examining architectural styles, historic structures, and splendid settings. Included are the stories of the grotesque murder of Edward II at Berkley Castle and the adventures of Bess of Hardwick Hall and her four husbands. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
The mosque is the defining element of an Islamic community. While there are a few essential components of a mosque, over time and across geographies an astonishing variety of form, building materials, and decoration in mosque architecture developed. Nancy Micklewright, a specialist in the history of Islamic art and architecture, offers a close look at some of the most iconic and spectacular examples of mosques from a variety of parts of the Islamicate world and how these buildings maintain a connection with a building tradition that stretches back to the 7th century CE. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
This series takes you on a thematic tour of four important topics in ancient Chinese history, the first session focusing on religion. Justin M. Jacobs, a professor of Chinese history at American University, gives you a nuanced overview based on the latest scholarship and illustrated with copious slides.
This series takes you on a thematic tour of four important topics in ancient Chinese history, the second session focusing on ethnicity. Justin M. Jacobs, a professor of Chinese history at American University, gives you a nuanced overview based on the latest scholarship and illustrated with copious slides.
With its lavender-laced valleys, seashores, medieval hill towns, and lively cities, the south of France is downright seductive. Travel writer Barbara Noe Kennedy offers a 4-part virtual tour of Provence and the Côte d’Azur and a guide to the regions’ most intriguing sights, historical aspects, food and wine, and art. This session highlights some of the South of France’s lesser-known charms.
While the historical relationship of India and Great Britain is well-known, events in other countries also affected how India developed into the country it is today. Author Fazle Chowdhury unravels the complicated history of India from its existence as a British colony to an independent Asian nation.
The Treaty of Versailles, designed to be the final chapter of World War I, was the handiwork of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French Premier Georges Clemenceau, and American President Woodrow Wilson. Their idealistic goal of establishing "not Peace only, but Eternal Peace" was never realized. Historian Kevin Matthews explores how that unfulfilled legacy is still being played out in Asia and the Middle East and in Europe and the United States as well as how the men of Versailles created the world we live in.
This series takes you on a thematic tour of four important topics in ancient Chinese history, the third session focusing on law. Justin M. Jacobs, a professor of Chinese history at American University, gives you a nuanced overview based on the latest scholarship and illustrated with copious slides.
During the Late Bronze Age, the Mediterranean region was the stage on which Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Minoans, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Cypriots, Trojans, and Canaanites interacted—a cosmopolitan world system that came to a dramatic halt in 1177 B.C. Historian Eric Cline surveys a period of achievement, upheaval, and catastrophe as he draws on the newest data on the civilizations of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean and their fates.
The radical innovations made by European and American painters and sculptors between 1900 and 1960 forever altered the way we think about visual art. In a richly illustrated course, art historian Nancy G. Heller discusses major works by the period’s seminal painters and sculptors, emphasizing their broader socio-political and aesthetic contexts. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)
Take a visual journey through the years of World War II in Poland and related significant locations—Warsaw, Krakow, and Gdansk—as author and tour guide Christopher Skutela sheds light on the war and its implications. Knowing what happened in Poland provides a deeper understanding of the history of the rest of Europe and a perspective that can help create a better future, Skutela says.
Did Britain’s Lord Elgin rescue ancient Greek marble sculptures and architectural fragments—including a 24-foot marble frieze—from the Parthenon in the early 19th century or did he steal them? Greece's position is clear: The country wants them back from the British Museum. Join art historian Joseph Cassar in an exploration of these ancient sculptures made under the supervision of architect and sculptor Phidias and the controversies that have swirled around them since they left Greece. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)
In 1940, Winston Churchill famously ordered his Special Operations Executive to “set Europe ablaze.” Soon this top-secret army of mavericks began a program of sabotage and subversion behind enemy lines. Historian Rory Cormac traces how Churchill’s enthusiasm for intelligence operations drove a global secret war.
This series takes you on a thematic tour of four important topics in ancient Chinese history, the final session focusing on eunuchs. Justin M. Jacobs, a professor of Chinese history at American University, gives you a nuanced overview based on the latest scholarship and illustrated with copious slides.
Relations between the United States and China are at their lowest point since the 1970s. The superpowers are still highly integrated through trade and conflict remains unlikely, but what President Biden calls an “extreme competition” is well underway. Three of Washington’s leading analysts provide insights into whether and how U.S.-China relations can be managed peacefully in a panel moderated by Robert Daly, director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, serves as moderator.
Whether early stone carvings or produced by satellite imagery, maps are part science and part art—and an indispensable reflection of the way we view our world and ourselves. Geographer John Rennie Scott, author of Cartographic Encounters: Indigenous Peoples and the Exploration of The New World, chronicles the dramatic evolution of mapmaking over the course of human history.
For several days after the death of young King Edward VI in early July 1553, two women considered themselves the ruler of England: his Catholic half-sister Mary Tudor and Lady Jane Grey Dudley. Tudor scholar and historian Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger explores the woman at the heart of the conflict as she considers the life and character of Jane Grey; the political and personal forces at play in Tudor England; Jane’s complicated relationship with Mary Tudor—and why it was necessary for one of them to lose her life.
Jews through the ages were seen as pious and thoroughly immersed in Jewish life, standing apart, often by force, from their non-Jewish neighbors. But rare materials in the Jewish Theological Seminary Library offer a different, more nuanced picture. David Kraemer, the library’s director, examines how specific communities of Jews lived with their neighbors, experiencing life first as human beings and then as Jews.
Ever since its origins in an ancient civilization along the Indus River, the complex culture of South Asia has led to the creation of some of the world’s most remarkable art and architecture. Robert DeCaroli, a professor in the department of history and art history at George Mason University, highlights the artistic traditions and historical changes in the Indian subcontinent from the earliest archaeological evidence to the onset of colonialism. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)
Anatolia’s colorful history has left a windfall of riches—ancient ruins, ornate Byzantine churches, supremely elegant mosques, and splendid Ottoman palaces. In an illustrated series, Serif Yenen, a Turkish-born tour guide and author, highlights the heritage and splendor of ancient Turkey through an examination of some of its cultural gems.
