University of Victoria, Department of Art History and Visual Studies 

This course explores the art and architecture of the Islamic world from the tenth century through the aftermath of the Mongol invasions in the mid-thirteenth century. Covering a wide geographical range – from North Africa to Central Asia – we examine a rich variety of artworks and monuments within a broadly chronological framework.

While the course follows a chronological sequence, it also incorporates thematic lectures on topics such as royal workshops, patronage, and transculturation. Students will engage with a diverse group of artistic media, including architectural structures, manuscripts, paintings, textiles, metalwork, ceramics, and jewelry. These works are analyzed within their broader sociopolitical, religious, and historical contexts.

Special attention is given to both the shared characteristics and the regional and dynastic diversity of Islamic art. Architecture is considered in detail and treated distinctly from other art forms. In addition to analyzing individual monuments, the course investigates their spatial and functional relationships within the Islamic city and examines the urban configurations of major dynastic capitals where the most splendid court-sponsored architectural projects were conducted.

No prerequisites are required. The course assumes no prior knowledge of Islamic art or architectural history, and no knowledge of Persian, Arabic, or Turkish is necessary.

University of Victoria, Division of Continuing Studies

This course explores the art and architecture of six major Islamic empires (Ilkhanids, Timurids, Mamluks, Mughals, Safavids, and Ottomans) that controlled vast regions of Iran, Transoxiana, Egypt, South Asia, and Anatolia, spanning from the Mongol conquests in the 13th century to the early 20th century. Each session will be dedicated to one of these six empires, focusing on one masterpiece from the visual arts—such as manuscripts, paintings, textiles, and various portable objects, including metalwork, ceramics, and jewelry—as well as one architectural masterpiece. We will analyze these works within their broader cultural, historical, and socio-political contexts.

University of British Columbia, Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory

The pre-modern Eurasian continent has been influenced by cross-cultural contact since ancient times. The Silk Roads stand out as the most prominent representation of the extensive cultural interactions that occurred across Eurasia for two millennia.

Travel, broadly defined, is one of the major channels of transportation. Different groups of nomadic and sedentary populations who traversed various cultural zones of Eurasia, regardless of the purpose of their journeys, played a significant role in transmitting ideas, forms, and meanings between the East and West. Artists, artisans, scholars, travellers, merchants, and emissaries, among many others, all contributed to varying degrees to these transcultural interactions. This course introduces the history of the Silk Roads during the Middle Ages through artifacts, buildings, and narratives, exploring how this network of long-distance trade routes facilitated exchanges among diverse cultural groups connected along these routes.

The course adopts a cross-disciplinary approach to the Silk Roads, examining various social, cultural, political, economic, intellectual, artistic, and spiritual aspects of these routes over the past centuries. Therefore, it is hoped that students who complete the course will be able to contextualize the Silk Roads and emphasize their significance not only as commercial trade routes but also as a multifaceted network that enabled the exchange of concepts and traditions.

Although no prior knowledge of art and culture of the Silk Roads is required for this course, general familiarity with the history and geography of Eurasia (such as place names and dynastic titles) is recommended.

University of Victoria, Division of Continuing Studies

Travel, broadly defined, is one of the major channels of transportation. Different groups of nomadic and sedentary populations who traversed various cultural zones of Eurasia, regardless of the purpose of their journeys, played a significant role in transmitting ideas, forms, and meanings between the East and West. Artists, artisans, scholars, travellers, merchants, and emissaries, among many others, all contributed to varying degrees to these transcultural interactions. This course introduces the history of the Silk Road through artifacts and narratives, exploring how this network of long-distance trade routes facilitated the expansion of exchanges among diverse cultural groups connected along these routes.

Kwantlen Polytechnique University, Faculty of Fine Arts

Students will study a survey of the development and history of architecture from the period of the late Baroque in the eighteenth century through to the postmodern architectural styles associated with the contemporary present, approaching architecture as a unique medium with its own visual vocabulary and spatial codes. Students will assess a variety of formal building and visual languages, designs, and theories that have shaped the modern and postmodern history of architecture through the close examination of select buildings and spatial environments set within specific cultural, social, political, and economic contexts of their planning and construction.

University of Victoria, Department of Art History and Visual Studies 

Why do people choose to damage or destroy works of art? While this may appear to be a modern phenomenon, particularly associated with radical religious groups, there is evidence for the purposeful destruction of art (often known as iconoclasm) from early phases in human history through to the present. Destruction can be carried out by organized groups (sharing an affiliation based on religious values or political beliefs) and by individuals. The nature of the destruction can vary according to the ideological concerns of those committing the act itself. In some cases, the defacing of a work of art or monument can be seen to have an artistic value in its own right. This course will survey the different forms of iconoclastic activity through history, using case studies as a means to examine closely the socio-cultural and religious contexts of phases of planned destruction by groups and iconoclastic acts by individual artists.

The course will present examples from different geographical regions and time periods. While there is no foreign language requirement for this course, students should be prepared to become familiar with concepts and terminology based on languages including Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Persian.

University of Victoria, Department of Art History and Visual Studies 

The course examines the art and architecture of the Byzantine Empire and its cultural sphere. It is designed on the basis of three chronological periods in order to help students to understand how Byzantine art and architecture formed and developed in time and space:

1. The Early Byzantine period that extends from the foundation of Constantinople, the new capital of the Roman Empire, in 330 to the Age of Iconoclasm (726-843)
2. The Middle Byzantine period that starts from the abolition of Iconoclasm in 843 and continues until the invasion of Constantinople by armies of the Fourth Crusader and the foundation of the “Latin Empire of Constantinople” in 1204. This phase ended in 1261 and the Byzantine Empire was reestablished in the name of a new dynasty, the Palaiologoi.
3. The Late Byzantine period that extends from 1261 to the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman forces in 1453   

We look at the artistic production of the Byzantine Empire ranging from architectural constructions to manuscripts, paintings, silver vessels, mosaic works, frescos and different forms of portable objects, such as ornaments, artefacts made of ivory, and ceramics, and analyze them in their sociopolitical and historical context. Although the class surveys various works of art and architecture in a chronological sequence, there are occasional lectures on thematic topics, such as iconoclasm, patronage, and intercultural communication between Byzantium territories and the neighbouring lands.

The course does not assume any prior knowledge of Byzantine art and architecture or any ability to read or speak Greek, Turkish, Italian, or Russian.

University of Victoria, Department of Art History and Visual Studies 

University of Victoria, Department of History in Art

University of Victoria, Department of History in Art