A project co-organised by Dr Michael Paraskos, lecturer in architectural history at the Art School, has been awarded almost £100,000 by the Los Angeles-based Getty Foundation to explore cultural connections between the Islamic and Christian worlds during the Middle Ages.
Entitled Mediaeval Eastern Mediterranean Cities as Places of Artistic Interchange, the project will be led by Professor Scott Redford of SOAS University of London, and alongside Michael will involve Dr Maria Georgopoulou of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and Professor Robert Ousterhout of the University of Pennsylvania, together with emerging doctoral researchers from across the Mediterranean and Middle East region.
Over a period of three months, starting in March 2021, they will engage in a series of research projects and online seminars looking at how mediaeval cities can be seen as centres for peaceful cultural interactions between Islam and Christianity in a period that is often characterised as being dominated by animosity and war.
Dr Michael Paraskos lectures on various aspects of art history and culture, specialising on our Historic Carving and Conservation courses on the architectural history of London.
Image: Portico of Nicosia’s 14th century Cathedral in Cyprus (credit: Paraskos)