FIELD TRIPS

Traveling to see art is more than a pleasant variation in the academic year. It is an inevitable part of study. After all, even high-quality reproductions and the latest technology cannot mediate direct contact with incredible objects of medieval art. This experience is almost the same for us as it had been for their intended audiences, and thus it can take us centuries back. The personal contact with these objects in their original environment can help us understand better how they had been perceived in the personal, social and religious context. With these face-to-face encounters, we aim to recognize medieval art as a material reality belonging to both the present and the past. We also aim to understand its meaning, as well as the veneration it received, which is still ongoing at some of the places.

ARMENIA & GEORGIA

January 2023

After the first half of the semester and countless days spent studying in the library, we were looking forward to an excursion that awaited us. We were about to visit two eastern countries located on the Silkroad intersection – Armenia, and Georgia.

SALERNO – GARGANO

May 2022

On that Friday in April, nothing seemed to be working as planned...

SICILY

March 2022

As soon as the spring semester started, we took the benefit of the March days getting slowly yet steadily longer for our next field trip, this time to Sicily.

ISTANBUL

February 2022

As a reward after a difficult exam period, we were eagerly looking forward to our tour of Christian art in Constantinople.

MILAN

November 2021

Milan is among the most often mentioned cities in our lectures about medieval art. That is why I was extremely happy when I finally got the chance to see it. In November 2021, our group of almost twenty students departed on the night train from Vienna.

ROME

Summer 2021

It was difficult, and even sad, to finish our first year without getting to know classmates and without the opportunity of experiencing and sharing ours studies with others. So the offer of an excursion to Rome at the end of summer was not only a welcome addition to the summer holidays, but also an opportunity for us to finally step out from behind our computers and get to know each other in person.

RAVENNA

summer 2021

After a long break because of COVID, the Center for Early Medieval Studies finally took off on a study trip to Ravenna. It wasn’t the Center’s first trip to Ravenna, but it was the first experience with this city for most of the participants. After spending the night on the train from Vienna, we arrived at the railway station in Brescia, where we were supposed to change trains for Ravenna.

CAHORS—CONQUES

summer 2021

We spent the end of the 2020/2021 academic year marching through southern France. Our route led from the town of Cahors, along the river and over low hills, all the way to Conques. We have thus renewed the enduring tradition of contemplating the sights through the eyes of pilgrims.

LAMBACH — MARIA WÖRTH

July 2020

GEORGIA & ARMENIA

November/December 2019

As the winter arrived, few members of the Masaryk University Department of Art History accompanied by some exchange students, took off on a week-long excursion to Georgia and Armenia. Since the majority of the participants had no previous experience in the region, it was thus with almost palpable enthusiasm, excitement, but also tiredness (that could hardly be concealed after a long journey) that the group had their first Georgian experience in Kutaisi: the khinkhali for dinner. Just like the monuments we were about to discover

GRADO — BORGO LUSSARI

August 2019

Like any annual Summer Walks organised by the Centre for Early Medieval Studies, it is once again in small groups that we set out on our, at least for me, unexpected journey. Following the official Cammino Celeste, going from Grado to the Monte Lussari, we began our adventure...

KIEV & ODESSA

June 2019

Our June field trip to Ukraine began with a night arrival to its capital city Kiev. The first day was mainly devoted to visiting some of the local museums. First, we have visited the Khanenko Museum of Arts. The pleasant, almost homely atmosphere of this museum, which originally contained a private art collection of the Khanenko family, revealed a number of rooms with artifacts from...