Jerusalem as Narrative Space (4th-15th Century)

Interdisciplinary Colloquium, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz,
Max-Planck-Institut

7/8 December 2007

Jerusalem is a site of historical events and eschatological expectation.
It could be experienced in its 'real' place, but it was also handed down
through collective memory and belief, or 'merely' imagined. Over the
centuries, in its central role for the Jewish, Christian and Islamic
cultures, Jerusalem became the setting or motif of oral, written and
pictorial narratives. These narratives range from the Bible and Apocryphal
legends, historiographical texts and novels to 'real', fictional or
spiritual pilgrim's reports. Jerusalem thus became a narrated space as
well as a 'narrating' space, or a continuous origin of narratives.

The terms 'narrative' and 'space' are in themselves multi-layered and
their conflation built a highly complex concept. The colloquium will look
at the latter not only in the sense of the Bakhtinian chronotopos, but
also by inviting a broader approach to the study of narrative space. Basic
questions that could be addressed are: How and on what levels has
Jerusalem been transformed into a narrative space? What correlations can
be observed between narrative and iconic dimensions regarding the holy
place(s)? What role do different media (text and image), authors/artists
and the public play, and what are their dynamics? How do pictorial and
textual narratives contribute to the construction and transmission of an
image of Jerusalem? How is Jerusalem portrayed in narrative pictures
(scenes of the Passion, for example) and in illustrated books such as the
Bible and the Haggadah? How are places specified in and by the narrative?
How does the narrative become associated with places? How does the
narrative create and/or transfer places? In the colloquium, the study of
the ?translocation¹ of Jerusalem (in texts, images, architecture,
landscape or relics) will try to overcome the isolated notion of a ?copy¹
or topographical resemblance.

We look forward to receiving contributions from all medieval sections of
art history, literary studies, history, theology, Jewish and Islamic
studies, as well as related disciplines.

Please send your contribution suggestions (1 page) by 10 May 2007 to:

Annette Hoffmann and Gerhard Wolf
Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Max-Planck- Institut
Via Giuseppe Giusti 44
Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz
50121 Firenze - Italia
Tel.: 0039-055-2491178
Fax.: 0039-055-2491166
e-mail: hoffmannkhi.fi.it

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