Fachbereich 04: Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften - Durchführung der Veranstaltung: fremde Unterrichtssprache - Englisch

This seminar examines the history, craftsmanship, functions, and cultural meaning of goldsmiths’ and silversmiths’ work from the Carolingian period (8th century) through to the Baroque era (18th century). We will explore a broad range of objects, including liturgical vessels such as chalices, portable reliquaries, monumental shrines; insignia, such as crowns and sceptres; and items of personal, ceremonial, or symbolically charged significance, such as jewellery.
A central component of the course is an introduction to the principal techniques of historical metalwork — including repoussé, granulation, filigree, and enamelling — alongside their technological development, diffusion and adaptation across the early medieval and early modern Euro-Mediterranean world. In discussing these works, we will consider how such objects were used, what functions they fulfilled in sacred and secular environments, and what they reveal about identity, status, memory, piety, and representation in pre-modern societies.
Goldsmiths’ and silversmiths’ works constitute one of the most significant areas within the applied arts; notably, several of the earliest signed artworks of the medieval period belong to this category. As such, the seminar introduces students to broader historiographical questions of craftsmanship, artistic authorship, and material culture.
The seminar will be delivered primarily in a lecture-based format and taught in hybrid mode: students in Gießen will attend in person, while external participants join online.
On Friday, 26 June, 2026, 2-5 pm, a field trip to the Diocesan Museum in Limburg an der Lahn is planned to study relevant objects in the original. This is part of the curriculum for those who study in Gießen.

Bibliotheken sind die Orte in Universitäten, wo wir seit Jahrhunderten das Wissen für Studium und Forschung finden können – in riesigen Mengen an Büchern und zunehmend auch in digitalen Ressourcen. Diese Räume sind uns daher allen vertraut – aber kennen wir auch ihre Architektur? Anlässlich der baldigen Eröffnung der neuen Gießener UB wird sich dieses Seminar mit der Architekturgeschichte dieses Bautypus vom Mittelalter bis in die Gegenwart auseinandersetzen. Anhand wichtiger Bibliotheksbauten wird gleichermaßen ein Überblick vermittelt und die kunsthistorische Analyse von Architektur geübt.