Capital Cities: Art, Architecture, and Identity

Visiting a capital city is often a voyage through history. Rome is a prime example, its ancient temples and triumphal arches evoking the powerful Roman empire, the great dome of St. Peter's Basilica marking both the beginnings of the Christian Roman Empire and the power of the papacy during the Italian Renaissance. This course explores the ways in which art and architecture of capital cities reveal a people's and government's identity, and changing identities over time. The city of Rome is the unifying theme. We start with ancient Rome; shift eastward to Constantinople (modern Istanbul), Constantine's "New Rome"; move northward to Aachen, Charlemagne's "Second Rome"; and end in the New World with Washington, DC, a city inspired in many ways by Roman ideas, politics, and art. Our discussions culminate in an inquiry into the meaning and future of our nation's capital.