Author: urbrel

Call for Applications: Fellowships 2024/25

The “Religion and Urbanity” research group invites applications for fellowships in the period of 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025. Fellowships are granted for a period of 3 to 6 months, beginning usually in March/April or September/October. The deadline is 1 October 2023.

Shifting Paradigms in Black Death Chronologies

After decades of doubt about the nature of the disease that caused the Black Death, the identification in 2011 of Yersinia pestis in a 14th-century London cemetery – and, most importantly, the revelation of its genetic proximity to current forms of the bacterium – closed that (sometimes harsh) debate, and demonstrated beyond all doubt the main role of paleogenomics in the future studies of historical epidemics, especially plague. However, the role of historians has not diminished with the arrival of this new protagonist in the field of disease history. On the contrary, the need for on-going multidisciplinary dialogue has become undeniable and mandatory, if the ultimate goal is effectively to advance knowledge about historical epidemic phenomena…

Urban Ressources (City Walk 10)

At the beginning of the summer term we started with our 10th City Walk which was dedicated to the topic of urban ressources. Three stops in the Old Town of Erfurt gave us the opportunity to  discuss different aspects of the subject: commercialism and different interpretations of poverty in past and present, in religious and more urban environments with the visit of the Second Hand Shop at the Johannesturm in Erfurt, monasticism and the ambivalence of wealth and poverty, production and contemplation at the Augustinian monastery, and, finally, the Collegium Maius and the St Michaelis church as two significant urban institutions of the Christian university life…

Susanne Rau wins Thuringian Research Award

Susanne Rau has won the Thüringer Forschungspreis 2023. She is one of the spokespersons of the DFG-funded Humanities Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (Kollegforschungsgruppe, KFG) “Religion and Urbanity”. She received the award for her innovative work on spatial history…

Indian Gardens: KFG Post-Doc Sara Keller on ZDF Terra X History

Historian and building archaeologist Sara Keller currently conducts a research project on Water and Water places in urban South Asia in the framework of the KFG “Religion and Urbanity: Reciprocal Formations” (FOR 2779). In this regard, she is particularly looking at gardens and green landscapes as spaces of urbanity…

Lecture Series 2023: Global Exchanges – Trade, Knowledge, and Religion

Elisa Iori and Mateusz Fafinski of the UrbRel research group are organising a public lecture series in the 2023 summer term at the university of Erfurt. In a world where economies, goods, technology, information, and populations are constantly on the move across cultural and national boundaries, the question of the wide-ranging effects of the global mobility and exchange on societies has been at the forefront of academic research over the last four decades.

2023 Annual Conference: Ambivalences of Religion

Aiming at sharpening a heuristic grid for the study of the mutual formation of religion and urbanity, the focus of the conference lies with concepts of religion that address material, socio-spatial, temporal, and power-related issues with a view on religious complexity in general and religious ambivalences in particular. The ultimate aim is to better grasp the entanglement between religion and urbanity and the ways urban and religious practices and ideas can change through the interferences of these internal tensions.

The Community as a ‘Sacred Body’ – An Interpretation of the Garden of Epicurus

Our former fellow Enrico Piergiacomi analyses a small fragment of Epicurus’ correspondence. Its an intriguing moment where religion and urbanity intersect. The philosopher’s reasoning was based on a theology that allowed to imagine the Epicurean school as a divine settlement, or ‘sacred body’, as well as on a conception of the civic and economic relationship that tries to recreate in the human city the same blessedness experienced by the. Economy and spirituality seem to coalesce a single, peaceful whole.

Middle Ages today – A look into the newly reopened Musée de Cluny

Our new postdoctoral fellow Mateusz Fafinski takes a look at the newly renovated Musée de Cluny. Its a success in many ways: The objects have gained a chronological context while still being roughly grouped by their medium. Through the clever use of the architectural fabric the museum itself is a critical commentary on what is ‘medieval’ and what are the Middle Ages.

Exhibition review “Pompeii and Herculaneum – Living and dying under the volcano”, smac Chemnitz

The exhibition “Pompeii and Herculaneum – Living and dying under the volcano” at the smac State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz, running from 11 November 2022to 12 March 2023, shows the everyday life of rich local inhabitants in the antique Roman cities Pompeii and Herculaneum. The exhibition shows what their lives were like before the tragic catastrophe, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. At Pompeii and Herculaneum, urban life was preserved under the ashes. As a result, we can still see how the inhabitants lived and which urban structures shaped their daily life.

Urban Temporalities (City Walk 9)

Our 9th City Walk engaged with the topic of temporalities of which we discussed three aspects: the question of multiple memories with the visit of the new Synagogue in Erfurt, spatial unity and temporal multiplicity at the St Ägidien church, and, finally, hierarchical temporality with the Christmas market as a significant urban manifestation of the Christian temporality.

Search OpenEdition Search

You will be redirected to OpenEdition Search