Category: Billets

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 of the intersection between religion and urbanity. 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.

2024 Joint Conference: Urban Co-Temporalities

In February 2024, the UrbRel group together with the SpatioTemporality group at Erfurt university is organising an international conference on urban Co-Temporalities. The conference focuses on multiple temporalities within an urban environment that appear to coexist. It investigates the question of co-temporalities in the urban setting and asks whether such a concept could prove useful for analyzing the connectivity between co-extensive spaces.

Vergangene koloniale Größe – Das Überseemuseum und die Stadt Bremen im 19. Jahrhundert und heute

Im öffentlichen Diskurs ist das Thema Kolonialismus derzeit sehr präsent. Oft geht es hierbei um unrechtmäßig angeeignetes Kulturgut. Dass hinter der Aneignung von Objekten viel mehr steckt, zeigt Mirjam Wien in ihrem Beitrag. Darin nimmt sie die Narrative des Überseemuseums Bremen damals und heute unter die Lupe.

Conference report: Urbanity. History, Concept, Uses

Our 2022 annual conference was planned as an interdisciplinary event of with innovative format including three parts: a theoretical part on conceptual tools widely used by the KFG, a World Café and lightening talks. It took place in Ettersburg castle (Weimar) and continued on the results of two summer workshops. The conference looked at the concept of urbanity and its possible variations. How do we live (together) in dense urban spaces? How has urbanity been defined so far, how can we contribute to better grasp and describe it?

Impressions from Srirangam

In addition to working on Lyon and Hamburg, Susanne Rau also writes on early modern Indian cities, especially Calicut on the Malabar coast. In September 2022, her itinerary took her to, amongst other places, Srirangam. We are sharing some of her impressions from her last trip to Srirangam and its temples!

2022 Annual Conference on Urbanity

From 16 to 18 November, our annual conference takes place at Ettersburg Castle, close to Weimar. Drawing upon the results of two summer workshops – one on the benefits and pitfalls of typologising cities, the other on morphing urbanities across time and space – the conference has three main parts.

Attitudes, Atmospheres, Aspirations: Erfurt’s squares

Can we perceive Erfurt’s urbanity on its squares? In this hope, we hunted for perceptible atmospheres, attitudes and aspirations while other Erfurters went shopping, picked up their children or enjoyed the sun. The working hypothesis of our research group on “Religion and Urbanity” is that urbanity1 can be defined as a “way of life that emerges because of the size, density, diversity, mobility, instability, and transparency of a settlement or the people living there” (Rau 2020).2

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