Talks and Tours
Audio recordings
A number of the talks and lectures associated with The Medieval Imagination have been recorded. Browse the links below to listen to a lecture online, or use the link on the right-hand side of the page to subscribe to The Medieval Imagination Lectures podcast.
Free introductory tours & talks
Exhibition introduction
A free half-hour introduction to the exhibition, giving an overview of themes and highlights.
Time: 1 April–12 June - Tues & Fri 1–1.30pm, Thurs 1–1.30pm & 5–5.30pm, Sun 2–2.30pm
Venue: Meet in front foyer, State Library of Victoria
Bookings: Not required (except for groups; 03 8664 7279)
Cost: Free
The curator’s tour
An insightful introduction to the exhibition, guided by the curator, Professor Emeritus Margaret Manion AO, Professorial Fellow in Art History, University of Melbourne, one of Australia’s pre-eminent art historians.
Time: Fri 28 & Sat 29 March, 1–1.30pm
Venue: Keith Murdoch Gallery, State Library of Victoria
Bookings: 03 8664 7016 or bookings@slv.vic.gov.au
Cost: Free
Free audio tour
For an expert commentary on the exhibition by curator Margaret Manion, download the exhibition audio tour to your mp3 player (or borrow a player from the Library’s front foyer desk). Available early April.
Life in the Middle Ages: Free talks
What was it like to live in medieval times? Join three medieval experts to learn about love and beauty, heresy and punishment in the Middle Ages.
Time: 6.30–7.30pm
Venue: Experimedia, State Library of Victoria
Bookings: 03 8664 7016 or bookings@slv.vic.gov.au
Cost: Free
Thursday 1 May
The love of beauty and the beauty of love: How medieval philosophy can save the modern world
Associate Professor John Armstrong, Philosophy, University of Melbourne
John Armstrong will discuss two great themes of medieval thought: the creation of material beauty, which was thought to aid the appreciation of spiritual beauty; and the cultivation of romantic love, with its ideals of devotion, delicacy and sacrifice. What important messages do they hold for modern life?
Listen to the lecture >
Thursday 8 May
Creation and regulation in the 12th century: New ideas and the naming of the heresy
Dr Clare Monagle, Lecturer, School of Historical Studies, Monash University
The 12th-century proto-universities were hothouses of creative theology (Abelard comes to mind), yet the schoolmen’s redefinition of orthodoxy contributed to the rise of a more centralised, and perhaps persecutory, papacy. Clare Monagle will explore this tale of tension between intellectual innovation and social control.
Listen to the lecture >
Thursday 15 May
Medieval prisons: Frightful abodes of misery
Dr Megan Cassidy-Welch, Lecturer in Medieval History, University of Melbourne
Megan Cassidy-Welch will delve into the murky world of medieval prisons – from castle dungeons to royal and urban prisons, and even monastic prisons. She will examine both the idea and the reality of life in what one commentator described as ‘frightful abodes of misery’.
Medieval manuscripts illuminated: Free talks
Discover how manuscripts were made and collected in this illuminating series of illustrated talks.
Time: 6.30–7.30pm
Venue: 22 May & 5 June: Experimedia, State Library of Victoria (Entry 1, Swanston St); 12 June: Village Roadshow Theatrette, State Library of Victoria (Entry 3, La Trobe St)
Bookings: 03 8664 7016 or bookings@slv.vic.gov.au
Cost: Free
Thursday 22 May
The making of a medieval manuscript
Professor Bernard Muir, Medieval Studies, University of Melbourne
In order to better understand the workings of a medieval scriptorium, Bernard Muir assembled a team of specialists to work on two projects, ‘The Making of a Medieval Manuscript’ (40-minute DVD available from evellum.com) and ‘Scriptorium: The tools of the trade’ (due in 2009). In this talk, he discusses the work of medieval artisans and plays a film documenting the process of making a ‘medieval’ manuscript. The film is available from evellum.com.
Listen to the lecture >
Thursday 5 June
Paint and gold in illuminated manuscripts: Methods and meaning
Dr Ursula Betka, Lecturer in Art History, La Trobe University
How were books ‘illuminated’ in medieval Europe? Ursula Betka is a practicing artist who has revived the painting and gilding methods used by medieval iconographers and manuscript illuminators. She will discuss coloured pigments, binders and metals in relation to imagery and symbolism.
Listen to the lecture >
Thursday 12 June
Every book tells a story: Illuminated manuscripts in the State Library’s collection
Shane Carmody, Director of Collections and Access, State Library of Victoria
Visitors to the State Library of Victoria are frequently surprised by the quality of the Library’s holdings of medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts. How did these treasures come to be in the Library’s collection? Shane Carmody will tell some of the stories behind the collection.
Listen to the lecture >
Other talks
The hand in the machine: Facsimiles, libraries and the politics of scholarship (The 2008 Foxcroft Lecture)
Professor David McKitterick, Fellow and Librarian, Trinity College, Cambridge
In this free public lecture, David McKitterick will provide a fascinating introduction to the study of medieval manuscripts, focusing on the University of Cambridge’s rich collection. The annual Foxcroft Lecture honours the work of pioneering Melbourne bibliographer AB Foxcroft (1884–1938). Presented in partnership with the Centre for the Book, Monash University.
Time: Wed 26 March, 6–7pm
Venue: Village Roadshow Theatrette, State Library of Victoria (Entry 3, La Trobe Street)
Bookings: 03 8664 7016 or bookings@slv.vic.gov.au
Cost: Free
Listen to the lecture >
English Books of Hours
Professor Nigel Morgan, Honorary Professor of the History of Art, University of Cambridge
The Book of Hours was the most widely owned and most personal book of the later Middle Ages. Used for private, domestic devotions, it was often elaborately illuminated and illustrated, and its content reveals much about the owner’s daily life, whatever their social rank or position. Nigel Morgan will discuss the special qualities of the English Book of Hours.
Time: Thurs 3 April, 6.30–7.30pm
Venue: Village Roadshow Theatrette, State Library of Victoria (Entry 3, La Trobe Street)
Bookings: 03 8664 7016 or bookings@slv.vic.gov.au
Cost: Free
Listen to the lecture >
Openings
Jeffrey Hamburger, Kuno Francke Professor of German Art and Culture, Sackler Museum, Harvard University, USA
In an age of mechanical – and now virtual – reproduction, we have lost sight of the basic visual unit that structures our experience of the medieval book: the opening. From the origins of the codex as a medium in late antiquity, and in contrast to the scrolls used earlier, the confrontation of verso and recto provided the visual field within which scribes and illuminators had to operate. Jeffrey Hamburger will explore the complex semantics and literally revelatory possibilities of this new medium as it developed over the medieval millennium. (This lecture is the opening keynote address of the conference Imagination, Books and Community in Medieval Europe, and is also open to the public.)
Time: Thurs 29 May, 7–8pm
Venue: Village Roadshow Theatrette, State Library of Victoria (Entry 3, La Trobe Street). Please note changed venue: Storey Hall, RMIT, 342 Swanston St, Melbourne.
Bookings: 03 8664 7016 or bookings@slv.vic.gov.au
Cost: Free
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