The making of urbanity: town architecture in the southern Baltic

The third seminar in the 2018-19 UCL Institute of Archaeology/British Museum Medieval Seminar Series will be given by Joakim Thomasson (Lunds Universitet) on 11 December.

Abstract

Towns are not just the structural settings that enable non-agrarian activities like craft and trade to emerge at specific places. Towns are also performed: produced and reproduced by people interacting with each other and with the social, spatial and material settings. One area of continuous negotiation and of vital importance for the recognition of urbanity is architecture. The lecture will address the general development of urban architecture in the culturally diverse area of the southern Baltic region during the Middle Ages and the beginning of Early Modern times. The characteristic stepped brick-built gable houses and timber-framed buildings are discussed in relation to changing circumstances in the social organisation of, and the power positions within, the building trade.

The Medieval Seminar Series is sponsored by the World Archaeology Section at the UCL Institute of Archaeology and the British Museum.

All meetings start at 6.15pm at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. Attendees are invited to bring news items for announcement before the start of each seminar.

• The programme for the 2018-19 Institute of Archaeology/British Museum Medieval Seminar Series is available to download here»

Seminar Series Convenors:

• Sue Brunning (British Museum)
• Andrew Reynolds (Institute of Archaeology)