University of California, Los Angeles: Paris - Art History: Paris Past and Present - Medieval Art History

Spend a month in the city where Gothic architecture, with its resplendent walls of stained glass, developed in the twelfth century, spreading quickly to become the preferred style across most of Europe.  During this period Paris was the capital of European culture, serving as the center of the exalted royal court and boasting the first university, the largest urban population, and some of the most beautiful art and architecture in the West.  Learn how the prestige that defines Paris to this very day can be traced back to the Middle Ages. This program employs the city of Paris—its medieval monuments such as Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle, as well as its unparalleled museums such as the Louvre and the Cluny museum—as a basis for the study of medieval art, architecture, and urban-national history.