Rome: Place, Continuity and Memory

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
  
• Convenor: Dr Dorigen Caldwell
• Assessment: to be confirmed

In this module we will look at ways in which the ancient past has been referenced and enshrined in the evolution of the city of Rome from the Middle Ages to the present. We will begin with a consideration of the history of the city after the fall of the Empire and look at how successive generations of rulers and inhabitants used and re-used the remains of antiquity in their occupation and re-occupation of space.

The legacy that antiquity bequeathed to later ages was so expansive and rich, both physically and symbolically, that it was mined time and again, creating a continuity between past and present which is inescapable even into the twenty-first century. We shall look at a variety of modes of appropriation and memorialisation, from the borrowings of buildings and materials in the Middle Ages, to the creation of classicising styles and the revival of architectural types in the Renaissance, to the challenges faced by today's planners and archaeologists to create a contemporary city out of a heritage site.

As well as looking at broader themes, we shall focus on case studies, which highlight the significance of place and memory in the city and how that has been incorporated into its modern identity.