The Courtauld Study Tours 2021 – Online

Introduction: The Courtauld Study Tours online

Since the summer of 2020, we have successfully ‘travelled’ in a virtual way, replacing the now impossible experience of being abroad with an unhurried immersion in the wider cultures of our famous destinations.

Our virtual Study Tours explore what is no longer visitable: once-famous buildings, squares and gardens that have been demolished or are inaccessible to the public, and more importantly still, the vanished cultures of the past.

Our tours consider urban spaces, buildings, gardens, and works of art within the context of their contemporary court cultures and artistic milieux, literature, poetry and music.  We provide lectures and ample contextual reading and other materials in advance of an extended Sunday seminar and discussion, so that students have time to immerse themselves fully in the subject and can actively participate  in the live session.

In 2021, out destinations are the capitals of modern art Munich, Brussels and Paris; Renaissance Mantua; the heady art world of 20^th-century New York City; and most poignantly, the great and now ravaged Syrian cities of Aleppo and Damascus, that were once bywords for the peaceful co-existence of different cultures and religions.