- Posted 11-Mar-2021
THE UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS ANNOUNCES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CENTRE FOR MEDIEVAL ARTS & RITUALS (CeMAR) AT THE FACULTY OF LETTERS
CeMAR spurs and promotes groundbreaking interdisciplinary research in Medieval Studies. Its unique approach to the study of medieval arts and rituals addresses a long-standing gap in existing research that has not seen medieval arts and rituals as the interdependent and complementary practices that they truly are.
CeMAR proceeds on the premise that medieval arts are imbricated with medieval rituals.
Adopting a holistic approach to medieval arts and rituals, CeMAR greatly contributes to and informs our modern understanding of arts and practices in the medieval period while also highlighting the diverse and exciting ways in which medieval arts and rituals persevere and survive in our times. At the same time, it sheds light on previously understudied facets of medieval times. To study medieval arts and rituals in our modern, Cypriot, context is to bring us closer to our heritage: not only to see and recognise it, but also learn how to preserve it and how to carry it forward.
In this and in many other ways, CeMAR contributes to a broader effort, supported by the European Union and recently charted by the European Cultural Heritage Strategy for the 21st century, or Strategy 21, of conserving the common European heritage.
CeMAR, the only dedicated research centre for the study of medieval arts and rituals in Cyprus, is also unique in its cross-disciplinary focus. It is a centre that houses all disciplines associated with the Humanities (Archaeology, History, Linguistics, Philology, Literature, Classics, Medieval Studies, Philosophy, Theology, Anthropology, Musicology, Visual Arts, Performance Arts and Cultural Studies) – fields represented in CeMAR by members of the academic staff, postdoctoral associates, as well as several international scholars and researchers who have lent their support to CeMAR.
CeMAR is open for new research collaborations as it is currently running four research programmes namely, the Network for Medieval Arts and Rituals (NetMAR), a Horizon 2020 – Twinning – WIDESPREAD-05-2019 programme, Storyworlds in Collections: Toward a Theory of the Ancient and Byzantine Tale (TaleTheory), a POST-DOC/0718/0021 programme funded by the Research and Innovation Foundation of Cyprus, Lactating Breasts: Motherhood and Breastfeeding in Antiquity and Byzantium (MotherBreast), funded by the Research and Innovation Foundation and University of Cyprus and Byzantine Thaumaturgic Narratives: The Art of Miracle Story Collection (ThaumArt), funded by A. G. Leventis Foundation.
Feel free to contact CeMAR at [email protected] and CeMAR’s director, Associate Professor Stavroula Constantinou and to visit CeMAR’s website at https://www.ucy.ac.cy/cemar for more info.
Source: Centre for Medieval Arts and Rituals (CeMAR) (https://bit.ly/3eymo1l)