Access to and sovereignty over the holy places of Jerusalem is a  frequent source of political tension amongst the three Abrahamic  faiths, while further discord has developed over the religious and  secular identities of the city. There is no question that contemporary  visualisations of Jerusalem are concerned with the political status and  symbolism of Jerusalem as a divided city, disputed state capital and  key issue for the peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian  conflict. However, despite acknowledgement of the deep historical roots  of contemporary political conflicts in the Middle East, the political  significance of earlier visual translations of Jerusalem has often  escaped scholarly attention. This conference aims to address this  important issue. It seeks to look across different historical periods,  geographical boundaries and religious traditions to bring out the range  of political ideas and agendas which underpin architectural  translations, visual representations and physical relics of Jerusalem  in Europe and beyond. Considering the ways in which Jerusalem and its  holy places were imagined, visually represented, and replicated across  the medieval, early modern and modern periods, the conference will ask:  What political interests or regimes have become invested in the  recreation of Jerusalem? How have local or wider political events  impacted on Jerusalem translations and their histories, for example  with regard to iconoclasm and politically motivated acts of vandalism  and destruction? As such, the conference will examine political  dimensions in the construction, use, appropriation, and reception  history of visual translations of Jerusalem, seeking to establish a  productive scholarly dialogue between place, period and political  agenda.

Keynote lectures will be given by Achim Timmermann (University of  Michigan) and Antony Eastmond (Courtauld Institute).

For further information see:  https://www.york.ac.uk/history-of-art/visual-translations-jerusalem/

Papers are invited from researchers in the fields of history of art and  architecture, politics, history, literature, religion, archaeology, and  other relevant disciplines.

Areas of particular interest include: 

• Jerusalem recreations and the definition of nations, states, empires,  cities and peoples
• Political regimes: the recreation of Jerusalem at centres of power  and within political territories? the importance of Jerusalem for the self or public image of rulers
• Current events: the role of visual translations of Jerusalem in  political debates, polemics, propaganda, and political movements?  Jerusalem sites as places of political resistance or rebellion
• The politics of performance, exhibition and consumption
• The use or reuse of Jerusalem sites as memorials
• The politics of loss: destruction or neglect of Jerusalem translations