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In the premodern world, the five senses were conceived as central to human perception. This course will explore the significance of the senses in the conception, creation, and reception of the visual art and architecture in the Middle Ages. Medieval objects and buildings were not only meant to be seen, but also to be experienced by touching, tasting, smelling, and hearing. They could elicit multisensory, often performative, or synesthetic responses in the viewers. Each week, we will focus on a specific sense and a related group of images, objects, or buildings to discover how medieval people experienced and interpreted them. To test out these ideas ourselves, we will explore works of art from the collections of Baltimore. Over the course of the semester, we will study sculptures, panel paintings, illuminated manuscripts, reliquaries, stained glass windows, rosaries, censers, spice containers, buildings, and ephemeral objects from Christian, Jewish, and Islamic art.