DIGITAL RESOURCES FOR TEACHING
Medieval Art History

[Click here to jump to our crowd-sourced list of digital resources]

Below is a list of digital resources for teaching medieval art history, crowd-sourced from ICMA members and maintained by the Digital Resources Committee. Whether you teach medieval art history entirely online, in a hybrid format, or fully in-person, we invite you to consult the list as you write your syllabi, build your courses in your institution’s LMS, plan lectures, and devise assignments.

In addition to image databases, interactive websites, and individual open-access essays, videos, and exhibition catalogues featuring medieval art and architecture, you will also find select pedagogical resources geared specifically toward faculty members who teach online.

Is there a resource you use in the classroom that you would like to add to the list? Please email your suggestions to the Digital Resources Committee.

Articles & Posts
Sarah Bond, “The Met Museum Just Made 375,000 Images Open Access--But Here Are A Few More Museums That Are #OA,” Forbes (February 8, 2017)
Monica Castillo, "Smithsonian Institution Releases 2.8 Million Images for Public Use," Hyperallegeric (Feb 26, 2020)
Peregrinations 6.2, Fall 2017: an issue “composed of a series of essays exploring the ways in which new technology is significantly changing the field of medieval art history”
Jessica Stewart, “14 Paris Museums Place 100,000 Works of Art Online for Free Download,” My Modern Met (January 15, 2020): see also the Related Articles at the bottom of the page

Databases & Images | Medieval Architecture
Archnet: an open access, intellectual resource focused on architecture, urbanism, environmental and landscape design, visual culture, and conservation issues related to the Muslim world
Ancient Athens 3-D: click the subpage on “Medieval Athens”
Black Monuments Matter: selected cultural heritage sites and monuments in sub-Saharan Africa
Creation of Gothic: images, panoramas, a thesaurus, and more information about 840 early Gothic churches in the Paris region
Crossing Frontiers: Christians and Muslims and their art in Eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus (present-day Armenia, Georgia, and Turkey)
Christ of Light Mosque, Toledo
Images of Rome: The Rodolfo Lanciani Digital Archive
Kingdom of Sicily Image Database
Material Speculation: ISIS (Morehshin Allahyari)
Mapping Eastern Europe
Mapping Gothic France (Media Center for Art History, Columbia University)
Notre-Dame of Paris, Panorama Tour (Media Center for Art History, Columbia University)
Notre-Dame of Amiens: Life of a Cathedral (Media Center for Art History, Columbia University)
University of Pittsburgh’s Images of monuments in England and France
Paris Past and Present
Romanesque Spain
Rome Reborn: see also its Catalog of Sculptures and Smarthistory’s video lecture using it
St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome: A Virtual Basilica
The Urban Legacy of Ancient Rome, Photographs from the Ernest Nash Fototeca Unione Collection
Wikimedia Commons
York Minster Stained Glass Navigator: a collection of high-res images of York Minster’s Great East Window and St Cuthbert Window panels
Zamani Project: documentation of more than 250 structures, rock art sites, and statues at 65 heritage sites in 18 countries across Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia (University of Cape Town)

Databases & Images | Medieval Manuscripts
Digital Scriptorium
Dumbarton Oaks | Byzantine Collection: Manuscripts
e-Codices Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland
Les Enluminures (Book of Hours Tutorial)
Facsimile Finder: Giovanni Scorcioni Looking Through Facsimiles
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library Reading Room
Initiale: catalogue of medieval illuminated manuscripts in French public libraries other than the BnF
Liturgical Books: A basic guide to the Latin liturgy and its books
The Making of The Bible, Newberry Library
Harvard University Library’s Manuscript Resources collection
Monastic Manuscript Project
Morgan Library & Museum, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts
Polonsky Foundation Digitization Project: focus on Greek manuscripts, Hebrew manuscripts, and incunabula (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Bodleian Libraries)

Digital Projects
Closer to Van Eyck: images of the Ghent Altarpiece restoration in extremely high resolution
Crossing Frontiers: Christians and Muslims and their art in Eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus (present-day Armenia, Georgia, and Turkey)
Digital Mappa
Digital Pilgrims Project
Getty’s Legacy of Ancient Palmyra: see also some SketchFab models of destroyed monuments in Palmyra, as well as a cautionary note by Sarah Bond
The Gold Road Interactive Map highlights the people, places, and items related to the medieval Sudanic empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai (Center for African Studies, Howard University)
Global Middle Ages
Imago Urbis: Giuseppe Vasi’s Grand Tour of Rome
Lancelot Project: images of manuscripts of the Lancelot-Grail romance in French prose
The Lordship and Commune Project
Mapping Eastern Europe
Middle East Garden Traditions 
The Nolli Map (1748 Map of Rome)
The Notre-Dame Translation Project: English translations of essays about the history, stabilization, conservation, and restoration of Notre-Dame of Paris in the light of the 2019 fire
The Peutinger Map: digitized by Euratlas and Richard Talbert
Sentiments of Notre Dame
Digital Rolls and Fragments, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Dante's Primary Sources, Italian National Research Council
Visualizing Venice, Duke University, Università IUAV di Venezia, Università degli Studi di Padova
Mapping Manuscript Migrations

Platforms for Producing Digital Projects in the Art History Classroom
ArtSteps
ARIES (Art Image Exploration Space)
Hypothesis
Omeka
Padlet
Storytelling Tools, Knight Lab, Northwestern University
Vialogues
VoiceThread
Voyant
Wix

Videos
2 Byzantinists | A Byzantine Chalice at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
2 Byzantinists | Byzantine Griffin
2 Byzantinists | Byzantine Mosaic of a Personification, Ktisis
2 Byzantinists | Medieval Ivory Boxes: Myth and Luxury in the Middle Byzantine Period
2 Byzantinists | The Melisende Psalter: History and Context
2 Byzantinists | The Menas Flask: A Pilgrim’s Souvenir
2 Byzantinists | Plunder of the Fourth Crusade
2 Byzantinists | Sculpture and the Medieval Crusading Movement: The Column Capitals from Nazareth
2 Byzantinists | Woman with Scroll, An Early Byzantine Sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Amiens Cathedral Choral Experience (Columbia University / Sorbonne University)
Hagia Sophia: The History of the Building and the Building in History (Dumbarton Oaks)
Hagia Sophia: Perspectives from Cultural Heritage (Cornell University)
History of a Medieval Masterpiece: The Lindau Gospels (The Morgan Museum & Library)
ICMA | Curating Becket
ICMA | The Guelph Treasure: Historic Significance and Legal Implications
ICMA | Notre-Dame of Paris: Past and Present
Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online | Short-Form Videos
Khamseen | Al-Aqmar Mosque
Khamseen | The Bobrinski Bucket
Khamseen | Contextualizing the Hünername (Book of Talents)
Khamseen | Dome of the Rock: Original Mosaics
Khamseen | The Egyptian Tentmakers and the Art of Khayamiya 
Khamseen | The Gwalior Qur'an
Khamseen | Islamic Arms and Armor: A Look at Dhu'l Fiqar, ‘Ali's Miraculous Sword
Khamseen | Islamic Art at the Walters Art Museum
Khamseen | The Khanqah of Baybar al-Jashinkir, 1306-1310
Khamseen | Mihrab at the Great Mosque of Córdoba
Khamseen | Ottoman Illustrated Histories
Khamseen | Qusayr ‘Amra, Baths of al-Walid
Khamseen | A Safavid Painting of the Prophet Muhammad's Mi‘raj
Khamseen | A Samanid Epigraphic Dish
Khamseen | Swahili Mosques Between Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean
Khamseen | Touching Mecca & Medina: The Dalā'il al-Khayrāt and Devotional Practices
Khamseen | Water and Sound in Islamic Architecture
The Lewis Chessmen (from “The Masterpieces of the British Museum Collection)
Making the Past Present: Meeting with Medieval Conques (Center for Early Medieval Studies, Brno)
Muslim Journeys | Item #219: Calligraphy
Muslim Journeys | Item #220: Mosques and Religious Architecture
Muslim Journeys | Item #221: The Arts of Trade and Travel
Muslim Journeys | Item #222: Islamic Gardens
Muslim Journeys | Item #223: Islamic Textiles
Muslim Journeys | Item #224: Geometry
Muslim Journeys | Item #225: The Arts of the Book and Miniature Painting
NOVA’s “Building the Great Cathedrals”
Open Arts Objects Archive
Open Arts Objects Archive, YouTube
Middle Ages for Educators (Princeton University)

Exhibition Websites & Virtual Exhibits
Ancient Color (Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan)
Apocalypse Then: Medieval Illuminations from the Morgan (Morgan Library & Museum)
Armenia! (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Balthazar: A Black African King in Medieval and Renaissance Art (Getty)
The Book of Ruth: Medieval to Modern (Morgan Library & Museum)
The Boxwood Project (Art Gallery of Ontario)
Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa (The Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University)
The Colmar Treasure: A Medieval Jewish Legacy (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The Crusader Bible (Morgan Library & Museum)
The Hours of Catherine of Cleves (Morgan Library & Museum)
Illuminating Faith: The Eucharist in Medieval Life and Art (Morgan Library & Museum)
Illuminating Fashion: Dress in the Art of Medieval France and the Netherlands (Morgan Library & Museum)
Illuminating the Medieval Hunt (Morgan Library & Museum)
Imaging the Divine (Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford)
Legacy of Ancient Palmyra (Getty) (see also some SketchFab models of destroyed monuments in Palmyra, as well as a cautionary note by Sarah Bond)
Liturgical Books: A basic guide to the Latin liturgy and its books (Columbia University)
Magnificent Gems: Medieval Treasure Bindings (Morgan Library & Museum)
Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders (Morgan Library & Museum)
Now and Forever: The Art of Medieval Time (Morgan Library & Museum)
The Prayer Book of Claude de France (Morgan Library & Museum)
The Rose Haggadah (Morgan Library & Museum)
Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Treasures of Heaven (Cleveland Museum of Art / Columbia University)
Treasures of Islamic Manuscript Painting from the Morgan (Morgan Library & Museum)
Peter Brathwaite, Rediscovering Black Portraiture

Exhibition Catalogues Available for Download
2019 | The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated (MMA)
2018 | Armenia: Art, Religion, and Trade in the Middle Ages (MMA)
2016 | The World in Play: Luxury Cards 1430-1540 (MMA)
2014 | Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia (MMA)
2013 | Silla: Korea’s Golden Kingdom (MMA)
2012 | Byzantium and Islam: An Age of Transition (MMA)
2011 | Storytelling in Japanese Art (MMA)
2011 | Wonder of the Age: Master Painters of India, 1100-1900 (MMA)
2010 | The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dyansty (MMA)
2009 | Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400-1600 (MMA)
2009 | Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages (MMA)
2008 | The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry (MMA)
2008 | Choirs of Angels: Painting in Italian Choir Books, 1300-1500 (MMA)
2006 | Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Sculpture (MMA)
2005 | Defining Yongle: Imperial Art in Fifteenth-Century China (MMA)
2005 | A Masterpiece Reconstructed: The Hours of Louis XII (Getty)
2005 | Prague: The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437 (MMA)
2004 | Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557) (MMA)
2004 | China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 A.D. (MMA)
2003 | Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe (Getty)
2002 | The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256-1353 (MMA)
2001 | The Armenian Gospels of Gladzor: The Life of Christ Illuminated (Getty)
2001 | Glass of the Sultans (MMA)
2001 | The Treasury of Basel Cathedral (MMA)
2000 | Painting on Light: Drawings and Stained Glass in the Age of Durer and Holbein (Getty)
1999 | Mirror of the Medieval World (MMA)
1998 | From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA)
1998 | Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet (MMA)
1997 | Following the Stars: Images of the Zodiac in Islamic Art (MMA)
1997 | The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261 (MMA)
1997 | When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles (MMA)
1996 | Enamels of Limoges, 1100-1350 (MMA)
1995 | Book Arts of Isfahan: Diversity and Identity in Seventeenth-Century Persia (Getty)
1995 | Textiles of Late Antiquity (MMA)
1994 | Illustrated Poetry and Epic Images: Persian Painting of the 1330s and 1340s (MMA)
1994 | Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 1300-1450 (MMA)
1993 | The Art of Medieval Spain, A.D. 500-1200 (MMA)
1993 | Persian Tiles (MMA)
1992 | Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain (MMA)
1991 | A Thousand Years of the Bible (Getty)
1989 | Persian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA)
1988 | The Leiden Aratea: Ancient Constellations in a Medieval Manuscript (Getty)
1987 | Nishapur: Some Early Islamic Buildings and Their Decoration (MMA)
1986 | Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300-1550 (MMA)
1985 | India: Art and Culture, 1300-1900 (MMA)
1984 | The Treasury of San Marco, Venice (MMA)
1983 | Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA)
1982 | Along the Ancient Silk Routes: Central Asian Art from the West Berlin State Museums (MMA)
1982 | Radiance and Reflection: Medieval Art from the Raymond Pitcairn Collection (MMA)
1981 | The Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis in the Time of Abbot Suger (1122-1151) (MMA)
1980 | The Wild Man: Medieval Myth and Symbolism (MMA)
1979 | Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century (MMA)
1979 | Sculpture from Notre-Dame, Paris: A Dramatic Discovery (MMA)
1977 | Treasures of Early Irish Art, 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D. (MMA)
1976 | A King’s Book of Kings: The Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp (MMA)
1975 | The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages (MMA)
1973 | Nishapur: Pottery of the Early Islamic Period (MMA)
1973 | Sung and Yuan Paintings (MMA)
1970 | The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA)
1970 | The Year 1200: A Background Survey (MMA)

“Sempronia displays her skill in rhetoric before three noblemen; dancing in a village square,” in Boccaccio’s Des cleres et nobles femmes, France, ca. 1450, fol. 49r(New York: New York Public Library, MS Spencer 33)

“Sempronia displays her skill in rhetoric before three noblemen; dancing in a village square,” in Boccaccio’s Des cleres et nobles femmes, France, ca. 1450, fol. 49r

(New York: New York Public Library, MS Spencer 33)