The course will examine the interactions between Christian and Islamic art and architecture for the millennium since the foundation of Islam, demonstrating a creative, long-standing and fruitful interchange of forms and ideas. Heavily dependent upon Roman and Byzantine example in its earlier years, Islam returns the favour with interest, offering a series of ideas, forms and models adopted enthusiastically by the West, which helped redefine luxury (in materials such as ivory, ceramics, textiles) and structure (in forms such as the dome and the arch), as well as nurturing and extending a continuing respect for the forms and materials of the Roman world (such as marble, palace complexes and fortresses, luxury goods, and ceramics and textiles).

Each two-hour lecture will take the form of an outline of the area/form in question, followed by a detailed examination of an outstanding monument or group of works and their paragon(s) in the echoing culture.

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