Art-historical studies of an inter-connected globe have understandably focused on mobile objects, materials, patrons, and artists. But how does architecture fit into discourses of globality, especially in periods before the widespread circulation of architectural drawings and designs? Scholars have long recognised the impact of Italian and northern European prints on the architecture of sixteenth-century Spain and colonial Latin America, or the movement of architects and ideas between Spain and Mexico, or Portugal and Goa. Yet focus on architectural producers or design similarities overlooks ways of using and experiencing architecture that leave little material trace but were nonetheless learnt in distant lands. In this paper, Dr Tom Nickson considers one such experience, an architectural ‘habit’ or behaviour familiar to modern tourists around the world: climbing tall buildings to enjoy the view. From the late fifteenth century onwards evidence multiplies that the great towers of medieval Europe were being climbed regularly by international travellers, who surveyed the cities from their summit and relished the view. This paper focuses principally on tall buildings in Europe and the Mediterranean, but expands to explore related phenomena in Mexico and China. To what extent does tower climbing relate to new methods of surveying and cartography? How do people behave in buildings, and how are expectations about behaviour shaped by encounters with other buildings?
Tom Nickson is Reader in Medieval Art and Architecture at The Courtauld. His research and teaching focus on Spain and England from the 12th to the 16th centuries.
The Medieval Lecture and Seminar Series is kindly supported by Sam Fogg.
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