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Art and the City: Antiquity to Renaissance (Plus Gallery Talks)
Year course
+44 (0)20 7942 2000
For more details, see V&A Academy online questions · V&A
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Being up close with treasured objects from the V&A's collections brings your learning to life. Get precious time with our expert tutors and your fellow learners.
Choose between three ticket types: Course, Course plus Gallery Talks or Online Stream!
From the legendary towers of Babylon to the shimmering canals of Venice, the story of Western civilization is written in the stones, sculptures, and skylines of its cities...
Join experts in one of the world’s leading museums to embark on a captivating voyage of discovery through the ancient cities which shaped western civilization. With exclusive access to V&A treasures and experts, you’ll travel back across millennia of urban history and myth through the paintings, sculptures and architecture which shaped our great cities, and discover how these ancient and medieval urban centres became crucibles of creativity, power, and identity.
This ticket also includes access to your exclusive expert-led gallery tours, where you’ll come face-to-face with objects in the collection to reveal hidden histories of urban grandeur, magnificent treasures and luxury living in the cities of the past…
...Want to know more? Take a look at the course programme for the full schedule, or book now to start your journey of discovery.
Join experts in one of the world’s leading museums to embark on a captivating voyage of discovery through the ancient cities which shaped western civilization. With exclusive access to V&A treasures and experts, you’ll travel back across millennia of urban history and myth through the paintings, sculptures and architecture which shaped our great cities, and discover how these ancient and medieval urban centres became crucibles of creativity, power, and identity.
This ticket also includes access to your exclusive expert-led gallery tours, where you’ll come face-to-face with objects in the collection to reveal hidden histories of urban grandeur, magnificent treasures and luxury living in the cities of the past…
...Want to know more? Take a look at the course programme for the full schedule, or book now to start your journey of discovery.
Your bespoke learning experience:
- Exclusive gallery access: Study unique artefacts from the V&A’s collection in situ with leading experts.
- Ask the experts: Pose your questions directly to V&A experts and subject specialists in our Q&As.
- Behind-the-scenes learning: Access industry insights and learn about how collections are researched, conserved, and interpreted.
- Community of learners: Engage with fellow enthusiasts in a supportive, discussion-rich environment.
- Miss a week? No stress: Access recordings of all your lectures as well as study materials through your secure Microsoft Teams online course environment.
For more details, see V&A Academy online questions · V&A
V&A Academy Course Leader
Dr Kathy McLauchlan
Dr Kathy McLauchlan, graduated at Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute. In 2001 she completed a PhD thesis on French painters in Rome during the 19th century. A lecturer specialising in 19th-century art history, she is currently a course director at the Victoria & Albert Museum and lecturer with the Arts Society, Morley College and Oxford.
Fabulous bitesize approach to learning about european history of art at a crucial time in its evolution, and from so many engaging and knowledgeable experts. Previous V&A Academy Course Attendee
V&A Academy. A learning environment you can trust.
Being up close with treasured objects from the V&A's collections brings your learning to life. Get precious time with our expert tutors and your fellow learners.
Choose between three ticket types: Course, Course plus Gallery Talks or Online Stream!
Course overview
As cities developed in the Middle East and then Europe, the arts increasingly came to symbolize their wealth and power. Changing urban conditions influenced the development of the arts, while painters, sculptors and architects shaped the city environment.
Even after the fall of Greece's empire, Athens retained its prestige as the cultural centre of the ancient world, and its artists provided models for sculpture and architecture that endured for thousands of years. Perhaps no city before or since has matched the grandeur of Rome, yet in the fourth century Constantine sought to make his new capital Constantinople into an imperial capital every bit as glorious. Over the centuries, Constantinople's magnificence became a source of myth, envy and greed. Elsewhere in northern Europe and around the Mediterranean, other cities both Christian and Islamic emerged as centres of art and architecture. We consider these and other cities and the impact on the arts of developments in religion, power and trade.
Love the sound of this course? Look out for the next instalment Art and the City: Renaissance to Early Modern coming up in January 2026.
Love the sound of this course? Look out for the next instalment Art and the City: Renaissance to Early Modern coming up in January 2026.
Enrol now
Year course: Art and the City: Antiquity to Renaissance (Plus Gallery Talks)
22 September 2025 - 24 November 2025
£645.00
Call to book +44 (0)20 7942 2000
Need help enrolling? Talk to the admissions team:
+44 (0)20 7942 2000
Open 10.00 - 13.00, Monday to Sunday (closed 24-26 December)
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