Back to Calendar

Buildings on Roman Coins: The Visualization of Urban Atmosphere in Roman Art

As of Domitian, 88–89 CE. Bronze. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University, 2008.115.218.

Lecture Ilse and Leo Mildenberg Memorial Lecture

Harvard Art Museums
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

There is much debate about whether representations of architecture on Roman coins depict actual buildings. In this lecture, Stefan Ritter, professor of classical archaeology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University, in Munich, compares architectural designs in Roman relief sculpture and wall paintings to images on coins in order to demonstrate that artists may have intended not to portray a specific location, but rather to provide the scenery an adequate setting by creating an unspecific urban atmosphere.

The event will be held in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. The lecture will take place from 6 to 7pm. Select galleries will be open for one hour following the lecture.

Free admission. Please enter the museums via the entrance on Broadway.

Complimentary parking available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street, in Cambridge.

To honor the memory of renowned numismatist and scholar Leo Mildenberg (1912–2001) and his years of friendship with Harvard University, a fund was established by his friends and colleagues and endowed in 2005 by his wife, Isle Mildenberg-Seehausen.