Social
elites, as the holders of political power, have always guided the course of
history, and have therefore long been the focus of historiography. Attitudes
towards them have changed a lot over time. Of particular interest in this
respect is the wider Central European area, which has undergone several
profound socio-political changes in the 20th century.
Material
culture is an indispensable historical source for the study of medieval and
modern social elites. It can be found at every turn, with castles, manors,
churches, houses, parks and, last but not least, rich museum collections of all
kinds of objects. By taking it into account and using written and other
sources, we can get a better idea of the life of the former leading social
classes.
In
November 2025, the National Museum of Slovenia and the Milko Kos Historical Institute of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts will organise an
international symposium that will present the life of the former social elites
mainly in the light of material culture as we know it from written and visual
sources, museum collections and immovable heritage. We will limit ourselves to
the period from the High Middle Ages to the March Revolution of 1848, which
brought about the final decline of the feudal order that had been established
for centuries in the Austrian Empire. The spatial context will be Central
Europe, taking into account the wider European context.
The
main aim of the symposium is to shed light on the life of the social elites in
the wider Central European area in the Middle Ages and Modern Period. As a
starting point, we offer an indicative set of topics:
- society
(nobility, clergy, bourgeoisie)
- art
(art styles, art representations, galleries, etc.)
- architecture
(castles, mansions, monasteries, churches, palaces, houses, parks, etc.)
- politics
(provincial estates, hereditary homage, etc.)
- culture
(libraries, literature, music, etc.)
- military
(armouries, armaments, etc.)
- economy
(handicrafts, guilds, etc.)
- museology
(museum collections and objects, etc.)
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The symposium will take place on 11 and 12 November 2025 in the ZRC
Atrium (Novi trg 2, Ljubljana), in Slovenian, German and English.