This course will scrutinize the formation of medieval monumental art during the Ottonian, Romanesque and Gothic periods. These will be examined in relation to the contemporaneous artistic activity in Byzantium and to the Classical tradition. In addition, the works of art will be interpreted in light of the intellectual and political changes that took place in medieval society. These axes will serve as a springboard for a discussion of the term "renaissance" in its medieval context, in regard to style, taste, mysticism and rationalism in art, apocalyptical visions and the Last Judgment, center and marginality, art patronage, and the like.