BERGEN, HANSE AND CHURCH ART Art and Cultural History around the North Sea during the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period

Since 2013 the Germany-based Netzwerk Kunst + Kultur der Hansestädte (Network Art and Culture of the Hanseatic Cities) has been a valuable exchange platform for scholars who work on the art and cultural history of the Hanseatic cities of northern Europe. The network currently consists of 116 scholars in 15 countries and from 10 different disciplines. Every second year the network organizes a conference in a Hanseatic city; earlier editions have taken place in Greifswald (Germany) and Visby (Sweden). With Bergen as the next venue, the network will widen its focus westward to Norway and the North Sea. This region (including Britain, Norway and the Low Countries) has hitherto remained underrepresented in Hanse research, which has tended to focus on northern Germany and the Baltic. Three focal points are chosen for the Bergen conference, namely: - The cultural history of 'Hanseatic Europe', concentrating on the city of Bergen - Church art as a source for the cultural history of the Middle Ages - Cultural and economic connections around the North Sea Speakers should gear their contributions to one of these topics, in order to ensure that the conference proceedings will result in a well-focused volume. The conference program will include some 12-15 speakers, with lectures spread out over three days, one afternoon guided city walk (Bergenhus, Bryggen, town centre), and a two days' excursion to medieval sites around the Sognefjord (Vik-Hopperstad, Urnes, Borgund, Voss). We expect some 40-50 participants in total. The conference, excursion and ensuing book will reinforce Bergen's identity as a Hanseatic city in scholarly circles. Bringing specialists here will put the city and its religious heritage (including the University Museum's first-class, but too little known, church art collection) on the map. It will also help to tilt the disbalance in Hanseatic research which traditionally looked east, to the Baltic.