What shape should a church have, and how should it be decorated? What symbols or scenes from the Bible would you feature, and how would you portray Jesus? What do your answers to these questions say about your understanding of Jesus and theology? Attempting to answer these questions will take us deep into the study of Christian art.

In this course we will study buildings, paintings, and sculptures in Italy and France that artists over the centuries have created to embody their understanding of the Christian faith. We'll situate the works across various eras of art and architecture, ask what they reveal about how the artists understood the gospel, and consider their influence on our understanding of the Christian faith.

We will go from studying the earliest Christian art in the catacombs to the radically new way of seeing ushered in by the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Our primary texts will include some of the most famous churches and museums in the world: the Duomo and the Uffizi in Florence; St. Peter's and the Vatican Museums in Rome; Notre Dame and the Louvre in Paris. Additional areas of study will be the art of the Early Church (the catacombs and Ravenna), Gothic architecture and stained glass in France (Chartres, Bourges, Paris), the Italian Renaissance (Ghiberti and Brunelleschi) and High Renaissance (Michelangelo and Raphael), and the flowering of the Baroque in Rome (Caravaggio, Bernini, Borromini), besides days spent studying art in wonderful towns like Assisi, Siena, and Orvieto.

Don't mistake this course for merely a guided tour. A thorough knowledge of the sites and texts will be required for papers and examinations. In addition, each student will design their own review of the masterpieces of the Christian faith.

Week 1

• Sunday, Jan. 3: Depart from SFO
• Monday, Jan. 4: Arrive at FLR (Florence) via ZRH (Zurich)
  Activity: Check in at Hotel Rosso 23, Piazza di Santa Maria Novella; Dinner at Osteria de’ Pazzi.
• Tuesday, Jan. 5: Florence
  Activities: San Marco & Fra Angelico, climbing the dome of Duomo, Museum of the Duomo, The Uffizi (Part I).
• Wednesday, Jan. 6: Florence
  Activities: Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Santa Croce, The Uffizi (Part I).
• Thursday, Jan. 7: Florence
  Activities: Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Chapel of the Magi, the Accademia, dinner at Osteria dell'Enoteca.
• Friday, Jan. 8: Florence
  Activities: The Uffizi (Part II).
  (Here are some places in Florence you might want to see, especially if we haven’t slipped any of them into our itinerary: the Palazzo Vecchio (especially to see the Capella di Eleonora by Bronzino, but also the death mask of Dante featured in Dan Brown’s Inferno. Donatello’s Judith is here too, etc.); inside Orsanmichele (especially to see the tabernacle designed by Orcagna); Santa Maria Novella; San Miniato (with the walk there being part of the adventure); the Baptistry; the Duomo.)
• Saturday, Jan. 9: Siena

Week 2

• Sunday, Jan. 10: Depart from Florence, Arrive at Ravenna (via private coach)
  Activities: Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and San Vitale, The Arian Baptistery, Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo, and Dante’s Tomb.
  Depart from Ravenna, Arrive at Assisi
  Activities: Dinner at Il Menestrello.
• Monday, Jan. 11: Assisi
  Activities: Study the Basilica of St. Francis on our own, Formal tour exploring the Lower Basilica.
• Tuesday, Jan. 12: Assisi
  Activities: The Basilica of Santa Chiara and the Upper Basilica of St. Francis, Possible wine tasting at Scacciadiavoli.
• Wednesday, Jan. 13: Depart from Assisi, Arrive at Rome (via private coach)
  Activities: Catacombs of Priscilla, dinner at Il Chianti, a walk by the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the Piazza Navona.
• Thursday, Jan. 14: Rome
  Activities: San Pietro in Vincoli, San Clemente; S. Ignazio; S. Maria sopra Minerva; plus Caravaggio walk (S. Luigi and S. Agostino)
• Friday, Jan. 15: Rome
  Activities: S. Maria Maggiore; The Vatican Museums, Part I
• Saturday, Jan. 16: Rome
  Free day!
  (This is a great day to visit the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, the Capitoline Museum, and oh, so many more including the nearby Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in the Palazzo Barberini to the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna on the far side of the Villa Borghese.)

Week 3

• Sunday, Jan. 17: Rome
  Activities: Santa Maria del Popolo, S. Maria della Vittoria; S. Andrea; San Carlino; S. Giovanni Laterano; Cooking class at Enoteca Corsi, where we eat what we cook! Probable menu: stuffed zucchini blossoms; fettuccine al pomodoro; tiramisú.
• Monday, Jan. 18: Rome
  Activities: S. Pietro; Vatican Museums, Part II.
• Tuesday, Jan. 19: Rome
  Activities: Papal Audience (if the pope is in town); Borghese Gallery; dinner at L’Orso; a walk by the Piazza Navona.
• Wednesday, Jan. 20: Depart from FCO (Rome), Arrive at CDG (Paris), charter bus to Chartres
• Thursday, Jan. 21: Chartres
  Activity: Chartres’ Cathedral.
• Friday, Jan. 22: Depart from Chartres, Arrive at Bourges
  Activity: The Cathedral in Bourges
  Depart from Bourges, Arrive at Paris
  Activity: Walking tour.
• Saturday, Jan. 23: Paris
  Free day!
  (A Few Suggestions: Versailles; Montmartre & Sacre Coeur; more time in the Louvre; time in the Musée d’Orsay; Sainte-Chapelle; Musée de l’Orangerie (to see Monet’s Waterlilies); La Madeleine; Le Petit Palais; Musée Carnavalet.)
  Activity: Dinner at L’As du Falafel (literally, “The Ace of Falafel”), (L’As du Falafel is a Kosher restaurant in the Pietzl or Jewish Quarter of the Marais).

Week 4

• Sunday, Jan. 24: Paris
  Activities: Saint-Germain-des-Pres (and perhaps Saint-Severin); The Louvre.
• Monday, Jan. 25: Paris
  Activities: Saint-Séverin, Saint-Étienne-du-Mont (and perhaps Saint-Sulpice); Dinner at Georgette.
• Tuesday, Jan. 26: Paris
  Activities: The Musée d’Orsay, Dinner at Bouillon Racine.
• Wednesday, Jan. 27: Paris
  Activities: Mass at Notre Dame, The Musée Maurice Denis, Dinner at La Jacobine.
• Thursday, Jan. 28: Depart from CDG (Paris), Arrive at SFO via ZRH (Zurich)

Course Fee: $5,250-5,750
Learn about the Jan Term Travel Scholarship for additional funding.

This fee includes:
Airfare, Local Transportation, Lodging, Excursions (e.g., museums, tours, etc.), Travel Insurance ($35/student - international classes only), Most everything is included except for lunch, dinner, and souvenirs. That means all transport related to the class (such as airfare, charted buses, public transport to sites, etc.), all lodging, all breakfasts, and all admission fees are covered along with several coffee breaks. The fee also includes mandatory evacuation insurance. There will be several full group dinners and even more small group dinners, typically on alternate evenings, since it is easier for many restaurants to accommodate smaller groups, so we can all order off the menu rather than have a pre-set meal.

Estimated cost outside of course fee:
Souvenirs and some meals. Circa $500