Church Monuments Society – All Hallows Lectures 2024
FREE on-line lectures via ZOOM.
‘Ghastly Grim’: the 17th Century Church Gateways of London – Dr Roger Bowdler, Saturday 16 November 2024 – 5pm, FREE, ON-LINE
Exploring macabre churchyard gateways of 17th century London. The second in our series of All Hallows lectures.
Faith, Hope, Charity and the Regular Solids: Imagery and Symbolism on Church Monuments – Dr Jean Wilson, Saturday 23 November 2024 – 5pm, FREE, ON-LINE
Funerary monuments have many types of imagery, much of it symbolic. The symbolism can range from the commonplace and easily understood to the abstruse, and in meaning from simple images the Christian cross) to complex allegorical programmes. This talk provides an introduction and, it is to be hoped, an encouragement to look more closely at what may sometimes be seen as the minor aspects of monuments.
‘The Style of the Dead: Why Classicism so often gets the best Sepulchral Gigs’ – Alexander Stoddart, HYBRID EVENT: Wednesday 27 Nov 6.30pm at The Alan Baxter Gallery, 77 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6BP, or online:
(Alexander Stoddart is the King’s Sculptor in Ordinary in Scotland).
This final event in the series is being held jointly with the Mausolea and Monuments Trust
The forms of architectural classicism, and especially neo-classicism seem uniquely favoured in the modern world, to house the Dead in the great burial grounds of the western world. Why should these particular styles suit themselves to accommodate the Departed so well? Alexander Stoddart will try to account for this phenomenon, and in the process will explain why architectural Modernism finds itself hopeless when faced with the Tomb. The talk will draw controversial conclusions regarding the moral profile of the Modernist frame of mind and will prosecute the very kernel of the problem, stretching back to the origin of the Universe itself.
The Church Monuments Society is for everyone who is fascinated by tomb carvings, from medieval effigies to modern gravestones. They organise excursions and study days, publish a journal and a newsletter, and advise on conservation and interpretation of monuments.
See churchmonumentssociety.org for more information
