The Year 1200 A Symposium

The Year 1200 symposium provided a unique opportunity for scholars to come together to study and discuss works of art that had similarly been gathered from all over the world and exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum. The Year 1200 was a distinguished exhibition, drawn from the treasures of museums and collections throughout the world. In their material luxury and their artistic vitality, the objects assembled had an immediate appeal, underscored and heightened by a sensitive and imaginative display. This commemoration of the centennial of the The Metropolitan Museum of Art demonstrated the Museum's extraordinary capacity to present exhibitions that are both scholarly and popular.

The sculpture, ivories, metalwork, enamels, stained glass, frescoes, mosaics, manuscripts, seals, gems, coins, and textiles included in the exhibition, after three months of contemplation, research, and scholarly discussion, changed the character of the associations of this time period and the identity of its art. This volume of essays, a collection of the papers presented during the March 1970 symposium, includes ideas formulated by scholars prior to the exhibition, but also incorporates the revisions of several authors after they saw and discussed the show with colleagues. The symposium itself and this publication demonstrate the extraordinary spirit of collective activity, truly embodying the ethos of the year 1200. [This book was originally published in 1975 and has gone out of print. This edition is a print-on-demand version of the original book.]