For a period of almost 250 years, the Golden Horde, a nomadic regime with origins in the Mongol Empire, controlled a vast territory from the Danube in the west to beyond the Ural mountains in the east. This expansive area, almost a quarter of the known world, contained some of the most innovative art, architecture, and material culture ever produced. Controlling the territory which bridges Europe, East Asia and South Asia, the art created in this region, whether architecture, textile, metalwork, ceramic, or painting, was, as this project will exemplify, the result of one of the most exciting periods of artistic exchange in the history of the world. This conference aims to precipitate a long-overdue awareness of this unique moment in the history of art.

The conference was made possible through the generous support of the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung.

December 7, 2023

9:30–12:00 Visit to the Staatsbibliothek with Dr. Christoph Rauch (speakers only)

12:00–13:00 Lunch for participants (speakers only)

13:00–13:30 Welcome & Introduction

13:30–15:00 Session 1:

Alicia Ventresca Miller (University of Michigan) – Science of the Mongol Past in Northern Mongolia

Jonathan Brack (Northwestern University) – Relics and Mongol religiosity in the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate

Qiao Yang (MPIWG) - ​​Multilingualism in the Golden Horde

15:00–15:15 coffee break

15:15–16:45 Session 2:

Marie Favereau-Doumenjou (University of Nanterre) – Understanding the Golden Horde Through its Material Culture: Five Key Objects

Roman Hautala (University of Olou) – From Confrontation to Coexistence: Diplomatic, Missionary, and Trade Relations of the Latin West with the Golden Horde

Maria Avxentevskaya (MPIWG) The Novgorod Republic in the Northern Connections of the Golden Horde: Communicating Natural Knowledge via the River Route 'From the Varangians to the Greeks'

16:45–17:00 coffee break

17:00–18:30 Session 3:

Margaret Graves (Brown University) – The Evidence of the Earth: Ceramics in the Western Khanates

Ittai Weinryb (Bard Graduate Center) -Metalworking the Golden Horde

Tanja Tolar (University of Bradford) – Glassing the Golden Horde

Dinner for participants

December 8, 2023

9:00–10:30 Session 4:

Aurelia Campbell (Boston College) – Spatial Representation in Yuan Dynasty Tombs

Nicole Kançal-Ferrari (Marmara University) – Architectural Culture of the Golden Horde in Crimea and Beyond: Some Perspectives

Igor Demchenko (University of Kassel) – Russian Imperial and Soviet Perspectives on the Architectural Heritage of the Golden Horde

10:30–10:45 coffee break

10:45–12:15 Session 5:

Yoichi Isahaya (Hokkaido University) – The “Imperial Itinerance” of the Golden Horde

Meekyung MacMurdie (University of Utah) – Manuscript Production and the Golden Horde

Ishayahu Landa (Bonn University) – Jochid Numismatics

12:15–13:15 Lunch

13:15–14:45 Session 6:

Bryan Miller (University of Michigan) – Dragons in the North: Imperial Motifs for Regional Elites along the Siberian Frontier of the Mongol Empire

Eiren Shea (Grinnell College) – Textiles and Dress of the Golden Horde

Elizabeth Williams (Dumbarton Oaks) – Methodologies of Late Byzantine, Mamluk, and Golden Horde Jewelry: Current Debates, New Directions

14:45–15:00 coffee break

15:00–16:30 Keynote - Nancy Steinhardt (University of Pennsylvania) - Golden Horde Remains and Architecture and Urbanism in the Mongol Appanage

16:30 Concluding Remarks (and next steps)