Carolyn Guile
Department/Office Information
ArtI teach European art and architecture of the 15th-18th centuries in the department of Art and Art History. I recently served as Director of the Program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and am Co-Director of the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization. My research interests include East-Central European art and architecture with an emphasis on the current and historical territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, wooden vernacular architectures in the sub-Carpathian lands, the relationship between architecture and national identity, and the impact of conflict on cultural property and heritage in twentieth- and twenty-first century- Eastern Europe. I am also interested in the use of photogrammetry in heritage protection in Poland and Ukraine.
My book, 'Remarks on Architecture.' The Vitruvian Tradition in Enlightenment Poland (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2015) analyzes, translates, and publishes for the first time a late eighteenth-century Polish treatise on architecture by the statesman and co-author of Poland's 3 May 1791 Constitution, Ignacy Potocki. It discusses Potocki's views on architecture's potential to improve the nation while also serving as a platform for the critique of national and cultural traditions. My current book project is focused on early modern architectures within the sub-Carpathian borderlands.
I serve as President of Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law & Policy Research, where I engage the problem of conflict as it affects cultural heritage and cultural property. With Michael Danti I co-organized the vlog symposium, "Preserving Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict" (2018). For inquiries: director@redarchresearch.org