Program Overview

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History of Art and Architecture

The History of Art and Architecture program at Trinity College Dublin is a four-year, full-time course that leads to a B.A. Honours Bachelor Degree (NFQ Level 8). The program is designed to develop high levels of visual literacy, applicable to a range of career pathways, and explores why works of art look the way they do and what they say about the societies that created them.

Overview

The program develops skills in visual analysis, critical assessment, and communication, and provides students with essential knowledge and skills for documenting and analyzing works of art and architecture. Students do not need any previous knowledge of art history or practical skill in art to take this course.

Pathways

The pathways available are Single Honours, Major with Minor, and Joint Honours. There may also be an opportunity to take this subject up as a New Minor Subject from the second year.

Graduate Skills and Career Opportunities

In recent years, graduates have been employed as lecturers, curators, editors, and writers in universities, galleries, museums, publishing houses, and art salesrooms in Ireland and abroad. Graduates have also worked in a broad range of administrative, commercial, and media-based employment and have commented on the usefulness of visual literacy in the field of marketing, public relations, and journalism.

Your Degree and What You'll Study

This course teaches you how to analyze works of art and architecture and how to understand and explain their historical significance. You will take a broad range of modules covering the history of painting, sculpture, and architecture from antiquity to modern times. Topics available include early medieval art and architecture, global histories of art, Islamic and Japanese art, the art of the Italian Renaissance, the art of nineteenth-century France, and the artistic and architectural achievements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

First and Second Years

In the first year, students take modules that provide an introduction to various aspects of art and architecture, and to the practice of art history. In the second year, students deepen their theoretical understanding, with modules on the methodologies of art history and the display of art.

Third and Fourth Years

In the third and fourth years, students have the opportunity to specialize in areas that are of particular interest to them. In the third year, they can choose from a range of options that may include:

• Antiquity and Innovation in Early Medieval Art
• Painting and Sculpture in the Italian Renaissance
• Architecture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
• The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer
• Art in France
• Global post-modern and contemporary art

These courses comprise a mixture of lectures and small group seminars.

Assessment

Assessment is by coursework, examinations, and a Capstone research project.

Study Abroad

Students studying History of Art and Architecture may apply to spend a year abroad, using the exchange networks of the School of Histories and Humanities. These include Erasmus programme links with universities in Berlin, Istanbul, Madrid, Paris, and Pisa. In addition, the program facilitates exchanges with non-European institutions in Australia, Canada, China, Singapore, and the USA.

Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University Dual B.A. Programme

History of Art and Architecture is also available within the Dual B.A. Programme between Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University. Please note: The Dual B.A. is only open to Single Honours students. Joint Honours students cannot apply to the Dual B.A.

Course Details

• Awards: B.A. Honours Bachelor Degree (NFQ Level 8)
• CAO Information: CAO Points 486 (2024), CAO Code TR043
• Number of Places: 13 Places

Admission Requirements

• English Language Requirements: All applicants to Trinity are required to provide official evidence of proficiency in the English language. Applicants to this course are required to meet Band B (Standard Entry) English language requirements.

Course Fees

For a full list of undergraduate fees, please refer to the relevant section.

Register Your Interest

Register your interest in studying at Ireland's leading university, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin.

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