ELEVATING THE WORD.
Bimah – Ambo – Minbar – Pulpit as Spaces of Sacred Speech.
Munich, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, July 22-23 2026
The Word stood at the center of religious practice in the medieval sacred sphere. Its proclamation took place on privileged stages that varied according to culture and confession: the Jewish bimah, the Christian-liturgical ambo, the Islamic minbar, and the Christian pulpit. From these sites, theological teachings, moral instruction, and communal messages were delivered in performative acts shaped not only by voice and gesture, but also by their architectural and visual settings. Viewed as dynamic components of religious communication, these monuments reveal important acoustic, visual, aural, and audiovisual dimensions. The international conference Elevating the Word. Bimah – Ambo – Minbar – Pulpit as Spaces of Sacred Speech examines these structures within a transreligious perspective and with particular attention to their audiovisual qualities. Drawing on textual, visual, and material evidence, the conference explores how sacred speech was materially, spatially, and sensorially staged across the three monotheistic religions before c. 1500 CE. The contributions examine a wide range of monuments and religious contexts, from early Christian sanctuaries on the Iberian Peninsula and churches of the eastern Mediterranean to the Romanesque ambos of southern Italy, Mamluk minbars in Cairo, and late medieval pulpits in northern Germany. Through this combination of visual, material, and acoustic approaches, the conference seeks to open new perspectives on the intersensory experience of sacred communication in the monotheistic religions.