Zoe Opacic
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Overview
Overview
Extended absence from the college
2026-2027 Leverhulme Research Fellowship
Biography
Zoë Opačić is Reader in History and Theory of Architecture and specialises in medieval art, architecture and urbanism. She is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She was the editor of the Journal of the British Archaeological Association (2015-2018)
Zoë received her BA and MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art, where she also completed her PhD (2003). Her doctoral thesis on the Emmaus Monastery in Prague, focused on the relationship between that religious institution, its cultural and urban context, as well as its role in the displays of relics in Medieval Prague. This was followed by a series of publications on medieval Prague, Vienna and Krakow and has led to her first Leverhulme Research Fellowship (2015 -2016) working on the project entitled Architecture and Spectacle in the Late Medieval City.
Her profound interest in Central European cities and urbanism generally has led her to a fellowship at the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, at University of Erfurt, where she collaborated on an international project Religion and Urbanity: Reciprocal Formations (2018-2026); and to a visiting fellowship at the Institut für vergleichende Städtegeschichte, University of Münster (2026).
She is currently working on the unique 19-metre scroll depiction of sixteenth-century Rostock drawn by the merchant Vicke Schorler, and studies this remarkable object in the context of Hanseatic trade, architecture, tradition of city views and the Late Medieval and Early Modern visual culture. This research is supported by the Leverhulme Research Fellowship (2026-2027).
Zoë is a regular academic advisor for the Czech, Slovak and Austrian academies of sciences and the Fund for Scientific Research of Belgium. In 2024 and 2025 she was a judge on the panel for the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion awarded by the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain to a book that makes an outstanding contribution to architectural history.
She has authored and edited publications in English, German, Czech and Italian.
Qualifications
- BA, Courtauld Institute of Art
- MA, Courtauld Institute of Art
- PhD, Courtauld Institute of Art
Visiting posts
- Visiting lecturer, Central European University, 01 June 2017
Professional activities
Editor of the Journal of the British Archaeological Association (2015-2018)
Organiser of the Architecture, Space and Society Centre.
The Chapel of Our Lady of the Assumption at Spišský Štvrtok and its International Context (with Alexandra Gajewski), BAA conference Košice: Medieval Art and Architecture in Eastern Slovakia July 2022
Curator of the exhibition: 'Diamond Vaults' at the Architectural Association (November-December, 2005)
External examiner: University of York, Courtauld Institute of Art, UCL, University of Warwick, Central European University, Budapest.
Peer reviewer for a large number of journals including: Studies in Iconography, Speculum, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, Convivium, IKON, JONA (Journal of the North Atlantic), Mellon Studies in British Art, Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture online (MEMO), The Sculpture Journal.
CONFERENCE PAPERS
Religious topography and urban refinement in fourteenth-century Erfurt, Christopher Harper-Bill Research Seminar in Medieval History UEA, March 2024
KEYNOTE Designed to impress: the rise of the square in late medieval Europe, Keynote lecture, Conference: Know your place: (Re)Constructing Spaces in Premodern Visual Cultures, eikones – Center for the Theory and History of the Image, University of Basel, March 2023
Staging Urbanity in the Late medieval City: the examples of Prague and Nuremberg, Conference; Urbanities: History, Concept Uses, University of Erfurt and Max Weber Institute, Nov, 2022
Member of the International Review panel of the Czech Academy of Sciences and of the Austrian Academy
The impact of Brexit on the Higher Education in the UK and it European Connexions, 36 Congress of German Art Historians, Forum ‘Exchange Across Barriers: Researching British Art Post-Brexit organised by the Forum Art History of Britain and Ireland, March 2022
Death and Commemoration in late-medieval Vienna, Max Weber Institute, University of Erfurt (Project: Religion and Urbanity Reciprocal Formations), July 2020
Monachi Sclaui nigri ordinis de Crawacie? Charles IV and Dalmatia, Conference Carolo IV e L’Italia, Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medioevo/ Deutsches Historisches Institut, Rome 2019
Krakow, Prague and Vienna as new Capitals, 94th Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America: The Global Turn in medieval Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 7-9th March, 2019
Places of Greater Safety: Imperial Treasures and Treasuries in the Holy Roman Empire, Conference: Secret Spaces: Medieval Sacristies, Vestries, Treasure Rooms and their Contents, Society of Antiquaries of London, 25th February, 2019
Respondent at the conference Religion and Urbanity: Theorising Mutual Formations, Augustinerkloster, Erfurt, 6-8 November 2018
Between Private Devotion and State Piety: The making of religious landscape in the Imperial Cities of Central Europe, The European Association for the Study of Religions, Bern May 2018
Re-Shaping Cultural memory: The Cult of Slavonic Saints in 14th-Century Bohemia, International Medieval Congress, Leeds, July, 2018
'Awake thou that Sleepest': the Resurrection of Mary Magdalene in Central Europe, lecture, British Archaeological Association, 7 March, 2017.
From the Cattle Market to Charles Square - the development of a Town Square in Central Europe, Workshop: Towns as Living Spaces: Static and Dynamic Aspects of urban Topography, Institut für österreichische Geschichtsforschung (Universität Wien) and Institut für Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit (Universität Salzburg), 4-6 October, 2017.
Palace on the Hill: Prague's Hrad and Krakow's Wawel as Seats of Power in Medieval Central Europe, International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 3-6 July, 2017.
Charles IV: Architectural Legacy and Modern Urban Environment. Panel discussion, London Festival of Architecture, London St Ethelburga Centre, 7th June, 2016
New Towns and their Legacy in Late Medieval Central Europe,MECERN conference, 'Unity and Diversity in medieval (Central) Europe', Olomouc 31 March - 2 April, 2016
Prague's New Town and Religious Plurality under Charles IV. Conference 'Charles IV: An Emperor in Europe (1316-2016)', University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 14 October, 2016
Architecture of medieval Buda in Context, discussion panel on the occasion of the launch of 'Medieval Buda in Context' (Brill, 2016), Central European University, Budapest, 23 September, 2016
Charles at 700 - an Emperor on Display. Public lecture, Prague, National Gallery 15 September, 2016
Cui Bono? The Founding and the Funding of Medieval Religious Institutions under Charles IV. International workshop: Secular and Ecclesiastical Networks in Medieval Central Europe ca. 1100-1400, University of Vienna, 9 June, 2017.
'Through me Kings Rule': A Curious History of the Imperial Coronation Regalia. Conference: Collections and Collecting Ancient, Medieval and Byzantine Art, Christie's Education, London, 23 March, 2017.
The Luxembourgs: the making and unmaking of a great European dynasty. Late medieval Europe seminar, Oxford, Corpus Christi College, 24 February, 2016
From Sacroscape to Cityscape: Images of Central European Towns in Late Medieval Sources. Od veduty k fotografii. Inscenování města v jeho historii, Clam-Gallas Palace, Prague, 6-7 October, 2015
A Tale of Three Cities: Architecture and Spectacle in Prague, Krakow and Vienna. Keynote lecture, Urbanity and Society in the Middle Ages, University of York, King's Manor, 22 May, 2015
Peter Parler: the Emperor's Architect and the creation of Late Gothic Style. ULEMHAS, 13 April, 2015
The Resurrection Tympanum and the Cult of Mary Magdalene in Late Medieval Vienna, The Renaissance Society of America Conference, Berlin 26-28 March, 2015
A Dream of a Great Empire: Charles IV's Slavonic 'programme' reconsidered. International Medieval Congress, Leeds, 7-10 July, 2014
Respondent at the conference Städte im lateinischen Westen und im griechischen Osten.Topographie, Recht, Religion, Vienna and Leoben, 20-23 May, 2014
The Architecture of Ritual in Central Europe. The Art of Ritual: Object, Image & Space in Medieval & Early Modern Europe, Institute of Historical Research, London, 17th May, 2014
Great Cities Need Ceremonies: Vienna’s Stephansplatz and the Topography of Late Medieval Piety. Medieval Visual Culture Seminar, St Catherine's College, Oxford, 6th May, 2014
Town planning under the Luxembourg dynasty and its European context .Heilige, Helden, Wüteriche. Verflochtene Herrschaftsstile im langen Jahrhundert der Luxemburger, Heidelberg, 30 September- 2 October, 2013
Prague under the Luxembourgs: Constructing a Central European Capital. Czech Scholars Day, Czech Embassy, London, October, 2013
The City and Spectacle in Late Medieval Europe. UCL Interdisciplinary Medieval and Renaissance Seminar, May 2011
Vienna's Heiltumstuhl: the sacred topography of Stehpansplatz and its context. Kunst & Geschichte, St. Stephan in Wien, International conference, Vienna, 5 - 8 June, 2011
Architecture and Ceremony in the Piast and Jagellonian Krakow. British Archaeological Association Conference, Krakow 3-7th July, 2011
Fit for a King: Håkonshallen and contemporary royal residences. Lecture on the occasion of 750th anniversary of Norwegian royal palace in Bergen, 9-16 September, 2011
New Rome? Prague as the Capital of the Holy Roman Empire. Centre for Medieval Studies, Bergen, 2009
O Happy Lance! Imperial Relics and their Display in Late Medieval Europe. Cambridge Medieval Seminar, 2009
Passages of Space and Time in Late Medieval Prague. Kinetics of the Sacred Colloquium, Ann Arbor, 2006
Professional memberships
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Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
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Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
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Member of the Council of the British Archaeological Association
Honours and awards
- Visiting Fellow 2018-26 The Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt ,
- Leverhulme Research Fellowship 2026-27 The Leverhulme Trust,
- Visiting fellow Institut für vergleichende Städtegeschichte, University of Münster, September 2026
- Leverhulme Research Fellow 2015-16 The Leverhulme Trust,
- Visiting Fellow Das Leibniz-Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Europa, Leipzig, June 2016
- Research Grant British Academy, May 2007
- Visiting Fellowship Czech Academy of Science, May 2006
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Research
Research
Research interests
- Late medieval art and architecture
- Central Europe
- Medieval cities and urbanism
- Patronage of the courts
- The relationship between architecture and ritual
Research Centres and Institutes
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Teaching
Zoe teaches on the following courses:
- Art History: a Survey (BA History of Art, 1st year)
- Materials and Processes in Art (BA History of Art, 1st year)
- Debates in Art History (BA History of Art 1st year)
- Architecture and Society in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (2nd year course)
- Gothic Cathedral (BA History of Art 3rd year)
- Art and the Sacred (BA History of Art 3rd year)
- Architecture and Spectacle in Late Medieval Europe (Option module for MA History of Art and MA History of Architecture)
- Gothic in England: Architecture, Liturgy and Identity 1170- 1360 (Option module for MA History of Art and MA Medieval Literature and Culture)
- Frameworks: Histories and Theories of Art (MA History of Art)
Teaching modules
- Research Portfolio
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Opacic, Zoe (2026) Staging urbanity in Late Medieval Prague and Nuremberg squares. Religion and Urbanity Online
- Opacic, Zoe (2014) Vienna’s Heiltumstuhl: the sacred topography of Stephansplatz and its context. Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte 62 (1), pp. 81-108. ISSN 0083-9981.
Book
- Chlíbec, J. and Opacic, Zoe, eds. (2015) Studie o středověkém umění věnované Kláře Benešovské [Essays on Mediaeval Art Dedicated to Klára Benešovská]. Setkávání [Encounters]. Prague, Czech Republic: Artefactum Publishing House. ISBN 9788086890753.
- Opacic, Zoe and Timmermann, A., eds. (2011) Architecture, liturgy and identity. Liber amicorum Paul Crossley. Studies in Gothic Art. 1, Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols. ISBN 97825035316701.
- Opacic, Zoe and Timmermann, A., eds. (2011) Image, memory and devotion. Liber Amicorum Paul Crossley. Studies in Gothic Art. 2, Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols. ISBN 97825035316871.
- Opacic, Zoe (2009) Prague and Bohemia: Medieval Art, Architecture and Cultural Exchange in Central Europe. British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions. 32, Leeds, UK: Maney Publishing, British Archaeological Association. ISBN 9781906540586.
- Gajewski, A. and Opacic, Zoe (2008) The Year 1300 and the Creation of a New European Architecture. Architectura Medii Aevi. 1, Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols. ISBN 9782503522869.
- Opacic, Zoe (2005) Diamond vaults. Innovation and geometry in medieval architecture. London, UK: Architectural Association. ISBN 9781902902470.
Book review
- Opacic, Zoe (2017) Emperor Charles IV. Prague and Nuremberg.
- Opacic, Zoe (2015) Review: Saint Louis.
- Opacic, Zoe (2013) ‘Et ils s’émerveillèrent . . .’. L’art médiéval en Croatie.
- Opacic, Zoe (2011) D’or et de feu. L’art en Slovaquie à la fin du Moyen Âge, by Xavier Dectot, Jean-Christophe Ton-That, Evelin Wetter, Dušan Buran and Radoslav Ragac (Musée de Cluny, Paris, 2010).
- Opacic, Zoe (2011) Art at the Luxembourg Court, (review of the exhibition A Royal Marriage. Elizabeth Premyslid and John of Luxembourg - 1310, Prague, Dům U Kamenného zvonu, 2011).
- Opacic, Zoe (2011) ‘Out of Gold and Fire: Art in Slovakia at the End of the Middle Ages’ (Paris, Musée de Cluny, musée national du Moyen Âge (16 September – 10 January 2011).
- Opacic, Zoe (2006) Paul Binski, Becket's Crown: Art and Imagination in Gothic England 1170-1300 (Yale, New Haven and London, 2003).
- Opacic, Zoe (2003) Medieval Art. By VERONICA SEKULES. Oxford University Press (Oxford History of Art Series), 2001. and Medieval Architecture. By NICOLA COLDSTREAM, Oxford University Press (Oxford History of Art Series), 2002..
Book section
- Opacic, Zoe and Szakács, B.Z. (2022) Art and architecture in Medieval East Central Europe. In: Zečević, N. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Central Europe. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190920715.
- Opacic, Zoe (2022) Carlo IV e la Dalmazia. In: Rando, D. and Schlotheuber, E. (eds.) Carlo IV nell’Italia del Trecento. Il "Savio Signore" e la Riformulazione del Potere Imperial. Nuovi Studi Storici. Rome, Italy: Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo. pp. 623-639. ISBN 9788831445285.
- Opacic, Zoe (2021) Urban art, spaces and rituals. In: Gruber, E. and Zapke, S. (eds.) Companion to Medieval Vienna. Brill's Companions to European History. Brill. pp. 497-523. ISBN 9789004395756.
- Opacic, Zoe (2021) Cui bono? The founding and funding of medieval religious institutions under Charles IV. In: Luxford, J. (ed.) Tributes to Paul Binski. Medieval Gothic: Art, Architecture & Ideas. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. pp. 98-109. ISBN 9781912554744.
- Opacic, Zoe (2017) Liturgie in der Stadt: Prozessionen, Altäre und Stiftungen. In: Gruber, C. and Lutter, E. and Schmitt, J.O. (eds.) Kulturgeschichte der Überlieferung im Mittelalter: Quellen und Methoden zur Geschichte Mittel- und Südosteuropas. UTB. Böhlau. pp. 388-398. ISBN 9783825245542.
- Opacic, Zoe (2016) City as sacred space – sacred spaces in the city: a response. In: Gruber, E. and Popović, M. and Scheutz, M. and Weigl, H. (eds.) Städte im lateinischen Westen und im griechischen Osten zwischen Spätantike und Früher Neuzeit: Topographie - Recht - Religion. Publications of the Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Bohlau Verlag. ISBN 9783205202882.
- Opacic, Zoe (2015) Nova Civitas: Edward I and the making of New Winchelsea, Sussex. In: Chlíbec, J. and Opacic, Zoe (eds.) Studie o středověkém umění věnované Kláře Benešovské [Essays on Mediaeval Art Dedicated to Klára Benešovská]. Setkávání [Encounters]. Prague, Czech Republic: Artefactum Publishing House. ISBN 9788086890753.
- Opacic, Zoe (2014) Architecture and ceremony in Cracow and Prague, 1335–1455. In: Roznowska-Sadraei, A. (ed.) Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology in Cracow and Lesser Poland. The British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions. Routledge. ISBN 9781909662407.
- Opacic, Zoe (2013) The sacred topography of Medieval Prague. In: Nordeide, S.W. and Brink, S. (eds.) Sacred Sites and Holy Places: Exploring the Sacralization of Landscape through Time and Space. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols. ISBN 9782503541006.
- Opacic, Zoe (2013) Fit for a king: Håkonshallen and contemporary royal residences. In: Brekke, O.H. and Ersland, G.A. (eds.) Håkonshallen 750 years: Royal residence and national monument. Bergen, Norway: Dreyer's. ISBN 9788282650632.
- Benešovská, K. and Opacic, Zoe (2011) Wenceslas IV and the Chapel of Corpus Christi in the new town of Prague. In: Opacic, Zoe and Timmermann, A. (eds.) Architecture, Liturgy and Identity Liber Amicorum Paul Crossley. Studies in Gothic Art. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols. pp. 157-175. ISBN 97825035316701.
- Opacic, Zoe (2009) Architecture and religious experience in 14th-century Prague. In: Fajt, J. and Langer, A. (eds.) Kunst als Herrschaftsinstrument. Munich, Germany: Deutscher Kunstverlag. ISBN 9783422068377.
- Opacic, Zoe (2009) Medieval Prague, Bohemia and their neighbours: new perspectives and connections. In: Opacic, Zoe (ed.) Prague and Bohemia: Medieval Art, Architecture and Cultural Exchange in Central Europe. British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions. Leeds, UK: Maney Publishing, British Archaeological Association. pp. 1-7. ISBN 9781906540586.
- Opacic, Zoe (2008) Bohemia after 1300: reduktionsgotik, the hall church and the creation of a new style. In: Gajewski, A. and Opacic, Zoe (eds.) The Year 1300 and the Creation of a New European Architecture. Architectura medii aevi. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols. ISBN 9782503522869.
- Opacic, Zoe (2008) Emauzsky kláster a Nové Mesto prazské: Slovanská tradice, císarská ideologie a verejni rituál v Praze 14. století. In: Benesovska, K. and Kubinova, K. (eds.) Emauzy Benediktinský klášter Na Slovanech v srdci Prahy. Prague, Czech Republic: Academia. ISBN 9788020015334.
- Opacic, Zoe (2007) Karolus Magnus and Karolus Quartus: imperial role models in Ingelheim, Aachen and Prague. In: Engel, U. (ed.) Mainz and the Middle Rhine Valley: Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology. The British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions. Maney. ISBN 9781904350835.
- Sommer, P. and Třeštík, D. and Žemlička, J. and Opacic, Zoe and Berend, N. (2007) Bohemia and Moravia. In: Berend, N. (ed.) Christianization and the Rise of Christian Monarchy. Cambridge University Press. pp. 214-262. ISBN 9780511496400.
- Crossley, P. and Opacic, Zoe (2005) Prague as a new capital. In: Drake Boehm, B. and Fajt, J. (eds.) Prague, The Crown of Bohemia, 1347–1437. New Haven, U.S. and London, UK: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Yale University Press. pp. 59-74. ISBN 9780300111385.
- Opacic, Zoe (2005) Reduktionsgotik or Anti-Gothic ? Hall-church development in Fourteenth-century Prague. In: Draper, P. (ed.) Current Work in Architectural History - Papers Read at the Annual Symposium of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 2004. Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. ISBN 9780953925438.
- Opacic, Zoe (2003) The Cosmatesque decoration at the Emmaus Monastery in Prague. In: Fajt, J. (ed.) Court Chapels of the High and Late Middle Ages and Their Artistic Decoration. Prague, Czech Republic: Národní galerie v Praze. ISBN 9788070351901.
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Business and community
Business and community
Outreach
In Conversation with Zoë Opačić, which explored the world of medieval architecture (Sam Fogg Gallery and YouTube, October 2020)
In this interview, Zoë Opačić, discusses her current research into how royalty, religion and relics impacted town planning and architecture, and thus changed the shape of major cities in central Europe (MECERN podcast December 2022)
Programme on the 750 Years of Håkonshallen in Bergen (Norwegian television, September 2011)
Object in Focus - Tracery from Canterbury Cathedral with Zoe Opacic (Sam Fogg and YouTube October 2022)
Lecture on the Cult of Mary Magdalene in Central Europe at the British Archaeological Association (BAA and You Tube, March, 2018)
Summer university “Urban Governance and Civic Participation in Words and Stone" taught at Budapest, Brno and Prague (YouTube July 2022)
Lecture on Places of Greater Safety: Imperial treasuries of the Holy Roman Empire (The Society of Antiquaries and Youtube, Feb 2019)
Lecture on the Diamond Vaults (Architectural Association, June 2005)