What makes space sacred? Legendary religious destinations? Natural or created beauty? Is sacred space defined by what happened there? In this lecture series, (in partnership with the World Monuments Fund), Chautauqua Institution explores the confluence of religion, architecture, history, geography, and culture.
Speakers discuss the sacred spaces of the Abrahamic traditions, the communal spaces that define civilization, and the sacred in the personal that provides peace amid chaos. Through the ten lectures, audiences visit some of the most important and threatened historically sacred sites of the world.
Bio
Elizabeth Barlow Rogers
Elizabeth Barlow Rogers is the president of the Foundation for Landscape Studies, a not-for-profit organization that aims to "foster an active understanding of the importance of place in human life." A resident of New York City since 1964, Rogers was the first person to hold the title of Central Park administrator, a New York City Department of Parks & Recreation position created by Mayor Edward I. Koch in 1979. She was the founding president of the Central Park Conservancy, the public-private partnership created in 1980 to bring citizen support to the restoration and renewed management of Central Park. She served in both positions until 1996.
Rogers is a renowned teacher, lecturer, and writer on the subject of place and the preservation of living landscapes through good design and sound management practices. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the recipient of several awards for her work as a writer and landscape preservationist, including the American Society of Landscape Architects' 2005 LaGasse Medal and the John Burroughs Medal for her book The Forests and Wetlands of New York City (a National Book Award nominee).
Rogers is also the author of Landscape Design: A Cultural and Architectural History, Frederick Law Olmsted's New York, The Central Park Book and Rebuilding Central Park: A Management and Restoration Plan. She also co-authored East Hampton: A History and Guide. She earned a bachelor's degree in art history from Wellesley College and a master's degree in city planning from Yale University.
Process of arranging land, plants, and objects for human use and enjoyment, usually with long and close-up views. Cyclical growth and seasonal changes provide a continuous sense of time and natural rhythms that is absent in buildings and sculptures. Gardens and designed landscapes fill in the open areas in cities and create continuity between urban structures and open rural lands beyond. Landscape-gardening areas may be of any size, from small urban courtyards and suburban gardens to many thousands of acres in regional, state, or national parks. Every landscape garden reflects attitudes toward nature and humans, revealing much about a culture and a period.
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