Images of the Middle Ages in the Self-Description of American and British Universities of the 20th – 21st Centuries

The problem of this research is set by different approaches to understanding the reflexion on the structure of modern academic communities and their connection with the "university forms" from the past. The purpose of this work is to identify and understand the specifics and transformations of Medieval past images in the self-descriptions of British and American universities. Texts about universities and academic communities are the main objects in the research. Representations of the past in these texts constitute the defining subject matter. This project aims to show the key problems of the work by building the context and reviewing literature and sources. The work consists of an Introduction, two chapters, and a Conclusion. The Introduction describes the main historiography and sources. The first chapter is devoted to the analysis of images of the Middle Ages in architecture and the public representation of universities (via official websites). The second chapter is devoted to the study of images of the Middle Ages through tradition. In conclusion, the main results of the entire work are summarized and some plot comparisons are presented.