A lecture by Dr. George Michell at the Archaeological Research Facility on October 17, 2024
About: The late Dr John M. Fritz was the first American archaeologist to survey the ruins of Hampi Vijayanagara. Trained at the University of Chicago as an anthropologist with a special interest in prehistoric, Native American sites in New Mexico and Arizona, Fritz brought an entirely new perspective to South Asian urban studies. Together with Dr George Michell, Fritz directed a team of volunteer architects and archaeologists to investigate the meaning of Hampi’s city plan. Building on more than twenty years of fieldwork during the 1980s and 1990s, he concluded that the Hindu god Rama dominated the layout of Vijayanagara’s Royal Centre by acting as a mediator in the everyday activities and ceremonial life of the Vijayanagara rulers. It is this innovative interpretation that Michell will discuss in this illustrated lecture
About the Speaker: Dr George Michell trained as an architect in Melbourne, and then went to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London where in 1974 he completed a doctorate on the 6th-8thcentury, Early Chalukya Temples in the Deccan region of peninsula India. During the 1980s and 1990s, George collaborated with the American archaeologist Dr. John M. Fritz on a comprehensive survey of the ruins of Hampi Vijayanagara, the great Hindu capital of southern India during the 14th-16th centuries. Among their joint publications is City of Victory, Vijayanagara (Aperture, 1991). Michell’s most recent publication is the profusely illustrated Temples of Deccan India.George is also is co-founder of the Deccan Heritage Foundation, which is currently involved in restoring historic monuments and publishing illustrated guidebooks.