Timeline of Select Projects | Index of Projects

Title Year(s) Field Description
Ajanta Cave Painting, Asia

Stitched photographs of cave wall murals with image detail hotspots

Angkor: Architecture in Cambodia 2012 - 2013 Architecture, Asia

Late Media Center Director Caleb Smith photographed this rich collection of temple architecture from the Khmer Empire in Angkor, present-day Cambodia.

Architecture of North Korea Architecture, Asia

This collection of photographs of government-sponsored architecture in Pyongyang, the Demilitarized Zone, and other sites of interest was taken by Columbia Art History student Lorenzo Vigotti.

ArchMap Architecture, Asia, Europe

This architecture mapping database was the predecessor to Art Atlas

Arg-e Bam: Before and After Architecture, Asia

This website presents a collection of photographs, panoramas, and aerial views of The Citadel of Bam (Arg-e Bam), Iran taken in 2003 and 2004, before and after a large earthquake devastated most of the medieval city.

Art Humanities 2014 - 2015 Europe, North America

All materials from the original Masterpieces of Western Art website are now hosted on the Columbia College Core Office's website for greater consistency with the other Core classes.

Columbia Image Bank on Artstor Image Database

The Art History Teaching Collection, compiled by the Media Center for Art History from scans of slides and photographs, is accessible to anyone on Columbia's campus or with a Columbia University UNI.

Delight in Design: Silver for the Raj 2008 - 2009 Decorative Arts, Asia

Delight in Design was created as an online resource for an exhibition of South Asian silver at the Wallach Gallery in 2008, curated by Vidya Dehejia, Barbara Stoler Miller Professor of Indian and South Asian Art.

Documenting Japan 2010 - 2011 Architecture, Asia

During an Artstor-sponsored fieldwork campaign in May 2010, the Media Center documented significant architectural sites in Japan from the 8th to 21st centuries and gained unparalleled access to some of the nation's most famous monuments.

Exploring Chinese Painting: A Test Module for Undergraduate Teaching Painting, Asia

Interactive timeline of masterworks of Chinese painting 900-1750 CE. Users can compare multiple works along the timeline or view individual pieces in detail, including four long scroll paintings.

Great Vista Peak, Mount Taishan, Shandong 2007 - 2008 Sculpture, Asia

Animation of the rock inscriptions on Great Vista Peak disappearing in reverse chronological order of creation to reveal the mountain face as it likely appeared pre-inscriptions

History of Architecture - Real Virtual, Representing Architectural Time and Space 1998 - 2005 Architecture, Africa, Asia, Europe, North America

This History of Architecture Web site is designed to support undergraduate education by focusing on interactive panoramas as a method of expanding the options for classroom presentations of architectural subjects.

Kangxi Emperor's Southern Tour: Scroll Seven Painting, Asia

Digitized, stitched images of Chinese scroll paintings with annotations and translations. One of four digitized. Also part of the Exploring Chinese Painting site.

Kangxi Emperor's Southern Tour: Scroll Three Painting, Asia

Digitized, stitched images of Chinese scroll paintings with annotations and translations. One of four digitized. Also part of the Exploring Chinese Painting site.

Luna Image Database

Before Artstor, Luna hosted the Art History Teaching Collection images.

Mapping Architecture in Medieval and Renaissance Naples Architecture, Urban Planning, Europe

An unfinished website on the growth of Naples from the Classical Era to the Renaissance, with historical maps and paintings and a brief history of the city.

MCID (MDID) 2011 - 2012 Image Database

The Media Center Image Database (MCID) hosts the Department of Art History's teaching collections, special collections, and original photography of globally significant art and architecture. Fieldwork highlights include Istanbul, Iraq, Rome, Chicago, The American Southwest, and Japan.

MCID Metadata Restructuring 2024 - 2026 Image Database

With over 110,000 new individual images added to MCID in the last couple years from digitization projects alone, MCID's reliance on collections as a primary organizational focus hinders findability of these important new resources. The Media Center has initiated an MCID restructuring project, designed to build connections across collections and increase findability of media of all types. This project is still in process and will be announced formally when available.

Mnemosyne Image Database

Before MCID, Mnemosyne was the Media Center's database for hosting all its image resources.

Qianlong Emperor's Southern Tour: Scroll Four Painting, Asia

Digitized, stitched images of Chinese scroll paintings with annotations and translations. One of four digitized. Also part of the Exploring Chinese Painting site.

Qianlong Emperor's Southern Tour: Scroll Six Painting, Asia

Digitized, stitched images of Chinese scroll paintings with annotations and translations. One of four digitized. Also part of the Exploring Chinese Painting site.

Recording the Grandeur of the Qing / Nanxuntu: Southern Inspection Tour Scrolls 2005 - 2009 Painting, Asia

These monumental scrolls, commissioned by the Kangxi and Quinlong Emperors of the Qing Dynasty to record their multiple inspection tours, provide a unique and vivid glimpse into the grandeur of late imperial China and are the focus of this web site. The site has been updated to a new version by Asia for Educators

Rock-cut Architecture of India 2010 - 2012 Architecture, Asia

This photographic survey features just some of India's more than 1,500 rock cut structures, ancient and medieval buildings that represent amazing achievements of structural engineering and craftmanship.

Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Safavid Shah Tahmasp (The Feast of Sadah) Painting, Asia

This site features a high-resolution, zoomable image of the "Feast of Sadah" page of this 16th-century Iranian illuminated manuscript, along with descriptions of the iconography, history, and historical figures found therein.

South Asia Cultural Heritage Sites Architecture, Asia

Using a Flash-based map with cultural site, cities, elevation, languages, population, etc. overlays, this site highlights important architectural sites in the India subcontinent. Each site contains floorplans, a description and history of the site, and links to image portfolios and panoramas.

Tarim: Community and the Built Environment in Yemen 2001 - 2007 Architecture, Asia

Created by the late Media Center director James Conlon, this website primarily contains information and data about the conservation of ornate mud-architecture houses in Tarim, Yemen, along with a collection of original photographs and panoramas.

Tarim: The Image Database of the Tarim Documentation Project Architecture, Asia

An image database for the "Tarim: Community and the Built Environment in Yemen" website.

The Asian Art Digital Teaching Project 2004 - 2008 Architecture, Painting, Asia

This teaching module showcases Media Center projects and image collections relating to Middle, South, and East Asian art and architecture in order to better serve the faculty and students of Columbia University.

Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe 2010 - 2011 Decorative Arts, Europe

The Media Center produced the digital monograph for the 2010-11 exhibition Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe, co-organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Walters Art Museum, and the British Museum.

Treasures Rediscovered: Chinese Stone Sculpture from the Sackler Collections at Columbia University Sculpture, Asia

Featuring still images, rotational object photography, and curator's texts, this Media Center site was built to serve as a digital catalog for an exhibit of Chinese sculpture from Dr. Arthur M. Sackler's large donation of Asian artworks to Columbia University.

What is a Sign? An Introduction to Saussure 2007 - 2008 Visual Theory, Europe

A series of slides explaining Saussure's theories of semiotics as they relate to Modern Art, with illustrations.