MA Cultural, Intellectual and Visual History

The School of Advanced Study at the University of London brings together eight internationally renowned research institutes to form the UK's national centre for the support of researchers and the promotion of research in the humanities.

The Warburg Institute is one of the world’s leading centres for studying the interaction of ideas, images and society. It is dedicated to the survival and transmission of culture across time and space, with a special emphasis on the afterlife of antiquity. Its open-stack Library, Photographic Collection and Archive serve as an engine for interdisciplinary research, postgraduate teaching and a prestigious events and publication programme.

The Warburg Institute’s MA in Cultural, Intellectual, and Visual History (CIV) will provide you with a solid grounding in the cultural, visual and intellectual history of the Renaissance, the period from 1300 to 1650. The programme will equip you for interdisciplinary research with a particular emphasis on the reception of the classical tradition and its reinventions.

You will have the opportunity to study a wide range of topics and learn to interpret primary sources belonging to various disciplines stretching from the late Middle Ages to modernity. You will also be guided in the historically informed interpretation of images and texts. This unique programme of study examines the intertwined histories of art, philosophy, literature, science, and political and religious thought as these have developed, and as they have transformed Europe and the world.

For students who wish to undertake further study but cannot commit to a full-time master's degree, the Warburg Institute also offers a Postgraduate Certificate in Cultural, Intellectual and Visual History.

• You'll have access to the best resources for the study of Renaissance art and culture in London. Our open-stack Library, Photographic Collection and Archive are of international importance in the humanities. One of 20 libraries that changed the world, and with over 300,000 specialist volumes, it serves as an engine for interdisciplinary research and study.

• This programme also provides unparalleled staff contact hours with internationally renowned academics and curators. With a combined 20 to 40 graduate students admitted each year to our MA courses, you will join a tight community of peers that benefit from close discussion with expert tutors and small-group teaching.

• You'll have the opportunity to join students from a wide range of backgrounds and areas of study, from art history to literature, philosophy, history, anthropology, classics, and more, making for a dynamic and interdisciplinary learning environment.

• Located in Bloomsbury, you'll be placed at the centre of London’s academic and cultural hub, and you'll benefit from visits and training sessions at neighbouring institutions including the British Museum, the Government Art Collection, the Wellcome Trust and the British Library, and further afield the V&A, the Dulwich Picture Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the Courtauld Gallery.  

• Warburg students are part of an illustrious tradition of international and interdisciplinary scholarship. Prominent scholars who have been associated with the Institute and Library include Aby Warburg, Ernst Cassirer, Erwin Panofsky, Edgar Wind, Dame Frances Yates, Ernst Gombrich, Michael Baxandall, Svetlana Alpers, Carlo Ginzburg, Keith Thomas, Georges Didi-Huberman, Giorgio Agamben, Lisa Jardine, Anthony Grafton, Umberto Eco, and many, many more.

• Because we are a relatively small institute, we also are able to provide a welcoming and supportive academic community. Learning and research is a pleasure, and we are dedicated to ensuring that you feel at home and are able to advance in, and enjoy, your area of study.

The normal minimum entrance requirement is a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree from a university in the UK, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.

We will consider applications from candidates who do not meet the formal academic requirements but who offer alternative qualifications and/or relevant experience. 

English is the language of instruction and applicants are required to demonstrate an appropriate level of proficiency.

Find out more about our entry requirements.

For more information on how to apply, including deadlines and the documentation you will need to provide on the application form, visit our How to Apply page.

Fees are set annually and cover registration, tuition, and (in the case of research students) supervision.

Fees are quoted per annum -- that is, you will need to pay at least the fee quoted below for each year of your studies. Please note that tuition fees are subject to annual uplift. The University of London reserves the right to alter or withdraw courses and amend other details without prior notice.

See the Tuition Fees for 2024-25 - listed by Institute.

Our students fund their studies in a variety of ways including scholarships, bursaries and fellowships, as well as government loans and postgraduate loans. 

We offer a range of scholarships and bursaries that you don't need to pay back and are awarded based on personal circumstances or academic achievement. Funding at postgraduate level is competitive so it’s a good idea to plan financially before starting your course. 

For information about fees and funding from the School of Advanced Study, please visit the SAS Fees and Funding page.

In addition to key skills relating to scholarship and curatorial practice, you'll also acquire key transferable skills that will be useful in any workplace. These include:

• Writing in different ways for different readerships
• Researching effectively
• Presentation skills
• Problem solving and analytical skills
• Critical reading and thinking
• Time management
• Project management and planning

Many Warburg alumni have gone on to pursue PhD study at the Warburg Institute or other leading Universities and cultural institutions across the globe, including the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the Bayerische Akademie, the National Library (Argentina) and the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, Warwick, York, Princeton, Notre Dame, Yeshiva (New York), Basel, Copenhagen, Padua, and La Sapienza (Rome).

Other students successfully pursue careers in the worlds of publishing, libraries, editing, writing, and various domains of the cultural sector and other professions in the UK and elsewhere.

The SAS Careers Service works with students and graduates of all ages and at all stages of career development across all the institutes. Our mission is to provide high-quality information about careers and skills, and professional advice and guidance. We help students with their career development, either within their current field of work or in something completely new. 

SAS students can access 1-2-1 guidance appointments throughout their studies and for up to 2 years after graduating, to help them plan their next steps, whatever they might be. We also offer CV, cover letter, and application advice as well as mock interviews with the SAS Careers Consultant who will empower you to feel more confident in your interview performance.