'Encountering the Middle Ages: Spain and the Meadows Museum,' Southern Methodist University

By KATHERINE MANGAN

Mark Roglán, director of the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist, knew he had snagged a cultural gem when his institution acquired as a loan a 26-panel altarpiece that once adorned a 15th-century Spanish cathedral. But he had no idea that the massive medieval artwork would inspire 11 faculty members and about 110 students to spend a semester dissecting the piece in a multidisciplinary course that featured songs, floats, videos, and painting.

The course sprang out of a