This year marks the 450th anniversary of the Beeldenstorm, the wave of iconoclasm that swept over the Low Countries in 1566. This defining moment in Netherlandish history will be commemorated with a two-day symposium ICONOCLASM: BEELDENSTORM AND BEYOND, which will consider the Beeldenstorm in relation to iconoclasm as a global phenomenon. The symposium will be held on 9 and 10 December 2016, in the auditorium of the Rijksmuseum and the aula of the University of Amsterdam. The program and registration are now online: rijksmuseum.nl/nl/iconoclasm.

ICONOCLASM: BEELDENSTORM AND BEYOND will seek to deepen our understanding of the ideological and systematic destruction of art under different historical and cultural configurations. The symposium will bring together an international group of scholars who will offer the latest insights on the hostility towards images in the Habsburg Netherlands, the Byzantine world, Islam, Colonial America, China, (Early) Modern Europe and, presently, in the Middle East, and on iconoclasm in contemporary art.

ICONOCLASM: BEELDENSTORM AND BEYOND is organized under the aegis of Arts of the Netherlands (University of Amsterdam / Rijksmuseum) and in collaboration with the Dutch Postgraduate School for Art History OSK.