Hieronymus Bosch: the world as hell, hell as the world (lecture in Russian)

We say “Bosch” and mean “demons”, “temptations” and “the torments of hell”. The master from the Dutch town of ’s-Hertogenbosch was certainly not the first medieval artist to depict punishments after death and fiery landscapes of the other world. Yet the hell he imagined is very unlike the “standard” one.

Cities in flames; harps, knives, skates and other objects that have grown enormously and become instruments of punishment after death; demons who have formed troops and set off to war against sinners. It seems that Bosch is depicting not hell but a world that has become hell.

How are his infernal spaces built? Why have even musical instruments become instruments of torture? What do images of the underworld tell us about everyday life in the 15th century? And how did the wars that the Dutch cities and their lords regularly fought find their way into them?

Even the most inventive fantasy (and Bosch had no equal here!) builds imaginary worlds out of elements of reality. Even the most frightening nightmare (Freud would confirm it!) is built on certain rules. Let us try to find out which.

Speaker: Mikhail Maizuls, historian of the Middle Ages, PhD in history. His research interests are the religious and cultural history of Western medieval Europe, medieval iconography, the history of religious and political iconoclasm, and visual anthropology. Twice winner of the Enlightener prize.

After the lecture there will be a question-and-answer session.

When: 30 November at 19:00. Where: Tallink Spa & Conference Hotel, Sadama 11a, Tallinn. The lecture is in Russian. Doors open at 18:30.

Tickets are non-refundable, but you can always give them to friends.

Time and place: 30 November 2026, 19:00, Tallink Spa & Conference Hotel, Sadama 11a, Tallinn.