Art History and Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies

Art history and Celtic and Anglo-Saxon studies is a combination that explores the visual and material cultures of the peoples who shaped the British Isles and Northern Europe, from the Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings to the present day. Art history teaches you to analyse images and objects with critical rigour, tracing artistic development across periods and cultural contexts and engaging with questions of aesthetics, politics, power, and identity through visual culture. Celtic and Anglo-Saxon studies opens up the languages, literatures, and histories of these peoples, including Old English, Old Irish, Welsh, and Old Norse, and the rich manuscript, metalwork, and monumental traditions they produced.

The four-year full-time Art History and Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Studies programme at the University of Aberdeen allows you to explore the lives and legacy of these peoples and their art and visual culture, tracing artistic development forward to the present day. Art History at Aberdeen has received outstanding student satisfaction ratings in recent National Student Surveys, reflecting the strength of the teaching and the intellectual community in the department. Your Celtic and Anglo-Saxon studies develop linguistic and scholarly skills that give you direct access to primary materials in their original languages, situating the art objects and visual culture you study within their social, religious, and historical contexts.

A year abroad gives you the opportunity to extend your studies in an international academic environment.

With a typical entry tariff of 168 points, the programme attracts students with a genuine interest in the deep cultural heritage of these islands. Graduates pursue careers in museums and heritage institutions, galleries, arts administration, academic research, teaching, and archival and publishing roles, as well as in a wide range of careers where the specialist and transferable skills of the programme are valued.