My research focuses on religious architecture, as I explore how the monuments of the past reflect the priorities and concerns of the societies that built them, and how liturgical practices influenced architectural design in the Middle Ages. I began the study of architectural history during my graduate studies at the Hebrew University, as part of a Fritz-Thyssen Foundation project, and continued as a doctoral fellow in an ERC-funded project led by my advisor, Prof. Bianca Kühnel. I examined the mechanisms of architectural copying and published some of the results in the following papers: “The Baptistery of Pisa and the Rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem,” which proposed a new reconstruction of Pisa’s baptistery; “Why are there two medieval copies of the Holy Sepulchre in Pisa?” comparing attitudes to architectural translation; “Earth from Jerusalem in the Pisan Camposanto” linking the Camposanto legend with traditions surrounding Jerusalem’s Akeldama; and “The Camposanto: Pisan medieval architecture and military commemoration.” I also initiated and co-edited a volume dedicated to the material translation of Jerusalem to Europe through natural materials such as wood, stone, earth and oil with Prof. Bianca Kühnel and Dr. Renana Bartal. This project led to a second collaboration with the same editorial team; a volume published in 2023 dedicated to under-studied copies of Jerusalem in Europe.
In 2016 I began a postdoctoral fellowship in the ERC-funded project “Beyond the Elite: Jewish Daily Life in Medieval Europe 1100-1350” led by Prof. Elisheva Baumgarten, which focused on the architecture of medieval mikvahs (Jewish ritual baths). In 2018 I became a Rothschild Yad-Hanadiv fellow at the University of Oxford and was mentored by Prof. Anna Sapir Abulafia and Prof. Julia Smith. Both projects led to a monograph (currently under review) and the following articles: “Romanesque beyond Christianity: Jewish ritual baths in Germany in the 12th and 13th Centuries" and, with Ariella Lehmann, articles in the Hebrew journals Zion and Hidushim, and there will be an article about stones and Jewish architecture forthcoming in 2025. In 2022, a collaborative project, “Digging Deep,” with scholars from Cologne received funding from the Israel Science Foundation for the writing of a micro-history of Cologne’s mikvah as a window into Jewish society, religion, and daily life. In 2023, following work on photogrammetry and animation of architectural models as part of the ISF project, I received funding from the Open University’s Digital Humanities and Social Science Hub for a project on photogrammetry modeling of medieval architecture and post-production for virtual reality immersive experiences. The project is a collaboration with Beni Zaks and doctoral fellow Mazi Kuzi for exploring new ways to visualize historic buildings with post-production animation of liturgy, light, and sound. I also incorporate VR, 360-degree photography, and photogrammetry in teaching, in collaboration with the Open University’s innovation studio.