HA 101 introduces students to the disciplinary practices and goals of art history via encounters with selected great monuments of visual culture ranging from magic-charged cave art of prehistory to compelling Christian, Jewish, and Islamic monuments of medieval life, piety, and power down through the fourteenth century CE. We place each monument in dialogue with a cluster of thematically associated creations that enrich our understanding of how art expresses ideas and elicits meaning in its era of production. We also consider how to 'read' a famous monument across time – as its fame may have the power to produce new meanings in new historical contexts. Our discussion sections encourage active use of museum campus collections.