Tulane University Law School: Siena - The Tulane-Siena Institute for International Law, Cultural Heritage & the Arts

The Tulane – Siena Institute for International Law, Cultural Heritage and the Arts reinvigorates 20 years of cooperation between the University of Siena Facoltà di Giurisprudenza and Tulane University Law School. The goal of the Institute is to develop the world’s best program for the study of the complex and fascinating relationship between international law, and art and cultural property. There could be no better place to pursue such studies than in the artistic treasure that is Siena. 

While classes in the conventional sense will be held at the Facoltà di Giurisprudenza, Siena and Tuscany will be the true classrooms, providing students with the opportunity to see and experience first-hand the problems and issues that shape this field. Classroom lectures will be supplemented extensively with field trips, visits to museums, and guest speakers to take full advantage of the program’s location.

This program provides the only opportunity in the world to study in depth the relationship between international law and art itself, as both physical and intellectual property. Its merit is that it looks to the most basic premise of all: that there can be no preservation of artistic excellence if there is no preservation of art itself. While it is all well and good to speak about the production and dissemination of art, there would be no art or artists without their protection.