Sacred Topography in Early Medieval Iberia: architecture, art history and liturgy in dialogue
Visit dates to be confirmed for 2021/22
Biography
Eduardo Carrero Santamaría is titular professor in the Departament d’Art i Musicologia at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Carrero’s research on medieval Iberian church architecture and ceremony is well known due to his extensive publications (six single-authored and four co-authored books, plus eighty-nine articles and book chapters in Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, French, and English) and frequent speaking engagements outside Spain. Carrero’s meticulous approach to architectural history and his interests inthe construction and alternative uses of medieval buildings stems from his previous training as anarchitectural conservator and restorer. Carrero’s technical background and many years of experiencehas led him to produce research on all of Iberia’s regions, working with art objects, manuscripts,cathedrals, monasteries, and parish churches. The scope of his research is one of the principal reasonsthat he is considered a leading authority. His work has also had a great impact on the study of medieval culture and church architecture because, in addition to analysing architectural remains and carefully reconstructing medieval buildings according to both archaeological and textual evidence, Carrero carefully considers the function -- both ceremonial and social -- of these spaces, incorporating studies of the liturgical ceremonies and musical performance. Engaging with the wider significance of medieval art, Professor Carrero has also written on the representation of medieval ceremonies in modern art.
Summary
This visiting professorship will build a collaboration between Eduardo Carrero Santamaría, preeminent scholar of medieval Spanish art, architecture and cultural history, and the Bristol-based team of Professor Emma Hornby, PI of multiple research projects on medieval Iberian liturgical culture.They will investigate relationships between Christian liturgy and its architectural and urbanenvironments. While individual church buildings have been studied, religious complexes encompassing more than one church have yet to be reconstructed and their uses analysed. Key case studies will include a sixth-century collection of churches in Terrassa (Barcelona), a ninth-century royal complex in Oviedo, an eleventh-century set of monastic buildings in the border region between Christian and Islamic Spain (La Rioja), and a pair of eleventh-century churches in Asturias. Despite the geographical, chronological, functional and stylistic diversity of these sites, all were developed as sites for practice of the Old Hispanic liturgy. Hornby and Carrero will seek the underlying functional commonalities of the buildings that were highlighted and connected in liturgical choreography. This visiting professorship will bring Carrero’s world-leading scholarship into dialogue with Bristol’s active medieval Iberia research group, building outputs that construct a detailed picture of medieval Iberian ecclesiastical culture while demonstrating its significance in the wider European context.
Professor Carrero Santamaria is hosted by Professor Emma Hornby, Music
Planned events include:
Public Lecture
Sacred Topography in Medieval Iberia: Performing Old Hispanic Liturgy in its Architectural Context
Departmental Lecture (Centre for Medieval Studies)
Iberia's Cathedrals: Saints and Conquest
Postgraduate seminar
Unlike the Rest: Medieval Iberian Churches, Methods and Historiography
Dates, times and venues will be confirmed in due course
