Conference: ‘Performance, Perception & Devotional Experiences in Medieval Sacred Spaces’, Universitat de Barcelona, 13-14 October 2022

Conference programme

13 October 2022 (Facultat de Geografia i Història. Sala Jane Addams)

9.00am: Núria Jornet (Universitat de Barcelona), Fabio Massaccesi (Università di Bologna), Zuleika Murat (Università di Padova): Welcome and Opening of the Conference

9.20am: Olivia Robinson (University of Birmingham), Performance and Pleasure in Convent Spaces: Practice-based Research and the Medieval Convent Drama Project

Session I: Creating, Sanctifying and Experiencing Space: Architecture, Objects and Paintings
Chaired by Maria Soler Sala (Universitat de Barcelona)

10.00am: Fabio Massaccesi (Università di Bologna), Seeing and Believing: How the Triumphal Cross Shaped the Sacred Space (11th-14th century)

10.30am: Maddalena Vaccaro (Università degli Studi di Salerno), Sanctifying Spaces: Transmedial Interactions, Relics, and Apsis (9th-13th century)

Coffee break

11.00am: Cristina Guarnieri (Università di Padova), Pilgrims, Cripples, and Worshippers: Patterns of Devotion and Experience in the Shrine of St. Anthony in the Basilica del Santo

11.30am: Marta Crispí (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya), Los coros altos de los
monasterios femeninos como espacios litúrgicos y devoción: los monasterios de Sant Pere de les Puelles, Sant Antoni i Santa Clara i Santa Maria de Pedralbes de Barcelona


12.00pm: Davide Tramarin (Università di Padova), The Death of Christ in German Nunneries: Liturgical Spaces and Sensorial Dynamics

12.30pm: Discussion

Session II: Sight and the Other Senses: Interferences, Synergies, Synaesthesia
Chaired by Silvia Pérez (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)

14.30pm: Zuleika Murat (Università di Padova), Scenting the Blood of Christ: Material and Immaterial Aspects of Eucharistic Devotion in Late Medieval Venice

15.00pm: Micol Long (Università di Padova), Liturgical Combs or Liturgical Use of Combs?An Evaluation of Textual and Material Evidence 10th-13th century

Coffee break

16.30pm: Valentina Baradel (Università di Padova), Sensing the Saint, Experiencing the Resurrection: the Shrine of Saint Lazarus in Autun

17.00pm: Sara Carreño (Università di Padova), Tactile Discourse: Material Transmission of Theological Ideas in 14th Century Castile

17.30pm: Discussion


14 October 2023 (Museu Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes)

9.30am: Anna Castellano (Director of Museu Monestir de Pedralbes), Welcome

Session III: Performances in a Monastic Space: Legal, Devotional and Liturgical Rituals
Chaired by Marta Sancho (Universitat de Barcelona)

10.00am: Silvia Pérez (Universidad Pablo de Olavide), Alberto Ruiz Berdejo (Universidad Pablo de Olavide), Muerte conmemorada y muerte ritualizada en las cofradías andaluzas de finales de la Edad Media

10.30pm: Jordina Sales (Universitat de Barcelona), Crimen y castigo en los primitivos cenobios hispanos (s. VI-VII): escenificaciones y performances

11.00pm: Sergi Sancho (Università di Padova), Monastic Performances, a Database. Conclusions on Perception and Categories

Coffee break

12.00 Núria Jornet-Benito (Universitat de Barcelona); Anna Castellano (Museu Monestir de Pedralbes), La ritualización de la obediencia a la abadesa: capellanes beneficiados y campesinos. Conventos de clarisas en la Barcelona de los siglos XIV y XV

12.30pm: Delfi Nieto (Queen Mary University of London), The Abbot, the Prior and the Destitute: The Washing of the Feet in Medieval Catalan Cloisters

13.00pm: Discussion and Closing Remarks


Organising Committee:

  • Núria Jornet (Universitat de Barcelona)
  • Fabio Massaccesi (Università di Bologna)
  • Zuleika Murat (Università di Padova)

Contact Details: Núria Jornet (Universitat de Barcelona): jornet@ub.edu

Those who wish to attend online are requested to send an email to Núria Jornet to get the link to connect via Teams.

The conference is sponsored by Universitat de Barcelona – Monastic Landscape PG2018-095350-B-100; Università di Bologna; Università di Padova – ERC StG Project “The Sensuous Appeal of the Holy. Sensory Agency of Sacred Art andSomatised Spiritual Experiences in Medieval Europe (12th-15th century) – SenSArt”. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 950248)

Published by Roisin Astell

Roisin Astell received a First Class Honours in History of Art at the University of York (2014), under the supervision of Dr Emanuele Lugli. After spending a year learning French in Paris, Roisin then completed an MSt. in Medieval Studies at the University of Oxford (2016), where she was supervised by Professor Gervase Rosser and Professor Martin Kauffmann. In 2017, Roisin was awarded a CHASE AHRC studentship as a doctoral candidate at the University of Kent’s Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, under the supervision of Dr Emily Guerry.

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