Autore: Chiara Cecalupo

Saturday morning at the Vatican Museums

Last weekend I had the opportunity to take part in some of the events of the Jubilee of Artists and the World of Culture, which was held in the Vatican on 15-16-17 February 2025. Among the various religious celebrations, there was an international congress at the Vatican Museums, organised by the Museums themselves and the Dicastery for Culture and Education. The event aimed to bring together cultural workers from the Vatican State and various international representatives of institutions related to culture, the arts, research and teaching, including an important group of speakers chosen for their roles within the main Italian museums and universities.

The morning session was an important opportunity to reflect on the present, conceived as an analysis to understand what future awaits cultural heritage, as expressed by the title of the meeting ‘Sharing Hope – Horizons for Cultural Heritage’. The target was clearly the cultural heritage inherent to Christianity, but with a necessarily universal focus, if one thinks of the impact Christianity has had on European art. This is a subject very close to some of my recent studies and that is why attending this meeting was extremely inspiring.

In general, the experiences brought to the table were all of great interest, and all focused on the need to address a new cultural horizon so that Europe’s heritage does not become mute in the face of the growing backwardness of religious culture. I will not go into the details of the individual interventions, but I will report what for me were the most important points of reflection of the morning:

– The cultural code of the monotheistic religions can be considered as an indispensable iconographic volume to understand European art, a sort of manual through which to understand scenes and references. Much of European art is art born in churches, and therefore born to enliven faith: to forget this is to consider only the aesthetic aspects of a work, risking emptying it of its soul.

– The codes of understanding, however, are neither univocal nor fixed in time, and the sense of the sacred in all civilisations is made up of stratifications. Museums must always take this into account when communicating, increasingly moving towards an anthropological approach to monotheistic religions as well. In this sense, it is good to think of museums as two-faced beings: they look at both the past and the future at the same time, while remaining firmly anchored in the present.

– In the process of communication and valorisation, one has to take into account that cultural heritage is always an extremely contested point in societies and between generations. Doing culture in a museum or in research and educational institutions involves thinking about investing in the future: in a museum, when we conserve and enhance, we are responsible for a dialogue between generations, in which we must aim to meet and overcome the sense of superiority we have towards younger people.

The second part of the meeting included the presentation of the ‘Manifesto on the transmission of the religious cultural code’. Such initiatives are not new for Vatican cultural institutions: one example is the ‘Circular Letter on the pastoral function of ecclesiastical museums’, published in 2001 to become an important vademecum on how to manage ecclesiastical museums in the contemporary world.

The new Vatican manifesto is a declaration of intent focused precisely on a generational pact that has religious cultural heritage at its centre. It is composed of seven parts that briefly condense the focal points of the contemporary debate in international museology (1. Accessibility and codification; 2. Inclusion and innovation in cultural languages; 3. Education for active and deep involvement; 4. Artificial intelligence and bridges to the future; 5. Awareness and re-contextualisation; 6. Custody and transmission in times of crisis). It is the result of shared reflections, according to more universal ideas of peace, hope and dialogue, i.e. the themes of the current Jubilee.

The text in general presents a little bit of paternalism, a naïve vision of the “power of Beauty”, and presents a concept of inclusion that is extremely limited to a communicative rejuvenation. But beyond this, the manifesto is interesting for its focus on issues of communication, education and access to museum content.

I highlight just a few points:

Point 1, Accessibility and codification: it enhances the concept of accessing and understanding information through various media, very close to the indications given by the International Council of Museums in the new 2022 definition of museums.

Point 3, Education and involvement: it is assumed that learning happens in various forms, with interaction and involvement on various levels not only through passive actions of listening and reading information shared in a unidirectional way, with the top-down approach typical of museum curatorship in the past.

Point 5, Awareness and re-contextualisation: at every communicative moment, it is necessary to be able to critically question the meaning of the works, their historical context and the ethical issues related to their provenance. Here is where the question of the critical meaning of things arises, against any kind of simplified narrative.

These are very important seeds in a horizon of disorientation in which museums need to keep straight in order to continue their work of dissemination and inclusion without losing the direction themselves. It starts from the Vatican’s main museum with the ambition to reach all Christian and Catholic museums around the world, as well as all those who deal with religious heritage.

Christian catacombs of Sousse – Tunisia. Some information and images

At the end of 1880s, a colonel of the 4th Algerian Rifle Battalion stationed near the Tunisian city of Sousse, the ancient Hadrumetum, accidentally discovered a catacomb gallery, sparking the interest of local society in Christian antiquities.

It was only at the end of 1903, however, that Abbot Leynaud and doctor Carton managed to receive funds and permits to undertake excavations, thus uncovering what became known as the Catacomb of the Good Shepherd, the first and largest Christian catacomb found in North Africa.

This was the starting point of a compelling story of discovery that, through ups and downs, led the French abbot to recover no less than five catacombs in the Sousse area. This led to a wider knowledge of the Tunisian catacombs from an architectural point of view (with the production of the first maps), and of the materials found, particularly funerary inscriptions and oil lamps.

These excavations brought visitors and tourists interested in Christianity to the ancient Hadrumetum for the first time. This was precisely one of the intentions of the abbot, who is also strongly committed to promoting the site from a touristic point of view.

Leynaud’s work was the first and last systematic excavation of the catacombs of Sousse, which still remain intermittently visitable today and still tend to be little known.

Anyone still interested in this story today will find all the historical and archaeological details in a series of reprints and publications of the seminal volume ‘Les Catacombes Africaines’, still the only real handbook on the catacombs of Sousse.

Why were catacombs explored?

Having briefly looked at how the catacombs were explored in early 17th century, let us consider why they were explored, apart from walking to encounter new areas of the monument.
The activities that took place underground tended to be that of registering the monument and extracting finds from it.
Registering the monument involved drawing the plans, an activity for which there were specialised people, of whom we know some names and some products, in particular those published in several books.

Plans of the catacombs on Via Nomentana in Rome published in 1632 in Bosio’s Roma Sotterranea


Alongside these, however, there were also more private, “homemade” maps, used by explorers for their personal exploration, which were never published but were used for underground visits. Of this maps, obviously, we have very scarce information.

Specialist artists were employed to copy the paintings seen in cemeteries. Copyists accompanied explorers on underground expeditions. The copying phase in catacombs was the most uncomfortable working situation, with insufficient light and space conditions. The subsequent stages of drawing arrangement and colouring took place in the studio.

Early 17th century copy of a painting from the Domitilla catacomb in Rome.
Vallicelliana Library of Rome

Another of the occupations of the groups of explorers was the extraction of archaeological objects, especially epigraphs, as well as anthropological remains excavated with the intention of making relics. The majority of archaeological finds ended up in the private collections of the explorers and the main collectors in Rome: sometimes explorers became a sort of merchant of antiquities for the antiquarian market. In particular, sarcophagi and inscriptions from the catacombs ended up since the beginning of the 16th century, as decorations in private houses.

The second group of objects found within the catacombs and removed from them are the anthropological artifacts, extracted from the tombs specifically to create holy relics. But that is another story….

Why I left Facebook and Twitter as a European researcher

This entry may appear very far from the general aim of this website. But everything we do is a political act, even our silence. A short reflection on why I left Facebook and Twitter.

I opened my Facebook account as soon as I arrived at university (so 17 years ago…), in the first few years I used it a lot, then less and less, until I posted a few scattered photos every three-four month, ending in an absolute silence on 25 April 2024. In 2015, for an event I was attending that involved live tweeting, I opened a twitter page, long forgotten but then used frequently over the last two years, only to become a spectator lately. No instagram, no tik tok.

I am a researcher. I am currently on my second research contract: I was in Spain for three years and now I am an happy postdoctoral fellow at the University of Malta. Both these contracts are within a major European university research funding scheme. This means that my salary comes from the taxes of European citizens, and that my work must go back to them, through a continuous work of dissemination of results on various levels. Europe demands this widespread dissemination from us, just as it demands adherence to the inviolable pillars of transparency in work, in practices, in the dissemination of results.

In general, the relationship between academics and social media is definitely interesting. It is undeniable that for many years, ever since the need to democratise the impact of our research became bigger, social platforms have been at the heart of all the projects funded at academic level for the dissemination of results, perceived as the main vehicle for wider reaching.

I have never shied away from this practice, even though it has been very difficult for me: not only have I always struggled to maintain a continuous online presence (which is the key to success, they say), even for this website, but it has undoubtedly been precious time taken away from research work, time spent on activities with no results in terms of quality and visibility. Those few moments of feeble visibility, which happened quite accidentally when I was working in Madrid, were in any case tremendously ephemeral from a quantitative point of view, and totally null for disseminating results, or obtaining feedback of any kind.

However, if I look at my colleagues (those who are on similar career levels) and their social presence, it seems to me that from the academic perspective it is a full illusion to find visibility through social media. The posts we embark on are all the same, according to standards of self-promotion that can also be slightly pathetic: lots of ‘I am thrilled to announce’ for new articles/works/projects published, achieved, funded, etc. that don’t really interest anyone, receive a few dozen interactions and fall at great speed into the oblivion (in fact, it is well known that the life of posts on the main social networks is only a few minutes).

Moreover, the majority of academics on social media actually live between self-promotion and complaining about the funding and recruitment dynamics of our ivory tower. They end up being a group that ultimately becomes self-referential, whose posts do not leave the insiders’ circle (thanks in part to the algorithm), and whose members seek approval more than scientific confrontation or information.

This was what I felt I was trapped into, and also had a hard time staying afloat. And this, then, was the cause of a gradual shift from fatigue to social awareness.

A somewhat clearer view of what social platforms are today was offered to me by Alex Grech’s Young People and Information manifesto, the main source of what appears in the following sections. [Incidentally, it was his very interesting seminar at the University of Malta on Social Media and Academics that gave me the final push to deactivate all accounts].  Grech reminds us how the speed and urgency to publish according to the expectation of the public can compromise the truth by making social media fertile for extremism, discrimination, disturbing content always accessible without control. Technology is no longer that miraculous asset for collective freedom that was imagined years ago, but is increasingly a tool at the economic and political service of those who own, create, can buy and control it.  The Internet is no longer the place for widespread democracy, but that of constant surveillance and commercialisation, under the hegemonic control of those who run the platforms. Everything is monetised, the individual user is a source of information to resell, no longer a citizen with ideas in a community, but an individual who feeds a machine in which interactions and likes are the only indicators of personal success and human value.

Under this control, the algorithm is the main weapon of a political and propaganda technology that manipulates choices, tastes, behaviour, and purchases. The algorithm shapes what we consume and allows the platform to control the flow of information, collecting data opaquely and pushing engagement at the expense of integrity. There is no room for integrity in the parallel post-truth world of these platforms; truth, that is at the very basis of academic research, is no longer needed and outdated. Disinformation and misinformation are therefore not limited problems that can be solved, but symptoms of a broader social condition.

The last straw in this bleak panorama was for me how the big tech stars flocked to salute the new US president, which exacerbated the moral issue arose with deepening the problems mentioned so far. The reflexive relationship between technology (read: billionaire giants that own the platforms) and society in its political expression makes these issues now public and necessary, and not limited to the sphere of what happens online: fake news, control and the dissemination of propaganda for hegemonic purposes have now entered our society, our homes, from the screen we all carry in our pockets.

An example of this is Musk’s new habit of commenting European politics; a billionaire who uses his voice to spread opinions favourable to the far-right and thus against the truest core of the institutions to which I belong (i.e. the EU). And he speaks using a very powerful platform, which contributes to the political polarisation of ideas, the amplification of propaganda and disinformation at the expense of user privacy and truth.

Here, then, is what we feed with every single post. And as if that were not enough, user-generated content (and thus generated by researchers too) plays a key role not only in enriching these plutocrats with fascist sympathies, but in feeding to those AI content generators of which we are only now beginning to understand the danger to university teaching and research.

This is against my innermost being as a person, as a citizen, as a mother and as a researcher. Indeed, to leave social media and give up even my mere presence as a spectator is for me a political act that I do precisely from my being a researcher. Research can and today must transcend this slavery, in the name of freedom of thought, of speech, and of choice of where and how to communicate. By maintaining our online presence only on our websites, perhaps the future of communication and the dissemination of the results of European projects can be precisely that of going back to the people, without a screen: a conference, a meeting, a guided tour, a fair, the often manage to gather a larger number of people than a single self-promotional post, adding the human factor, the physical involvement, the creation of direct links.

How were catacombs explored?

Exploration of Christian catacombs was a widespread and very fashionable practice in Rome between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. It involved Roman population, regardless of their social classes, as well as scholarly and ecclesiastical groups from outside Rome, generating a huge wave of interest in Christian catacombs that revolved in a “race” for catacomb exploration.

From a technical point of view, the ways of exploring the catacombs remain the same throughout the centuries. And the problems due to the architecture of the catacombs also remain the same: the darkness, the inconvenience of access, the labrinthic structure.
The theme is, therefore, universal and serves a reconstruction of catacomb explorations over the centuries.

An answer to the question “how were the catacombs explored?” was given during an interesting conference in Rome in November 2024 (Here is the link: https://www.velociproject.org/en/events/rome24 )

The catacombs were accessed through random openings in the countryside, or specially dug ones, from which one descended and from which one exited along with the finds recovered underground. It was therefore necessary to make them wider; hoes and spades were used, as well as ladder. To make one’s way through the tunnels without fear of losing one’s way, long ropes were used that were tied to the entrances and then uncoiled as one went along, or one could mark the points at which one turned at each fork in the road. Then of course one had to use flashlights and candles, in such quantities that they could last for days.

Once inside the catacomb, therefore, one proceeded mostly on all fours, or by crawling, or enlarged passages by excavating the tufa.

“Roma Sotterranea” (1630) and “Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri de Santi Martiri” (1720)
are the main sources of information for this topic.

Then, once inside the catacomb, one would proceed to walk around to find new areas and discover new parts of the monument, especially galleries with closed tombs.

But aside from basic exploration, what was being done in the catacomb? Coming soon…

Two 17th-century images from the Catacombs of Priscilla (Rome)

The “Cubicolo della Velata” (Cubicle of the Veiled Woman) is one of the most famous burial chamber in the catacombs of Rome, known since the 16th century and much loved by all scholars of the past. It is located in the central core of the Catacombs of Priscilla in Rome, and its name derives from the presence of a ‘Veiled’ woman painted in the bottom lunette in a praying attitude. The scenes, dated to the late 3rd century, are interpreted as the important moments in the life of the deceased: her marriage (left), motherhood (right) and her admission among the blessed (in the middle).

It was one of the very first places to be investigated by explorers in the 16th century. In fact, we have two original drawings reproducing the cubicle, preserved inside two important manuscripts in the Vatican Library.

The first, Vat. lat. 10545, f. 187r, dates from around 1590 and was executed by a draughtsman from the circle of the Flemish scholar Philip van Winghe, who is also known for having executed the first extant plans of the Roman catacombs.
The style of the copy is very simple and straightforward, almost childlike, but close to the original, a typical feature of copies of catacomb paintings in this manuscript.

The volume can be viewed in full here: https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.lat.10545

The second, Vat. lat. 5409, f. 24r, belongs to the rich set of images of the Roman catacombs in the work of the Spanish Dominican Alonso Chacon, and dates to the late 1590s.
The drawing is completely different from the previous one, the original early Christian painting is copied in a very baroque manner, with reminiscences of Michelangelo and a richness that does not belong to the style of the catacomb art. In addition, the inconographic reading is also misinterpreted, creating images of Christ and Mary that do not correspond to the original work.

IThe volume can be viewed in full here: https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.lat.5409

Technical meeting for the future of the necropolis of Tarragona and its museum

On the 30th June 2023 I joined the technical meeting on the future of the necropolis of Tarragona in the year of the 100th anniversary of its discovery, organised by the director of the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona.

The necropolis has awarded seven million euros from the EU Next Generation funds, in the fSpanish “Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia” for its restoration and reopening. In light of this news, a panel of interdisciplinary professionals and the heads of the cultural organisations of the city of Tarragona (full programme here) got together to ask ourselves:
One hundred years after its discovery, what are the most outstanding values of Necropolis that we must preserve for the future? And what needs to be done to transmit and enhance these values?

My role wwas to provide answers under the museologial point of view. In a full morning of work I presented some results of the study carried out during my secondment in 2022 (more info here). the answers are about to be developed more deeply in a pubblication, but this is the core of my presentation:

The day aimed to exchange points of view, offer a dialogue and reflection on this site and was open to the public, both in a presencial format and online, and is fully available online:

The exhibition closes

On 3 June we closed the exhibition «Los orígenes de la arqueología cristiana de Tarragona y la figura del Dr. Pere Batlle Huguet (1907-1990)»  at the Museo Biblico in Tarragona. it was organised as part of the dissemination programme of the Conex-Plus project LIT! with the collaboration of many local and international institutions (as explained here).

This month has been very busy, the museum has been open and the entrance free of charge, offering lectures of various kinds and guided tours of the exhibition, to which the citizens have responded very well. The events were always very crowded and heartfelt: many friends, relatives and acquaintances of Pere Battle accompanied us in these activities and shared their memories and photographs with us.

The exhibition therefore closes with the certainty of having left something in our visitors and having learned from them, created connections between institutions and helped to enhance the heritage of the city of Tarragona.

«Los orígenes de la arqueología cristiana de Tarragona y la figura del Dr. Pere Batlle Huguet (1907-1990)».

The exhibition «Los orígenes de la arqueología cristiana de Tarragona y la figura del Dr. Pere Batlle Huguet (1907-1990)» is intended as a tribute to Dr. Pere Batlle, an important figure for the protection of the archaeological and artistic heritage of the city of Tarragona, who wrote the first scientific work on the Christian epigraphs of the Roman-Christian necropolis of Tarragona.

It is also an opportunity to deepen and disseminate some important findings about his person and his work and finally to transfer knowledge about the genesis of Christian archaeology in Tarragona.

The exhibition is part of the UC3M Conex Plus project “LIT! Living in the catacombs! Reception of catacomb art in European culture and architecture between the 19th and 20th century”. It was born from an idea of Chiara Cecalupo and the director of the Museum Andreu Muñoz, with the cooperation of their collaborators, but also from the contribution of the Historical Archive of the Archdiocese of Tarragona and the Library of the Pontifical Seminary, in particular the director Enric Mateu. Other entities such as the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology and Tarraco Viva, the Roman Festival of Tarragona, as well as the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology of Rome also played an important role. This harmony of local and international collaboration has therefore been a good opportunity to create a link between people and institutions that enhances Tarragona, its heritage and history, and which hopefully will continue in the future in other activities and with the same spirit.

The exhibition is structured in the following sections:
1. Christian archaeology and the first art of the universal Church.
2. Christian archaeological heritage of Tarraco.
3. Christian archaeology in Catalonia between the 19th and 20th centuries.
4. Dr. Pere Batlle Huguet. His training and research in Christian archaeology and epigraphy.
5. Safeguarding the heritage of Tarragona.

The exhibition is located in the Biblical Museum of Tarragona, specifically in the room dedicated to the early Christian world (Mn. Joan Magí room). The exhibition contents are projected through a set of explanatory posters accompanied by archaeological objects, photographs and documents.

The exhibition has been scheduled to run from 10 May to 3 June 2023 and the planned activities are set out below:

–10 May, 7 p.m.: Opening act and lecture: “The origins of Christian archaeology in Tarragona and the figure of Dr. Pere Batlle Huguet (1907-1990)”, by Dr. Chiara Cecalupo (UC3M). Auditorium of the Museo Bíblico Tarraconense.

– 18 May, 7 p.m.: Lecture: “The Cathedral of Tarragona: Contributions to the Christian archaeology of the city” by Dr. Josep M. Macias Solé (ICAC). Auditorium of the Biblical Museum of Tarragona.

– 20 May: Guided tours of the area of the latest archaeological work in the cloister of Tarragona Cathedral. By the archaeologists Josep M. Macias Solé (ICAC), Andreu Muñoz Melgar (MDT/ICAC) and Andreu Muñoz Virgili (ICAC).

– Saturday 27th May (11 a.m.), Wednesday 31st May (5 p.m.), Saturday 3rd May (11 a.m.). Guided visits to the exhibition by Dr. Chiara Cecalupo (UC3M). The visits are free of charge and without prior reservation.

More info at museu.biblic@arquebisbattarragona.cat

A video (in Catalan and Spanish) of the opening and the exhibition:

The catalogue of the exhibition is in open access for free downloading:

llibret-pere-batlle-2023Download the catalogue

Credits:

Scientific Committee of the exhibition:
Chiara Cecalupo (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)
Josep M. Macias Solé (Instituto Catalán de Arqueología Clásica)
Enric Mateu Usach (Archivo Histórico Archidiocesano de Tarragona y Biblioteca del Seminario)
Andreu Muñoz Melgar (Museos Diocesanos de Tarragona / Instituto Superior de Ciencias
Religiosas San Fructuoso)
Míriam Ramon Mas (Museos Diocesanos de Tarragona)
Stefan Heid (Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana, Roma)
Immaculada Teixell Navarro (Asociación Cultural San Fructuoso)
Exhibition curators:
Chiara Cecalupo (Universidad Carlos III Madrid)
Míriam Ramon Mas (Museos Diocesanos de Tarragona)
Texts:
Chiara Cecalupo y Andreu Muñoz Melgar
Production and assembly:
Josep M. Brull Alabart, Magda Domènech Jordà, Rosa Ferré Rovira, Roser Fornell Guasch, Josefina Folch Sabaté, Josepa Franquès Bultó, Joaquim Galià Romaní, Sergi Guardiola Martínez, Dolors Iglesias Torrellas, Joan Quijada Bosch, Neus Sánchez Pié, Paco Roca Simón, Jordi-Lluís Rovira Canyelles, Adolf Quetcuti Carceller y Andreu Ximenis Rovira.
Audiovisual:
«La Tarraco de los primeros cristianos», Asociación Cultural San Fructuoso
Acknowledgements:
Asociación Cultural San Fructuoso
Museo Nacional Arqueológico de Tarragona
Real Sociedad Arqueológica de Tarragona
Jordi López Vilar