Categoria: dissemination

«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

The book is out!

REVEALING CHRISTIAN HERITAGE

The rediscovery of Christian archaeology between 1860 and 1930. Volume I

This book is first product of the international online workshop series “Revealing Christian Heritage. Talks on the rediscovery of Christian archaeology between 1860-1930”. It collects different case studies of rediscovery of Christian antiquities between 1860-1930 in Europe and the Mediterranean basin, in order to stimulate reflections about the impact of these rediscoveries on our culture in a period of great political transition.

By turning the light on lesser-known stories on a wider European and Mediterranean horizon (Greece, Holy Land, Eritrea, Malta, Norway), this book gives a strong contribution to the history of Christian archaeology. All articles deal with many topics of the field (museology, cultural heritage protection law, history of religious orders, field archaeology, military explorations), and therefore offer a strong interdisciplinary cut.

You can buy it or read it online for free at https://www.sidestone.com/books/revealing-christian-heritage

The proceedings of the Volume 2: “Revealing Christian Heritage – Spain edition” are in preparation…stay tuned!

Second talk “Revealing Christian Heritage” – Spain edition

Among the dissemination activities of the Conex-Plus Project LIT!, we will celebrate the second talk of the series “Revealing Christian Heritage – Talks on the rediscovery of Christian archaeology between 1860 and 1930”. This year, the workshop will focus on the rediscovery of Christian antiquity in Spain in late 19th-early 20th century.

The first talk took place in September 2021 (more info here and here) and the publication of the proceedings will be announced soon.

Meanwhile, join us for the second talk on November 24th, at 15 CEST at https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/493e22db2d5e431187a6e93f5b0a9425

The abstract book is available here:

abstractrch-2022Download

Project results: latest publications

After the summer break, the first two months of this academic year have been devoted to results dissemination. I will dedicate a separete blog post to online or on-person activities (stay tuned!), but first I would like to share the latest publications regarding the LIT! project. All in open access!

On October the 5th, the volume 32 of the Anales de Historia del Arte came out with the title Arte y Archivo. I contributed with the article “Catacumbas en museos: archivos documentales y fotográficos para la historia de la museografía” (“Catacombs in Museums: Archival Texts and Photos for the History of Museums”).

Available here: https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/ANHA/article/view/83070

The contribution “Father Delattre’s Correspondence and the History of Christian Archaeology in the Maghreb: His Correspondence with Giovanni Battista de Rossi in 1885” is a much loved one for me, and came out on the 21st of October in the 2022 anniversary issue of the Moroccan journal Hespéris-Tamuda “Practicing Archaeology in the Maghreb: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Realities / pratiquer l’archéologie au Maghreb: Perspectives historiques et réalités contemporaines“.

It can be found here: https://www.hesperis-tamuda.com/Downloads/2022/fascicule-2/14.pdf

“

In the September/October issue of the local magazine Esglesia de Tarragona came out a short article of mine regarding the connection between Christian archaeology in Tarragona and in Rome. Check it out here: https://www.esglesiadetarragona.cat/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/R328.pdf

Bonus: my latest article about German researchers in the early Christian Catacombs of Malta finally saw the light this September. I wrote this article during the first months of the pandemic outbreak and I am very fond of it. It was published in the Römische Quartalschrift Band 117, Heft 1-2.

Conference at the Museu Biblìc!

On 14 July, I presented some of the results of my research stay in Tarragona (as Conex-Plus secondment) during the conference “La arqueología cristiana en Tarragona a principios del siglo XX. Descubrimientos, estudios, museos y la relación con Roma” at the Museu Biblìc.

Many people attended this talk on the cultural and museographic relationship between Rome and Tarragona in the early 20th century. Thank you Tarragona for such a heartfelt participation!

New outcome from the project LIT!

In the last issue of the online Journal of Art Historiography (Number 26, June 2022) the is the most recent output of the Project LIT!

The study and dissemination of an iconography: banquet scenes from the catacombs of Rome to the facsimile catacombs of the nineteenth century

In general, the text traces the discovery and the history of two important banquet scenes from the Roman catacombs (from the Catacombs of Callixtus and from the Catacombs of Priscilla). It focuses on the fortune of these scenes in Europe. this fortune developed in their reproductions found in various churches and chapels up to the middle of the 20th century. This overview helps in understanding how the study and reproduction of a single iconography can contribute to a general reconstruction of the development of the discipline of early Christian art history.

The whole article can be read here: https://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/cecalupo.pdf

While the issue is fully available at: https://arthistoriography.wordpress.com/26-jun22/


LIT! @ 2022 MSCAA Conference

On March 26th, the project LIT! was presented during the online Poster Session 6 (Humanities and SPR) at the 2022 Marie Curie Alumni Association Annual Conference. The conference was held in Lisbon and online in hybrid mode.

This year’s theme was “Sustainability and the post-pandemic workplace”, and my contribution was titeled “Catacombs, facsimile copies and museums between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: How digital archives and open access amplify the post-pandemic workplace of a historian”.

It was a good occasion to reflect on how the archive and bibliographic work of historians has changed due to the pandemic. I had the possibility to briefly present my poster with a 3-min speech and two slides.

The poster will be shared here in the following days.

It was an inspiring experience, the whole event was truly thought-provoking and it was great to connect with MSCA peers from all over the word!

Exposition “Una postal de las catacumbas”: Press coverage

In this post we will share links and pictures of the international press echo of the exhibition

 Una postal de las catacumbas. Exposición de tarjetas postales artísticas de las catacumbas romanas de 1890

(18 March-1 April 2022; Library of Humanities, Communication and Documentation. Campus Getafe, Universidad Carlos III of Madrid).

Update in progress

Social Media

A postcard from the catacombs: new exposition at Universidad Carlos III

At the end of the 19th century, the catacombs were not just the object of archaeological research. From 1883 until 1930, the Trappist Fathers were entrusted with the care and management of the catacombs of Saint Callixtus. The community settled in the abbey built on the site of the catacombs and began to receive the numerous pilgrims and tourists who came to visit them.

Around 1890, their activities to promote the catacombs as a tourist and religious site began to develop considerably. In particular, they began to print valuable souvenirs with images of the frescoes of the catacombs in the Luigi Salomone lithography workshop: first, postcards, whose designs are attributed to the Roman painter Romeo Cavi, and then a booklet with images of the spaces and paintings of the catacombs and explanations of them. All the drawings on these objects are inspired by – and even copied from – the engravings and illustrations in the volumes of “Roma Sotterranea Cristiana” by Giovanni Battista de Rossi.

Many of these objects can now be seen in the exhibition: Una postal de las catacumbas. Exposición de tarjetas postales artísticas de las catacumbas romanas de 1890

From 18 March to 1 April 2022. Library of Humanities, Communication and Documentation. Campus Getafe, Universidad Carlos III of Madrid.

Organised by Chiara Cecalupo in the framework of the Conex-Plus project and in celebration of the second centenary of the birth of Giovanni Battista de Rossi (1822-1894).

Una postal de las catacumbas

Online talk: Revealing Christian Heritage

We are glad to announce that on September 29, 2021, h. 15-17.30 (CET), the project Conex Plus will host the following workshop:

Revealing Christian Heritage. Talks on the rediscovery of Christian archaeology between 1860 and 1930

September 29, 2021, h. 15-17.30 (CET)

online at https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/7038e9bcf05448da9a7b92a4fe21e2b4

Everyone is invited to participate to the talk and the discussion!Feel free to comment this post for additional info!