On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the restoration of the Premonstratensian monastery of Aguilar de Campoo (Palencia), the Santa María la Real Foundation is giving a conference on the past, present and future of this exceptional testimony of our cultural heritage. During the conference, given by the director of the institution, Juan Carlos Prieto, and the director of the Centro de Estudios del Románico, Jaime Nuño, the evolution of the monastery over the last four decades and the cultural activities that are currently being organised to generate development in the area will be explained to the audience.

The castellated churches present a very singular typology, we can distinguish two large groups, those that arose as churches and were later fortified, or, in the opposite case, towers or castles on which churches were attached. It is essential to recognise the construction sequence in castellated churches in order to understand their reality. In the case in question, the scarcity of documents, as well as the changes in its structure, related to the different uses of the castle and the tastes of the time, make the task of reaching precise conclusions notoriously complicated, although at present we can shed some light on the historiography surrounding the Church of San Miguel Arcángel and, therefore, the Castle of Turégano.

The complex process of construction and evolution of the image of the Apostle James in European art from the early Middle Ages to the present day is one of the most fascinating chapters in the analysis of hagiographic iconography. This is not so much because of its eschatological depth, but because of the thaumaturgical and inspirational power of the fisherman, brother of John the Evangelist, member of Jesus’ close circle and evangeliser of Hispania. Driven by the extraordinary boom in pilgrimages after the invention of his tomb at the beginning of the 9th century, the three iconographic types spread throughout Europe: apostle, warrior – Miles Christi, champion of the Christian kingdoms against Muslim domination and later patron saint of these kingdoms – and pilgrim. And together with his image, significant symbols in themselves, such as the scallop.

The liturgy permeated the life of medieval Christians, making its presence felt on a daily basis in all spheres of their existence. This ritual component of medieval religiosity has survived to the present day either through the numerous written sources we have preserved or through the meanings of some of the pieces exhibited in museums today (such as objects, ornaments, books or iconographic scenes in other works of art). The interpretative possibilities of the ritual past of the Middle Ages offered by some of these works exhibited today are enormously broad: from bringing the general public closer to the Christian cultic dimension of a thousand years ago, to making possible new scientific paradigms for researchers in ritual studies. Based on the analysis of some paradigmatic cases of national and international institutions, we propose an approach to the ritual culture of medieval Christianity centred on the medieval objects that are preserved and exhibited to the public.

The basilica building at Marialba has been known since the excavations carried out by the researchers Helmunt Schlunk and Theodor Hauschild of the German Archaeological Institute in Madrid in 1968-1970, who described it as one of the first martyrial basilicas in Hispania. However, many details of the complex are still unknown. The new archaeological research aims to determine its origin, extension and function in each of the construction phases from the 4th to the 14th century, with different uses of the space, from the initial aula, successively converted into a mausoleum, a baptismal church and a funerary area.

Video of the permanent exhibition of the National Archaeological Museum. Protohistoric Area: Celtic peoples.

I Seminar on the ancient and medieval cult image. Iconotropy is a word of Greek origin that literally means “movement/change of the image”. According to William J. Hamblin (2007), iconotropy is the cultural phenomenon whereby there is an “accidental or deliberate misinterpretation by one culture of the images or myths of another, especially to bring them into accord with the first culture”. Thus, both in the classical culture of antiquity and in medieval culture, we can identify numerous testimonies of how – on a symbolic and material level – cult images were involved in processes of misinterpretation produced by another culture. The international seminar “Iconotropy: symbolic and material alterations of the ancient and medieval cult image” aims to revitalise studies on the ancient and medieval cult image based on the concept of “iconotropy” (movement/change of the image), and to show researchers and students how the subject can still be approached from a multidisciplinary and innovative perspective that allows common denominators to be reached in defining the symbolic and material changes of these images in different chronologies, epochs and mentalities.