Meetings & Events: Conferences, Romanesque Conference
The Regional and Transregional in Romanesque Art and Architecture
The British Archaeological Association held the fifth in its biennial International Romanesque conference series in conjunction with the Centre d’Études Supérieures de Civilisation Médiévale in Poitiers on 4-6 April, 2018. The theme was The Regional and Transregional in Romanesque Art and Architecture, and the aim was to examine the cultural geography of the Latin West between c.1000 and c.1200. The Conference took place at the University of Poitiers, with two days of visits to Romanesque buildings on 7-8 April. The visits included Nouaillé-Maupertuis, Montmorillon, Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, Chauvigny and the cathedral, Baptistery, Musée Sainte-Croix, Sainte-Radegonde, Notre-Dame-la-Grande, Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand and Saint Jean Montierneuf in Poitiers itself
The categorisation of Romanesque by region was a cornerstone of 20th-century scholarship, and it was felt that the subject was ripe for reappraisal, particularly in relation to transregional and pan-European artistic styles and approaches. In addition to reviews of the historiography of the subject, individual papers were concerned to highlight the strength, durability, mutability and geographical scope of regional styles, the extent to which media was important, the assimilation and transmission of forms and motifs, the conditions that gave rise to the development of transregional styles and the agencies that cut across territorial boundaries.
Speakers included Marcello Angheben, Claude Andrault-Schmitt, Rosa Bacile, Tancredi Bella, Sheila Bonde and Clarke Maines, Philip Bovey, Jordi Camps, Mañuel Castiñeiras, Kristen Collins, Gaetano Curzi, James D’Emilio, Eric Fernie, Alexandra Gajewski, Richard Gem, Cecily Hennessy, Teemu Immonen, Wilfried Keil, Gerhard Lutz, Aleuna Mackarenko, John McNeill, Julia Perratore, Richard Plant, Béla Zsolt Szakács, Elizabeth Valdez del Álamo, Michele Vescovi, Tomasz Weclawowicz and Benjamin Zweig.
It would not be possible to mount this conference without John Osborn, and the British Archaeological Association wishes to take this opportunity to thank him for the boost to Romanesque scholarship afforded by his great generosity. The transactions of the conference will be published in 2021
Conference Convenors: Marcello Angheben and John McNeill
Conference Secretary: Ann Hignell