Meetings & Events: Romanesque Conference

Date(s)

8 – 10 Apr 2024

A Three-Day International Conference in Valladolid on the relationship between material culture and monasticism during the 11th and 12th centuries. There is also an opportunity to stay on for two days of visits to Romanesque buildings. For a booking form send an email to conference@thebaa.org

The British Archaeological Association will hold the eighth in its biennial International Romanesque conference series in conjunction with the Universidad de Valladolid on 8-10 April, 2024. The theme is Romanesque and the Monastic Environment, and the aim is to examine the design and functioning of monastic space as found in the Latin West between c.1000 and c.1200. The Conference will be held at the University of Valladolid with the opportunity to stay on for two days of visits to Romanesque buildings on 11-12 April.

While a particular approach to monastic planning can be observed in Carolingian Benedictine circles in the early 9th century – one in which ranges were organized on three sides of a garden with the church on a fourth – the extent to which this arrangement was widely adopted before the second half of the 11th century is unclear. Nor was it the only type of monastic plan in circulation. Semi-coenobitic orders had little use for ranges, even if the adoption of a garden surrounded by covered walks on four sides became more or less de rigeur in Latin monastic planning by c. 1100. When cloisters, chapter-houses, refectories, dormitories and work-rooms were established with clear relationships to each other and to the monastic choir, it becomes possible to speak of a core precinct, but what of other facilities, or precincts; infirmaries, outer courts, cemeteries, kitchens, gatehouses, and monastic choirs?

Speakers include Dustin Aaron, Verónica Abenza, Kirk Ambrose, Claude Andrault-Schmitt, Peter Scott Brown, Eric Cambridge, Eduardo Carrero Santamaría, Mañuel Castiñeiras, Kathleen Doyle, Barbara Franzé, Alexandra Gajewski, Richard Gem, Cecily Hennessy, Wilfried Keil, Nathalie Le Luel, Javier Martínez de Aguirre, John McNeill, Juan Antonio Olañeta, Julia Perratore, Neil Stratford, Béla Zsolt Szakács, Elizabeth Valdez del Álamo, Rose Walker, Tomasz Weclawowicz and Angela Weyer.

CONFERENCE (8-10 APRIL)

The conference will open at 09.30 on Monday, 8 April with lectures in the University of Valladolid’s Palacio de Congresos Conde Ansúrez. Teas, coffees and lunch will be provided on all three days, in addition to dinner on two evenings. The conference will also include an evening reception. More information will be provided in the joining instructions.

Participants will need to arrange their own travel and accommodation. Valladolid is well provided with hotels and bed and breakfasts, and the conference organisers will send a list of hotels and B&Bs when they acknowledge receipt of your booking form.

VISITS (11-12 APRIL)

We will also organise two days of visits to Romanesque sites for those who wish to stay on. These will include major surviving Romanesque monuments in Salamanca along with Santa Maria la Mayor in Toro, and a special out-of-normal-hours visit to the monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos.

SCHOLARSHIPS

A limited number of scholarships for students are available to help cover the cost of the conference. Please apply by 31 January 2024, attaching a short CV along with the name and contact details of one referee. Applications should be sent to: jsmcneill@btinternet.com or fbanos@fyl.uva.es

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.

Conference Convenors: Fernando Gutiérrez Baños and John McNeill

Conference Secretary: Kate Milburn