The Institute of Medieval Studies, the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of NOVA University, the Monastery of Batalha and the Centre for Estremadura Heritage (CEPAE), is holding a new edition of this course for interpreters-guides, entitled “Compreender os espaços monástico-conventuais medievais” (Understanding medieval monastic-conventual spaces).

Its main aim is to provide participants with the knowledge to interpret and contextualise convents and monasteries, taking into account the diversity of forms of religious life, their spaces and daily life, their relationships with the territory and the ruling powers and under whose protection they flourished during the Middle Ages. Aspects related to architecture and art, liturgy and books, religious iconography, heraldry and funeral practices are all covered. Furthermore, by providing up-to-date summaries on all these themes, this training course makes it uniquely possible to bring together and articulate information that is otherwise generally dispersed and rather inaccessible to non-specialised audiences. The sessions and a visit, to be held at the Monastery in Batalha, are spread over three days and count on the contributions of several researchers, who share their knowledge and experience with participants. This course is sponsored by Centro Regional Agency for Tourism Promotion (ARPT).