The 1st Edition of the NOVA-Complutense Meetings on Medieval Iberia, entitled “Desenhar a eternidade: Cenografias funerárias na Ibéria Medieval” (Drawing Eternity: Funerary Scenographies in Medieval Iberia), will take place between March 1st and 4th at the headquarters of Instituto Cervantes in Lisbon (days 1-3) and at the Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória, in Batalha (day 4).

This initiative is part of a collaboration agreement signed between the Complutense University of Madrid and NOVA University, with the main goal of promoting scientific exchanges between two of the institutions that have most contributed to the production of knowledge about the Middle Ages on the Iberian Peninsula in recent decades.

These meetings will contribute to a joint reflection on the current perspectives on medievalism, thus opening new paths of research into the network of synergies which may have connected the different Iberian kingdoms centuries ago. This project seeks to promote scientific and strategic collaboration between the various research units and departments of both institutions in which medievalists are integrated.

The 1st edition will focus on analysis of the sociocultural production linked to the medieval funerary universe in the Iberian context and features renowned specialists, who will approach the topic from different perspectives: History of Art, Political History, History of Science, Epigraphy, Musicology, Archaeology and Literature. This 1st Meeting incorporates several sessions of scientific exchange, alternating keynote speakers with communication sessions.

On Saturday, March 3, there will also be a visit to the Carmo Convent Museum, analysing in situ some of the funerary monuments preserved there under a formal, stylistic, conceptual and political point of view, then followed, and in the same location, by a concert of medieval and renaissance music by the Tagus Ensemble group.

On Sunday, March 4, there will also be a visit to the monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória (Batalha) with the purpose of analysing the significance of the Portuguese royal pantheons, and comparing them with contemporary cases in other Iberian kingdoms.

Organisation: IEM-NOVA FCSH; IELT-NOVA FCSH; CHAM-NOVA FCSH, UAc; IHA-NOVA FCSH; CESEM-NOVA FCSH; Instituto Cervantes; Project: “Arte, poder y conocimiento en el Mediterráneo medieval. Las redes de intercambio y su impacto en la cultura visual” (HAR2013-45578-R)

Organising Commission: Alicia Miguélez Cavero (IEM-NOVA FCSH) (coord.), Ángel Fuentes Ortiz (UCM) (coord.), Juan Carlos Ruiz Souza (UCM), Gonzalo del Puerto y Gil (Instituto Cervantes), Zuelma Duarte Chaves (CESEM-NOVA FCSH), Gonzalo J. Escudero Manzano (UCM), Margarida Esperança Pina (IELT-NOVA FCSH), Carla Alferes Pinto (CHAM-NOVA FCSH, UAc)