Activities

Within the framework of the research project, Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts in Spain: Artworks, Context and Materiality -MABILUS (MICINN-PID2020-120067GB-I00), and thanks to a collaboration agreement signed in December 2022 between the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Biblioteca Nacional de España (BNE), and the Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural de España (IPCE), the Skylitzes matritensis (BNE, Vitr. 26-2) will be subjected to a scientific-technical study. For a better understanding of the genesis of this codex and other artistic issues related to its making, the IPCE will conduct a systematic analysis of parchments, the ink used, pigments, and the gilding from a selection of fourteen quires of this manuscript. This will be carried out with imaging techniques, such as photography in the visible spectrum (with different types of lighting: reflected, grazing, transmitted), fluorescence photography induced by ultraviolet radiation, infrared photography and infrared reflectography. Elemental analysis will be also carried out thanks to X-ray

Manuel Castiñeiras participates to the Online International Conference: “The Cast of Piety: Medieval and Post-Medieval Metalwork on Mount Athos (10th -16th c.)”, 2-3 December 2022, which is organized by the Aristotle University of Thessalonki, with the paper: “The Diptych of the Despots of Epiros at the Cathedral of Cuenca: opus venetum and Byzantine workshops in the 14th-century art” The paper is scheduled on Friday, at 18.20 (17.20 Spanish time) Program: ONLINE_INTERNATIONAL_CONFERENCE_THE CAST OF PIETY -Program(1) Zoom linkZOOM LINK : https://authgr.zoom.us/j/97977372315?pwd=UEppdnhybHNoMkxtU2YrMXVadnVxUT09

Byzantine illuminated manuscripts constitute a fascinating field of study to be explored in terms of cross-cultural exchanges , gender issues and the spreading of profane topics. This phenomenon was especially richin the turmoil of 12th-and-13th century art in the Mediterranean as a privileged space for interchangingbetween Latins, Greeks and Muslims. The prestige of Constantinople, the continuity of deep-rooted Byzantine artistic traditions in most of the areasof the Mediterranean (Sicily, Venice, Cyprus, Crusader States, etc), and the increasing mobility of artists,models, and codices fostered these kinds of artistic encounters. This First International Seminar MABILUS is focused on the study of these topics, especially those especiallythose regarding gender roles, the depiction of Otherness, the use and meaning of profane repertoires in manuscripts and their spreading and impact on other visual arts. November 11th 2022 – Sala de Graus, Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona Coordinators: Manuel Castiñeiras González (UAB)

September 16th, 2022 – Participation of Stefanos Kroustallis (Research team) in the Conferences Book Ornament and Luxury Critique, Zurich 15-17th September 2022, with the paper “Notis ornare libellos: Manuscript Illumination as a Sumptuary Art in the Middle Age”. The conference were organized for the project: Textures of Sacred Scripture. Materials and Semantics of Sacred Book Ornament of the University of Zurich and was funded by the Swiss Science Foundation. Book_Ornament_and_Luxury_Critique

Participation of Manuel Castñeiras (IP) and Verónica Abenza (Equipo de Trabajo) in the 24th International Congress of Byzantine Studies. Byzantium-Bride Between Worlds, Venice and Padua, August 22nd-27th, 2022, with the papers: M. Castiñeiras, “Rethinking Ornament: the Akathistos Escurialensis as Epitome of the Late Paleologian Art” Verónica Carla Abenza Soria, “Reassessing Visual Rhetoric in Byzantine Female Insignia”   Provisional_Programme VENECIA_ICBS22-3

ALL OF PAPERS for the I International Seminar MABILUS: Byzantium and the Mediterranean (11th-13th c.): Multiculturalism, Gender, and Profane Topics in Illuminated Manuscripts, which will be celabrated on November 11th, 2022 Coor. Manuel Castiñeiras (UAB), Carles Sánchez Márquez (UAB), Giulia Arcidiacono (Università di Catania). We invite you to submit a paper proposal (including a 120-word abstract) to manuel.castineiras@uab.cat, by Monday, July 4, 2002. Proposals in Spanish, Catalan, Italian, English and French are welcomed. CFP BIZANCIO EN-ES-CAT