Activities

Next Thursday, at 12 a.m., prof. Manuel Castiñeiras, Main researcher of the proyect MABILUS will give a conference entitled: “Lo Skylitzes matritensis, una cronaca bizantina illustrata in Sicilia: nuove e vecchie questioni”(Skylitzes Matritensis, a byzantine chronicle illustrated in Sicily: new and old questions), for the Master (Laurea Magistrale) of History of Art and Cultural Heritage, and the PhD programme in Sciences of Cultural Heritage and Production of the University of Catania

It is our pleasure to inform you that two articles of the Special Issue of ARTS, “Byzantium and the Mediterranean (11th–13th C.): Multiculturalism, Gender and Profane Topics in Illuminated Manuscripts”, which is edited byManuel Castiñeiras together with Carles Sánchez and Verónica Abenza, have just been published.

The IABS just published its Byzantine News, issue n. 65, in which there’s a mention of the new printed version of the Spanish Society of Byzantine Studies’ journal: “Estudios Bizantinos”, directed by David Hernández de la Fuente, and of the MABILUS project, headed by professor Manuel Castiñeiras.

En el marco del proyecto de investigación sobre Manuscritos Bizantinos Iluminados en España: obra, contexto y materialidad-­MABILUS (MICINN-PID2020-120067GB-I00), y gracias a un acuerdo de colaboración entre la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, la Biblioteca Nacional de España y el Instituto de Patrimonio Cultural de España, firmado en diciembre de 2022, se va a abordar el estudio científico-técnico del Skylitzes matritensis (BNE, Vitr. 26-2).

Gracias a un acuerdo de colaboración entre la Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB), la Biblioteca Nacional de España (BNE) y el Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural de España (IPCE), y enmarcado en el proyecto de investigación Manuscritos Bizantinos Iluminados en España: obra, contexto y materialidad, el Instituto se sumerge en el estudio científico-técnico del Skylitzes matritensisNueva ventanaEnlace externo, se abre en ventana nueva, un valioso manuscrito iluminado en pergamino del siglo XII custodiado en la actualidad en la Biblioteca Nacional.

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