The Convent of Christ and the Renaissance Culture in Tomar
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Tomar Summer School !Convent of Christ, Tomar, Portugal !June 27th to July 09th, 2016 The Convent of Christ and the Renaissance culture in Tomar This project involves the critical observation of the various spaces materialized in the Convent of Christ for centuries but whose higher definition occurs in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Through the analysis of pictorial and sculptural practices, and all the records implanted in the consecration of this "ideal city", as the church, 8 cloisters that still survive, the dormitories, the amazing cloaca or, later, the great new infirmary, students will also be able to understand the political, cultural and aesthetic program that gives voice to the ideological pressures exerted on Portugal in a long duration. 1 During two weeks, the students will take physical contact with the built structures, in an ongoing challenge of intelligibility, but will also be called to an exhibition planning from the sculptural collection kept in the convent. From this experience, able to encourage the musealization of the Convent reserves, will gain meaning another consistency in approach to formal issues of Renaissance sculpture in Portugal. It will thus constitute a formal research laboratory in intimate relationship with the sculptural component present in the Convent of Christ. The perception of this plastic culture is not restricted to the building area. It is necessary to extend the analysis to other artistic disciplines as well as to a whole alternative structure that the Convent also permits: the inclosure spaces deserve special attention because they also integrate, in a scale that has grown over time, the specific records of the convent daily life. Within these matters connected to the community's practical needs it is particular important to be in touch with the aqueduct that supplied the convent for centuries. Students will thus be invited to a direct observation of this structure that survives, but also to an intervention around safeguarding objectives. The program includes several days visits to sites in the city of Tomar and in the Central region, with greater formal and aesthetic affinities to the Convent of Christ and the Renaissance culture. In addition to the circuits assembled in the city of Tomar and in the area of direct influence, there will occur study visits to Coimbra and Évora, where one can observe an alternative plastic culture sense, however, being connected to the Portuguese Renaissance culture. Throughout this period, there will be lectures including all the topics presented in a comprehensive and problematising manner. English will be the official language of this program. 2 The Convent of Christ in Tomar ! The program of this Tomar Summer School takes place in the most emblematic space of Renaissance culture in Portugal. Here, the students reception includes the enjoyment of a privileged area for the perception of the architectural sense of an aesthetic culture that dominates the intellectual Portuguese horizon from the late fifteenth century and the sixteenth century. This also develops a chapter of fundamental importance for the understanding of power relations between the State and the Church and the diverse rhythms of the forged alliances. ! But the dynamics of the legacies that enhance the intelligibility of an extended time, starting with a Templar foundation in the twelfth century, the Convent of Christ develops all a fruitful action accompanying the fall of the Order of the Temple and the formation of the Order of Christ, whose performance also would set the success of the Portuguese discoveries over the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In many ways, the history of Portugal, from the twelfth to seventeenth, is shaped in the formal and spatial strategies that have been developed here. Such transparency and qualitative density led to its classification as a World Heritage Site and its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1983. 3 !PROGRAM Monday: 10 - Reception of students 10:30 - Lecture !14 - Visit to the Convent of Christ Tuesday: 9:30 - Lecture 11.00 - Lecture Field trip: 14-18 - Tomar: Chapel of Our Lady of Conception, Church of St. John the Baptist, the Synagogue of !Tomar. Wednesday: 10 - Contact and planning exhibition of the sculpture in the reserves in the Convent of Christ. Study visit: 14 - Tomar: church of Santa Maria dos Olivais, chapel of St. Gregory, church of Santa Iria, S. Francisco !church. Thursday: Study visit: Region center: Atalaia church; Sardoal (parish church and Mercy !church); Abrantes. ! Friday: ! 9:30 - Lecture 11 - Lecture 14 - The utilitary and monumental character of the Renaissance. Practical approach to the Aqueduct !of Pegões and safeguard operations. Saturday: 10 - Lecture 11.30 - Lecture 14 - Practical work - planning exhibition of the sculpture of the Convent of Christ Reservation. 4 ! Sunday: !Free day. Monday: 10 - Lecture 11.30 - Lecture 14 - Study visit The inclosure spaces - the !intelligibility of spaces. Tuesday: Visit to Coimbra: the Renaissance in Coimbra Monastery of Santa Cruz National Museum Machado de Castro !New Cathedral of Coimbra Wednesday: 9:30 - Lecture 11 - Lecture 14 - Lecture 15:30 - Lecture !17 – Lecture Thursday: Visit to Évora: Évora Museum, Grace Church, Church of St. Francis, Church of the Holy !Spirit, St. Anthon Church. Friday: Theoretical work - conclusions on the topics covered. Practical work - planning exhibition of sculpture of the Convent of Christ !Reserve. Saturday: 10 - Lecture 14 - Opening of the exhibition project on the sculpture of the Convent of Christ reserves. ! ! 5 OBJECTIVES The perception that the Renaissance humanist culture in Portugal is in a long time duration and it is not limited to the first decades of the sixteenth century. The knowledge of the political and cultural strategies in the Convent of Christ over the 15th and 16th centuries. The understanding of a cultural and artistic universe with different expressions and rhythms (with particular emphasis on painting and sculpture) in Tomar. The understanding of the proximity and the results operated between the courts and the powers in the Iberian Peninsula. The debate and the questioning of the relevance of the "plain style" advanced to the Portuguese architecture by George Kubler. The experience of asset protection through the intervention in the Aqueduct of Pegões. The experience of musealization with the sculpture collection in the reserves of the Convent of Christ. 6 ! STAY !The Convent of Christ in Tomar. DEADLINE AND LIMITED NUMBER OF INSCRIPTIONS ! Inscriptions until June, 6th, 2016 15 students It will open with the minimum number of 12 students ! COSTS ! € 1.200 - $ 1.310 With academic credit: € 1300 - $ 1.420 Number of credits offered: 4 (in Art History or Museology) Institution offering credit: University of Coimbra, Portugal The cost includes fieldwork training, lectures, housing, field trips and cultural excursions ! 7 TEAM ! ! (1) Maria de Lurdes Craveiro (Director) ! Universidade de Coimbra ! [email protected] ! ! (2) Maria José Goulão ! Faculdade de Belas Artes da Universidade do Porto ! ! (3) Luísa Trindade ! Universidade de Coimbra ! ! ! (4) Joana Antunes ! Universidade de Coimbra ! ! ! (5) Dalila Rodrigues ! Instituto Politécnico de Viseu ! ! (6) Paulo Pereira Universidade Técnica de Lisboa ! (7) Maria José Bento DGPC / Lisbon School of Arts ! ! (8) Nuno Senos ! Universidade Nova de Lisboa ! ! (9) Nuno Vassallo e Silva Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian ! ! (10) Xavier Reis Universidade de Coimbra ! CONTACTS ! Convent of Christ: ! [email protected] ! ! ! University of Coimbra: ! [email protected] ! ! 8.