OIC 12 – 26.03.2026

Session leader: Marisa Pereira Santos, CITCEM, Material and Intangible Heritage (ORCID 0000-0002-8338-7487 /Science ID 6814-9E1A-79CC)

Title/General theme of the session: Dynamics of Sacred Space: Places, Objects, Images and Practices

Session Summary: The Sacred Space is the place where, symbolically, the manifestation of the divine takes place. The link between the earthly and the transcendent occurs through objects and practices, whose associated functions derive from the meanings attributed to them by the time that conceived them. The action of these objects goes beyond the limits of the architectures designed to be the dwelling place of the divine. The rituals that take place inside and outside temples, in public or private spaces, are related to and dependent on the devotions and objects that make up the ceremonial. The believer’s senses are awakened by the materials, shapes and uses of the objects, whose ritualized manipulation acts directly on the configuration and reconfiguration of the spaces themselves. This calls for a holistic, diachronic and integrated approach to the Sacred Space and its dynamics. The four papers that make up this session aim to reflect on the above-mentioned findings, addressing methods of artistic production and creation, the movement and transmission of forms and aesthetics, the contextualization and recontextualization of materialities and practices, without forgetting the issues of heritage that are currently being raised.

Name of the speakers and their paper titles:

Marina Jordão Murgeiro – Artistic production in women’s convent spaces: the crib model at the Convent of the Desagravo do Santíssimo Sacramento in Louriçal

Cláudia Costa Pires – The plurality of sacred spaces: the voyage of Queen Beatriz of Portugal (1504-1538)

Ana Carolina Cunha – The study of the 12 Dynamics of the Sacred Space based on the Integrated Heritage Inventory

Marisa Pereira Santos – The movement of devotional images in the Basilica of São Pedro do Toural

Moderators-commentators of the session:

Proposed by the proposers:

Ana Cristina Sousa, FLUP (ORCID 0000-0001-8442-8394)

Appointed by the CITCEM Executive Committee:

Francisco de Asis García García, U. Autónoma de Madrid (ORCID 0000-0002 6115-3399)

Program