The Splendor of the Portal of Glory of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela: Research, Conservation, and Discoveries

Date: 

Wednesday, February 8, 2017, 6:30pm to 7:30pm

Location: 

RCC Conference Room, 26 Trowbridge St., Cambridge MA

This lecture offers an overview of the remarkable discoveries produced in the context of the Santiago Cathedral Project – a project of research and conservation focusing on the magnificent 12th-century western narthex of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, also known as the Portal of Glory, which is sponsored by the Barrié Foundation, in Cathedral of Santiago de Compostelacollaboration with the Santiago Cathedral Foundation, and several other international and Spanish institutions such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Harvard’s Real Colegio Complutense, the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute, and the Galician Government. Salient among the results in the area of conservation is the first complete sequencing of the various layers of polychromy applied to the Portal of Glory over the centuries, as well as the identification of the historical events that could have prompted some of the re-paintings, such as coronations and knighting ceremonies. It has also been possible to realize the first complete reconstruction of the iconographic program of the dismantled exterior façade of the Portal of Glory, which was once decorated with a group of sculptural masterpieces that have remained until now anonymous and forgotten in small museums and private collections. 

Santiago ProjectSpeaker: Francisco Prado-Vilar, Scientific Director of the Andrew W. Mellon Program for the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, and Director of Cultural and Artistic Projects at Harvard’s Real Colegio Complutense

Sponsor: RCC

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