Logo UAB
2022/2023

Medieval Architecture: Image and Function

Code: 100554 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500239 Art History OT 3 2
2500239 Art History OT 4 2

Contact

Name:
Eduardo Carrero Santamaria
Email:
eduardo.carrero@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Other comments on languages

The Spanish language may be used as a parallel means of communication during the development of the classes.

Prerequisites

There are no specific prerequisites, but it is desirable that the subjects of Byzantine Art, Romanesque Art and Gothic Art have been studied.

Objectives and Contextualisation

In this subject, we will work on architecture and furniture in civil architecture - palaces, houses and castles - from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. We will start with an appropriate knowledge of space and function, and how use conditioned and mediated the architecture that housed it. In addition, we will study how the building was furnished and dressed, according to the activity that would be carried out there. On the other hand, the topography of the architecture and its urban environment will be analysed. All this analysis will allow us to approach an attempt to reconstruct the material landscape, as well as the problems of the creation of architectural types and their revision or consolidation up to the 16th century. The basic intention of the syllabus is to deal with the plurality of architectural solutions that were proposed from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance.

Competences

    Art History
  • Critically analysing from the acquired knowledge a work of art in its many facets: formal values, iconographic significance, artistic techniques and procedures, elaboration process and reception mechanisms.
  • Interpreting a work of art in the context in which it was developed and relating it with other forms of cultural expression.
  • Recognising the evolution of the artistic imagery from the antiquity to the contemporary visual culture.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Accurately defining and explaining an artistic object with the specific language of art criticism.
  2. Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon in a given cultural context.
  3. Analysing the creators of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  4. Analysing the recipients of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  5. Applying the iconographic knowledge to the reading of artistic imagery.
  6. Connecting an artistic imagery with other cultural phenomena within its period.
  7. Distinguishing the elaboration techniques and processes of an artistic object.
  8. Examining an artistic imagery and distinguishing its formal, iconographic and symbolic values.
  9. Explaining the reception mechanisms of a work of art.
  10. Reconstructing the artistic outlook of a particular cultural context.

Content

1. WHY HISTORICISE SPACE IN MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE?

2. MEDIEVAL CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. INTRODUCTION AND SOURCES

3. CITIES AND URBAN FORTIFICATIONS

4. THE PALACE BETWEEN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

5. THE MEDIEVAL HOUSE

6. THE URBAN PALACE

7. THE CASTLE

8. THE COURT CEREMONIAL AND THE USE OF SPACE

Methodology

All subject matter of the course will be distributed between the classes taught by the professor, the recommended readings and the seminars that will be held in class.

During the seminars, the students will present a topic, previously consensuated with the professor. They will have to work on it through recommended readings and other means of information indicated by the professor.

Attendance at the seminars is obligatory and its contents will be part of the general subject of the course.

During the seminars the ability to think critically and to establish debate between different opinions of those expressed by the students and the professor will be assessed.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Classes 30 1.2 3, 2
Seminaries 21 0.84 3, 4, 2, 1
Type: Supervised      
Readings and others 4 0.16 1, 7, 10
Tutorials and evaluation tests 5 0.2 3, 4, 2, 1
Type: Autonomous      
Autonomous study 90 3.6 5, 7, 8, 10, 6

Assessment

The evaluation will be carried out using three main evidences:

1. An essay around a mandatory text for reading.

2. Participation in a training activity done during the classes.

3. The test that will be done at the end of the course (with the possibility of doing a partial in the middle of the term).

The percentages of the activities will be 40% for the test, 30% for the activity and 30% for the essay.

The specific dates of both the written tests and the mandatory reading memories will be specified on the first day of class.

At the time of each evaluation activity, the professor will inform the students about the procedure and date of revision of their marks.

To be able to average with the rest, the average of the two partial written tests will never be made with grades below 4.

The student will receive the grade of Non-evaluable as long as they have not passed more than 30% of the evaluation activities.

In the case of having failed any of the two partial tests, the student may present to the recovery of the corresponding block.

To participate in the recovery, the students must have previously been evaluated in a set of activities, the weight of which is equivalent to a minimum of 2/3 parts of the total grade.

To participate in the recovery process, it may be required to have obtained a minimum final grade, which cannot exceed 3.5 in any case.

In the event that the student makes any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an assessment act, this assessment act will be rated 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be instructed.

In the event that several irregularities occur in the acts of evaluation of the same subject, the final grade for this subject will be 0.

In the event that the tests cannot be done in person, their format will be adapted (maintaining the weight) tothe possibilities offered by the virtual tools of the UAB. Homework, activities and classparticipation will be carried out through forums, wikis and / or discussions of exercises through Teams, etc. The teacher will ensure that the student can access or offer alternative means that are within their reach.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
One or more written test 40% 0 0 3, 4, 2, 1, 8, 9, 10, 6
Participation in seminars and obligatory readings 30% 0 0 2, 1
Presentation of one or more works, prepared individually or in groups, and oral presentation of a synopsis of it during tutorial or seminar hours 30% 0 0 3, 4, 5, 1, 7, 8, 10, 6

Bibliography

 

ALMERICH, Lluís, Els Castells de Catalunya : nomenclàtor històric, toponímic per comarques, Barcelona, 1984  Humanitats- Dipòsit AF/535

Anales de Historia del Arte, vol. 23-II (2013), Palacio y génesis del estado moderno en los reinos hispánicos.

CARRERO, Eduardo, “Le palais épiscopal dans les royaumes ibériques médiévaux. Une interprétation fonctionelle”, Hortus Artium Medievalium, 13-2, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, 2007, pp. 183-202

CINGOLANI, Stefano Maria, "Entretenimientos, placeres, fiestas y juegos en la corte de los reyes de aragón en el siglo XIV", En la España Medieval; Madrid Tomo 39,  (2016): 225-248

COOPER, Edward, La Fortificación de España en los siglos XIII y XIV, 2 vols., Madrid, 2014 Humanitats- 1a planta 904 (46) Coo 01

JEHEL, Georges and RACINET, Philippe, La ciudad medieval. Del Occidente cristiano al Oriente musulmán (siglos V-XV), Barcelona, 1999

LAMPÉREZ Y ROMEA, Vicente, Arquitectura civil española de los siglos I al XVIII, 2 vols., Madrid, 1922 https://archive.org/details/QArm049

PELAZ, Diana, "Espacio palatino y comunicación política en la Corte de las reinas castellanas (ss. XIII-XV)", Studia historica. Ha. medieval, 2021-11-12, Vol.39 (2), p.79-101

PLADEVALL, Antoni (ed.), L'art Gòtic a Catalunya. 1. 3. Arquitectura III : dels palaus a les masies, Barcelona, 2002 Humanitats- 2a planta 7.033.5(467.1) Art

SILVA, José Custodio Vieira, Paços medievais portugueses, Lisboa, 2002

VARELA AGÜI, Enrique, La Fortaleza medieval : simbolismo y poder en la Edad Media, Valladolid, 2002 Humanitats- 2a planta 7.033-72 Var

WOOD, Margaret, The English Medieval House, Londres, 1965

Software

Word processing programmes

Online presentation programmes

Adobe Reader