Architecture Medieval: Image and Function
Code: 100554Credits: 6
| Degree programme | Type | Course |
|---|---|---|
| Art History | OP | 3 |
| Art History | OP | 4 |
Contact lecturer
- Name :
- Eduardo Carrero Santamaria
- Email :
- eduardo.carrero@uab.cat
Group languages
You can consult this information at the end of the document.
Prerequisites
There are no specific prerequisites, but it is advisable to have studied the modules on Byzantine Art, Romanesque Art, Gothic Art, Renaissance Art, Baroque Art and 19th-Century Art.
Objectives
In this module, we will examine architecture, spatial layout and furnishings in cathedral architecture from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. We will begin by exploring the relationship between space and function, and how the building’s use shaped and influenced its architecture. Furthermore, we will study how the building was furnished and decorated, in accordance with the activities carried out there. Additionally, we will analyse the topography of the architecture and its urban surroundings. All this analysis will enable us to attempt a reconstruction of the built environment, as well as to address the issues surrounding the creation of architectural types and their revision or consolidation up to the 16th century. The basic aim of the syllabus is to address the diversity of architectural solutions proposed from Late Antiquity through to the Renaissance. The course will have a radically practical focus, centred on the recognition of floor plans, topographical models and laboratory work, which will be discussed at the start of the course. Work will also be carried out on applying knowledge of restoration interventions on built heritage and the latest techniques of architectural analysis and representation to the practical study of architecture, as well as their application—alongside previously acquired historical and artistic knowledge—to virtual reconstruction and the dissemination of research.
Learning outcomes
- Applying the iconographic knowledge to the reading of artistic imagery.
- Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon in a given cultural context.
- Analysing the creators of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
- Analysing the recipients of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
- Connecting an artistic imagery with other cultural phenomena within its period.
- Reconstructing the artistic outlook of a particular cultural context.
- Accurately defining and explaining an artistic object with the specific language of art criticism.
- Examining an artistic imagery and distinguishing its formal, iconographic and symbolic values.
- Distinguishing the elaboration techniques and processes of an artistic object.
- Explaining the reception mechanisms of a work of art.
Contents
1. Why study architectural space in the history of architecture?
2. How to research cathedrals
3. Cathedral architecture. Sources and historiography
4. Life in the cathedral. Liturgical and social space
5. The cathedral and the city
6. Cathedral space for women, children and vulnerable people
7. Cathedrals between the 19th and 20th centuries
8. Cathedral architecture as heritage to be managed in the 21st century
Learning activities and methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Readings and others | 4 | 0.16 | 6, 7, 9 |
| Autonomous study | 90 | 3.6 | 1, 5, 6, 8, 9 |
| Tutorials and evaluation tests | 5 | 0.2 | 2, 3, 4, 7 |
| Classes | 30 | 1.2 | 2, 3, 5, 6 |
| Seminaries | 21 | 0.84 | 2, 3, 4, 7 |
All the subject will be distributed between the lectures given by the professor, the recommended readings, the individual or group work on a building and the seminars that will take place in class around that work.
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.
One of the objectives will be that the work carried out in class can be shown in poster format in one of the faculty's exhibition spaces, subject to availability.
Assessment
Continuous assessment activities
| Title | Weight | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participation in in-class training activities | 30% | 0 | 0 | 2, 7 |
| 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 | 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
| One or more written test | 40% | 0 | 0 | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 |
The evaluation will be carried out using three main evidences:
1. A paper on one of the buildings proposed in the first week of class.
2. Participation in the training activities carried out 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.
Assessment activities in which there have been irregularities are not recoverable.
In the event that the tests cannot be done in person, their format will beadapted (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.
Single assessment
If you opt for a single assessment, you will have three assessment activities:
1. Elaboration of a presentation of the content of the first part of the syllabus (topics 1-5) 30%.
2. Elaboration of a presentation of the content of the second part of the syllabus (topics 6-10) 30% 3.
3. Course exam 40%.
At the time of each evaluation activity, the teacher will inform the students (Moodle) of the procedure and the date of revision of the grades.
The student will receive a grade of \"Not evaluable\" if he/she has not passed more than 1/3 of the evaluation activities.
The same recovery system will be applied as for continuous assessment.
Bibliography
BAŁUS, Wojciech. (2008): “La Catédrale of Joris-Karl Huysmans and the Symbolical Interpretation of the Gothic Cathedral in the 19th Century”, Artibus et Historiae, 29-57, pp. 165-182.
BERGDOLL, Barry. (1995): “The Ideal of the Gothic Cathedral in 1852”, en P. Attenbury (ed.), A. W. N. Pugin. Master of Gothic Revival, Nueva York, Yale University Press, pp. 103-135.
CARRERO SANTAMARÍA, Eduardo (2014). "Catedral y liturgia medievales. La definición funcional del espacio y sus usos", en O clero secular medieval e as suas catedrais. Novas perspectivas e abordagens, coords. A. M. de Sousa Saraiva y M. R. Barbosa Morujao, Lisboa, pp. 59-100.
CARRERO SANTAMARÍA, Eduardo (2019). La catedral habitada. Historia viva de un espacio arquitectónico, Bellaterra, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
CARRERO SANTAMARÍA, Eduardo (2026). "Imaginarios de la arquitectura gótica. Un panorama de usos, abusos y resignificaciones hasta la era del turismo cultural", Vínculos de Historia, 15, https://vinculosdehistoria.com/index.php/vinculos
CARRERO SANTAMARÍA, Eduardo (2021). "La generación y gestión del espacio edificado en la arquitectura catedralicia", en J. L. Barriocanal Gómez, S. D. Cura Elena, René Jesús Payo Hernanz, Carlos Izquierdo Yusta (eds.), El mundo de las catedrales. Pasado, presente y futuro, Burgos, Fundación VIII centenario, pp.183-198.
CARRERO SANTAMARÍA, Eduardo y RICO CAMPS, Daniel (eds.) (2003), Catedral y ciudad en la Península Ibérica, Murcia, Nausicäa.
ERLANDE-BRANDENBURG, Alain (1993), La catedral, Madrid, Akal.
GARCÍA MELERO, José Enrique. (2002): Las catedrales góticas en la España de la Ilustración, Madrid, Encuentro.
NAVASCUÉS PALACIO, Pedro. (2019): “Sobre la catedral en el siglo XIX. Mito y realidad”, en J. León y J. M. Goicolea (eds.), La catedral, ingenium ut aedificare, Madrid, Fundación Juanelo Turriano, pp. 71-100.
PROUST, Marcel. (2025): La muerte de las catedrales, ed. Mauro Armiño, Madrid, Punto de vista editores.
RAMALLO ASENSIO, Germán. (2010): “Ascenso, caída y destrucción de las actuaciones barrocas en las catedrales españolas”, Semata. Ciencias sociais e humanidades, 22, pp. 19-44.
RECHT, Roland, Le voire et le croire. L'art des cathédrales, ss. XIIe-XVème, París, Gallimard, 1999.
SURLAPIERRE, Nicolas, ALONSO-THIVET, Emilie, REIBEL, Laurence y HOVASSE, Jean-Marc (coords.). (2018). Guerre aux démolisseurs! Victor Hugo et la défense du patrimoine, Besançon, Silvana Editoriale.
WILSON, Christopher (1990). The Gothic Cathedral, Londres, Thames & Hudson.
Software
Word processing programmes
Online presentation programmes
Adobe Reader
Course groups and languages
The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE
| Type of teaching | Group | Language | Semester | Shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |