Contents

Seminar 1. Cultural heritage today: concepts, challenges and opportunities

Professor: Carles Sánchez Márquez

Dates: September 15

Presentation

An introduction to the main concepts defining cultural heritage and the challenges it faces today, from conservation and sustainability to civic participation and digital transformation. The session will also explore the opportunities that heritage offers as a resource for knowledge, social cohesion and territorial development.

Seminar 2. Arts in Health

Professor: Francesc-J. de Rueda Roigé

Guest faculty: Arts in health professionals, music therapists and specialists.

Dates and schedules:

September 29: 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM

October 2: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM — Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site

October 6: 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM

October 9 (Complementary activities):

11:30 AM: Opening of Javier Engel’s exhibition

1:00 PM: Concert by the Canta Sant Pau Choir at the UAB

October 13: Seminar closing

Presentation

Interest in Arts in Health has grown significantly over recent decades, driven by both scientific research and the progressive incorporation of artistic interventions in hospitals, social-health centers and community organizations.

This seminar offers an interdisciplinary approach to the role of arts in health promotion, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and well-being. Theoretical sessions will be combined with the direct observation of a music therapy intervention, guest lectures by specialists, and cultural activities linked to real-life experiences of recovery following a stroke.

Session structure

Session 1. Introduction to arts in health

Historical evolution of the Arts in Health concept. International framework. Humanization of healthcare. Clarification of concepts. Scientific evidence. Main modalities: visual arts, music therapy, dance and movement, theater, writing and literature. Examples of hospital programs.

Session 2. Observation of a music therapy intervention (Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site)

Introduction to clinical music therapy. Therapeutic goals. Direct observation of a 90-minute session. Follow-up space for debate and reflection with professionals.

Session 3. Arts in Health: professional experiences

Four lectures delivered by specialists. Subsequently, there will be a round table on “Arts in Health: current challenges and future perspectives.”

Session 4. Discussion and conclusions

Case discussions. Debate on ethical challenges. Design of an Arts in Health program. Teaching methodology. Deliberation and conclusions.

Complementary activity (October 9): Exhibition and concert

11:30 AM: Opening of the exhibition “Art and stroke. Pictorial work by Javier Engel”, an individual who, after suffering a stroke, developed painting as a tool for expression and recovery.

1:00 PM: Concert by the Canta Sant Pau Choir, made up of stroke survivors, as an example of the powerful therapeutic, rehabilitative and community effect of musical practice.

Seminar 3. "Dispersed" medieval ensembles and medieval heritage in conflict

Professor: Manuel Castiñeiras

Dates and schedules:

October 20 (4:00 PM - 7:00 PM)

October 27 (4:00 PM - 7:00 PM)

November 3 (4:00 PM - 7:00 PM)

Presentation

This seminar aims to delve into new aspects related to the study of medieval heritage from a diachronic and contemporary perspective. Firstly, it will address the casuistry of "dispersed" medieval ensembles, the origin of this "dispersion" and the problems it generates for research, as well as the added values that have turned these monuments into objects of interest, debate or conflict.

As a paradigm, the case of Sant Pere de Rodes and the destruction and dispersion of the Romanesque marble portal by the Master of Cabestany will be studied, drawing on experiences from the exhibition Sant Pere de Rodes i el Mestre de Cabestany. La creació d’un mite (MNAC, 2026). Secondly, it will examine the live case of the claim over the paintings from the Chapter House of Sijena, distinguishing between the historical-artistic value of the ensemble and the heritage conflict. Thirdly, it will analyze how iconic buildings with high symbolic, identity and religious weight, such as Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, fit with difficulty into the current concept of “heritage”, and the confrontations they generate today.

Session structure

Session 1. Research on dispersed ensembles: method, sources, diachrony and limitations

1.1. The portal of Sant Pere de Rodes and the Master of Cabestany: creation, abandonment and dispersion.

1.2. The Chapter House of Santa María de Sijena: creation, transformations and conflict.

Session 2. Seminar with guests

Laura Bartolomé and Sònia Masmartí: From the 19th-century dispersion of the Rodes portal to the current management of the monument.

Albert Velasco: The case of the claim over the Sijena paintings: context, past and future.

Session 3. The appropriation of the past and collective identity: Hagia Sophia (Istanbul) and the Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem)

Debate and analysis based on selected readings.

Bibliography for Seminar 3

Rodes:

Castiñeiras, Manuel (ed.) (2026). Sant Pere de Rodes i el Mestre de Cabestany. La creació d’un mite. Barcelona: MNAC (exhibition catalog).

Castiñeiras, Manuel (2023). “Una nova peça del Mestre de Cabestany: el titulus crucis de la portada de Sant Pere de Rodes”. Locus Amoenus, 21, 7-22.

Castiñeiras, Manuel and Camps, Jordi (2023). Mestre de Cabestany. Espurnes de marbre. Barcelona: Artur Ramon Art.

Sijena:

Le Deschault de Monredon, Térence (2022). «La conservation des oeuvres médiévales du monastère de Sijena : un sujet de conflit entre l’Aragon et la Catalogne». In: La restitution des biens culturels (Nov 14-15, 2019).

Mechón Ruiz, Marisancho (2017). Salvamento y expolio. Las pinturas murales del Monasterio de Sijena en el siglo XX. Zaragoza.

Naya, Juan and Castiñeiras, Manuel (2021). “Like a Psalter for a Queen: Sancha, Melisende and the New Testament Cycle in the Chapter-House at Sijena”. Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 174, 1-42.

Various Authors (2026). Sixena. Les claus del conflicte. Barcelona: Editorial Base.

Velasco, Albert (2026). Les pintures de Sixena: Un foc que encara crema. Barcelona: Pòrtic.

Jerusalem and Istanbul:

Greenberg, Raphael and Hamilakis, Yannis (2022). Archaeology, Nation, and Race: Confronting the Past, Decolonizing the Future in Greece and Israel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Seminar 4. Heritage and tourism: a necessary relationship?

Professor: Maria Garganté

Dates and schedules:

November 10 (4:00 PM - 7:00 PM)

November 17 (4:00 PM - 7:00 PM)

November 24 (4:00 PM - 7:00 PM)

December 1 (4:00 PM - 7:00 PM)

Presentation

The main objective of these sessions is to study the relations between cultural heritage and tourism, both from a historical point of view and through a critical analysis that addresses its problematic aspects.

From monumental guides of Rome for pilgrims or the elite travel of the “Grand Tour”, we will see how the typification of widespread tourist travel evolved from the 19th century until the emergence of mass tourism, and how the notion of “cultural tourism” appeared at the end of the 20th century. We will analyze different ways of managing cultural heritage for tourist use —presenting, representing, interpreting...—, as well as the evolution of the concept itself based on the tourist interest it arouses.

The final session will be dedicated to a study day on the figure of Antoni Gaudí, focusing on the balance between being a first-rate creator and a tourist icon. The program will consist of three presentations:

The "historical" or "unseen" Gaudí: Dedicated to rescuing the Gaudí who appears in primary documentation and the newspapers of the era, many aspects of whom did not later transcend when creating the architect's mainstream image, which turns him into a “character” rather than an artist. We will talk about how to consult direct or digital archival sources, but also about how a myth is constructed.

Gaudí as a tourist icon: Shows the other side of the coin based on the expertise in Gaudí of a professional official tour guide (a profession that this session also aims to highlight as a career path).

The Sagrada Família as a synthesis: Placed between historical and heritage accuracy and tourist promotion, and addressing how contemporary art is integrated into a work left unfinished by Gaudí, which is simultaneously his most famous creation. All this to also debate some paradoxes regarding the relationship between art and tourism.

Session structure

Session 1. Heritage and tourism throughout history: limits and ambiguities

Historicisms, recreations, world fairs, and theme parks. "Immersive" exhibitions. Cultural heritage and dark tourism.

Session 2. Art as a tourist pretext: goal or complement of the trip?

Typologies of art tourism (in search of the artist, the museum as a tourist product, performing arts, musical, filmic, and audiovisual product tourism). The tourist management of "intangible" heritage: festivities and memory.

Session 3. Guided tour

Visit to a historical example of cultural tourism: Sitges.

Session 4. Study day

Study day on the occasion of the Centenary of the death of Antoni Gaudí: between cultural icon and tourist icon.

Seminar 5. Living cathedrals. Heritage, worship and management in the 21st century

Professor: Eduardo Carrero

Presentation:

Cathedrals constitute one of the most complex heritage types in the Western world: they are major monuments, active religious institutions, and mass tourist destinations all at once. This subject analyzes the cathedral as a historical organism and as an object of contemporary management, paying special attention to the permanent tension between its worship function and its status as a protected cultural asset. Over three sessions, the course covers the typological and functional evolution of the cathedral from late antiquity to the present day, examines the heritage management and funding models currently in place in Europa, and addresses modern challenges: tourist overcrowding, accessibility, digitization, and the debate over the symbolic ownership of these spaces in increasingly secularized societies.

Session 1. The cathedral as an organism: history, function and meaning

1.1. Historical introduction

1.2. Case study and debate

Seminar with guest speaker:

Samuel Rodríguez Martín and Javier Peces Pérez (Archaeological direction of the Cathedral of Toledo. Technical office of the Archbishopric of Toledo): “The Cathedral of Toledo in the 21st century”

Session 2. Cathedral heritage management today

2.1. The construction of heritage value

2.2. Restorations and interventions. The problem of conservation

2.3. Case study and debate

Seminar with guest speaker:

Tina Sabater (Universitat de les Illes Balears): “From the Chapel of Saint Peter to the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the Cathedral of Mallorca”

Session 3. The cathedral facing present-day challenges I

3.1. Funding models, master plans for conservation

3.2. The cathedral as an active liturgical space

Session 3. The cathedral facing present-day challenges II

3.2. Tourism, accessibility and overcrowding

3.3. Case study and debate

Seminar with guest speakers:

Francisco Juan Martínez Rojas (Episcopal Delegate for Cultural Heritage, Archives and Libraries of the Diocese of Jaén and dean of the Cathedral Chapter of Jaén). “The Cathedral of Jaén, a case study”.