Español i Bertran, Francesca

Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert

CATALAN HISTORICAL REVIEW, 4: 145-147 (2011)
Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona
DOI: 10.2436/20.1000.01.56 · ISSN: 2013-407X
http://revistes.iec.cat/chr/
Ianua Coeli: Monumental Romanesque doorways on the Iberian Peninsula
International Congress. Barcelona-Ripoll 24-27 November 2010
Francesca Español*
Amics de l’Art Romànic
Studying  monumental Romanesque doorways was the 
theme of the international congress organised by the Amics 
de l’Art Romànic (Friends of Romanesque Art), an affiliate 
of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans. The congress was held 
last November in Barcelona at the IEC headquarters and in 
Ripoll, which hosted the closing event and where the parti-
cipants were treated to the superb facade of the monastery. 
For the first time in Spain, the scientific gathering aimed to 
study the large doorways that emerged in the Christian ter-
ritories in the west and east of the Iberian Peninsula in the 
12th century and the early years of the 13th century. The Ro-
manesque visually translated the symbolic value that Ch-
ristianity attributed to its buildings of worship and certain 
sectors and elements that represent them, one of which is 
the entrance doorway. Repeatedly glossed in texts as the 
doorway to heaven, Ianua Coeli, the iconographic pro-
grammes and liturgical uses linked to this threshold betwe-
en the sacred and profane underscore this dimension. The 
congress wanted to examine this issue from different, mu-
tually complementary vantage points: by analysing the ico-
nographic programmes derived from the Romanesque do-
orway and the intentions of its promoters, the style of its 
sculpture and the connections derived from it, the unique-
ness of the typology adopted and the liturgical functions it 
accommodated. The goal was for the expert debate to shed 
light on all of these issues, addressed generally for the first 
time at this congress, and at the same time open up the ses-
sion to university students and amateurs. The congress was 
a huge success. It attracted around 100 people including 
speakers and participants, including students from a num-
ber of universities in Spain, Germany, England, France and 
Italy. The sessions were officially opened by Salvador Gi-
ner, President of the IEC, Daniel Solé, Deputy General Di-
rector of the Generalitat de Catalunya’s department of Cul-
tural Heritage, and Francesca Español, President of Amics 
de l’Art Romànic and scientific director of the congress.
Prestigious Hispanists were on hand for the lectures. 
Dr Peter Klein, Professor at the Universität Tübingen, 
* Contact address: Francesca Español. Departament d’Història de l’Art, 
Facultats de Filosofia i de Geografia i Història, Universitat de Barcelona. 
Montalegre, 6. E-08001 Barcelona, Catalonia, EU. Tel. +34 933 333 466 (3173). 
Fax: +34 934 498 510. E-mail: francescaespanol@ub.edu
gave the keynote speech (“Marginal Images on the Ro-
manesque Doorways of Spain”) in which he surveyed a 
number of monuments which feature profane (and het-
erodox) subjects and evaluated their function as the an-
tithesis or complement to the sacred subjects that pre-
dominate inside these buildings. American Professor 
Elizabeth Valdez del Alamo (Montclair State University) 
presented a new iconographic interpretation of the door-
way to the cloister at Silos monastery in a talk entitled 
“Acrobats at the Doorway to Heaven, Where the Sacred 
and Profane Meet”. An iconographic analysis was also the 
main theme in the talk by Dr Therese Martin (Spanish 
National Research Council, Madrid), who focused on one 
of the most emblematic Romanesque buildings in the 
northwest Iberian Peninsula, “Eloquent Forms in the 
Three Doorways of San Isidoro of León”.
Doctor José Luis Senra (Universidade de Santiago) fo-
cused his talk (“Angeli ad portas: On Some of the Van-
ished Doorways in Monasteries in Castillo-León”) on a 
subject on which he has become an indisputable expert: 
the western massif of such emblematic buildings as 
Frómista and Carrión de los Condes. He evaluated their 
architectural layout, their funerary use and the traits of 
the doorways that lead into the church. The crux of the 
talk by Dr M. Victoria Herráez and Dr Concepción Cos-
men, professors at the Universidad de León, was the typo-
logical and ornamental similarities among numerous 
doorways located in the vast northeast region of the Ibe-
rian Peninsula along the Way of Saint James. The talk by 
Dr José Luis Hernando Garrido (Ethnographic Museum 
of Castilla-León, Zamora), examined the resonance of the 
compositional recipes and stylistic motifs present on one 
of the most representative doorways in the cathedral of 
Zamora, the Bishop’s Doorway. In her talk “Romanesque 
Doorways in Navarra”, Dr Clara Fernández-Ladreda 
(Universidad de Pamplona) traced the characteristic fea-
tures of the most important examples conserved in Nav-
arra, including the Sangüesa doorway which is one of the 
latest among all the monuments on the Iberian Peninsula.
The Catalan doorways analysed at the congress preside 
over the entrances to monastery churches (Santa Maria 
de Ripoll, Sant Pere de Rodes and Covet) and cathedrals 
(La Seu d’Urgell, Girona, Vic and Perpignan), and the 
001-164 Catalan Historical 4 (Eng).indd   145 15/09/11   17:49
146   Cat. Hist. Rev. 4, 2011 Francesca Español
cho (Universitat de Barcelona). The functions linked to 
the space presided over by the Ianua Coeli in cathedrals 
or monastery churches (such as the penitential and funer-
ary liturgies) were outlined in the talk by Dr Francesca 
Español (Universitat de Barcelona) entitled “The Roman-
esque Doorway and its Liturgical Uses”.
The extraordinary design in Ripoll was addressed in 
two talks. The one by Pere Rovira (Centre for the Restora-
tion of Movable Goods of Catalonia) examined the suc-
cessive restorations that the monument has undergone in 
the talk “From Degradation to Conservation of the Ro-
manesque Stone: Preventative Actions, Material Analy-
sis and Project to Safeguard the Doorway in Ripoll”. 
Dr Xavier Barral Altet (Université de Rennes), who closed 
the congress, spoke about “Reflections on the Commis-
sion of the Romanesque Doorway in Ripoll and its Artis-
tic Consequences”, surveying the historiography of the 
monument and the most recent studies’ contribution to 
our knowledge about it.
After these lectures, numerous brief reports were read 
on doorways in Catalonia, Aragon and Bearn: Dr José 
Alberto Morais (Universidad de Extremadura): “Open 
Doorways: Outlining Problems and Clarifying Concepts 
on the Antiquating Legacy and its Presence in Hispanic 
Romanesque Doorways”; Dr Ilaria Sgrigna (Universitat 
talks that examined them primarily stressed stylistic and 
compositional issues. This was the interpretation put 
forth by Dr Marc Sureda Jubany (Episcopal Museum of 
Vic) regarding the elements that still survive on the lost 
doorways in Perpignan, Girona and Vic. Dr Gerardo Boto 
Varela (Universitat de Girona), also examined the same 
issues regarding La Seu d’Urgell in his talk “Agentivity 
and Interaction of the Discourse of Romanesque Door-
ways: The Images on the Thresholds of Santa Maria of La 
Seu d’Urgell”. Dr Joaquín Yarza Luaces (Universitat Au-
tònoma de Barcelona) surveyed the typological forerun-
ners of the doorway in Covet, and he complemented that 
with a review of its iconographic programme in his talk 
entitled “The Doorway of Santa Maria of Covet: Astrolo-
gy, Fall and Redemption”.
The unique formulas on monumental doorways 
wrought by the figure known as the Master of Cabestany 
was the focal point of the talk by Dr Imma Lorés Otzet 
(Universitat de Lleida) in her talk “Membra disjecta: The 
Images on the Doorways by the Master of Cabestany”. 
The pictorial subjects present on the outer doorways and 
decorating the border elements inside the church (the tri-
umphal arch was a boundary marker between the area for 
the faithful and the presbytery, for example) were exam-
ined in the talk by Drs Milagros Guardia and Carles Man-
Figure 1. Official poster of the International Congress “Ianua Coeli: Monumental Romanesque Doorways on the Iberian Peninsula” 
001-164 Catalan Historical 4 (Eng).indd   146 15/09/11   17:49
Ianua Coeli: Monumental Romanesque doorways on the Iberian Peninsula Cat. Hist. Rev. 4, 2011   147
Role of the Masters in the Chancel of the Zaragoza Ca-
thedral”; Juan Antonio Olañeta (Universitat de Barcelo-
na): “The Doorway of the Parish Church of San Salvador 
de Agüero (Huesca) and its ‘Borrowed’ Tympanum”; 
and Maritxu Echeverri (Université de Toulouse-Le Mi-
rail): “Earthly Spiritual Meals? The Quest for Salvation 
on the Romanesque Doorways between Bearn and 
Aragon”.
de Barcelona): “Comparative Analysis of the Doorway in 
Santa Maria of Covet: Observations on the Provenance 
and Dissemination of its Models”; Antoni Llagostera 
(Centre of Regional Studies of El Ripollès): “An 1846 
Drawing by Pau Milà i Fontanals in the Carderera Col-
lection”; Dr Esther Lozano (Universitat Autònoma de 
Barcelona): “Figurative Repertoires and Stylistic Con-
nections in the Doorways of Navarra and Aragon: The 
001-164 Catalan Historical 4 (Eng).indd   147 15/09/11   17:49


Ianua Coeli: Monumental Romanesque doorways on the Iberian Peninsula International Congress. Barcelona-Ripoll 24-27 November 2010

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Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert