Hortus Artium Medievalium

CARE-France has been supported by the French National Research Agency from 2008 to 2011. Our work and main results have already been published in 2012 in Hortus Artium Medievalium. This short paper will present the latest progress of the architectural corpus in France and the new complementary project, which started in 2017: a corpus of the French early medieval sculpture linked to the CARE online database.

For the last 10 years more than 80 researchers in Italy have been working on the CARE project (Corpus Architecturae Religiosae Europeae) with the aim of creating the catalogue of early medieval churches in Italy. One innovative aspect of the project is undoubtedly its intensely collaborative nature, which is intrinsically linked to the way in which data is entered in the WikiCARE digital platform as well as the fact that information is immediately available to a broad audience that goes beyond the confines of the academical milieu. As such, it is of considerable interest not only scientifically but also for the positive economic and social impact it is sure to have.

Within the project C.A.R.E. (Corpus Architecturae Religiosae Europeae), which studies the architecture of religious buildings dating from IV to X century, a section, coordinated by the Author, concerning Central Italy has been developed in 2012. The collection and the organization of the data was carried out by seven working groups each dedicated to a different topographic area (Rome within the walls, Rome outside the walls, Latium excluding Rome, Tuscany, Marche, Umbria, Abruzzo). In this contribution, the managers and researchers of each area are indicated, the research method is described and a double way of presentation of results (a Wiki-type database and the print edition in six volumes) is discussed. In conclusion, indications are provided on the actual progress of the work, with specific references to the urban area of Rome: for this area, enough data has been collected to complete the first of the six volumes planned, which is expected to be published in 2018.

The Research Unit of LATEM (Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa, Naples), involved in the CARE_Italia project, is presently studying the places of worship of two regions: Campania (focusing on the provinces of Avellino, Benevento and Caserta), and Molise. Almost 200 buildings and architectural complexes, dating between 4th and 11th centuries, have been recorded, including those who are lost and are only mentioned in the written sources. The records for these sites have already been uploaded on the WikiCARE_Italia site.

We are using two different methodologies: sites in Campania have been recorded following the geographical boundaries of the present provinces; we started from the less studied area of Avellino and then we have surveyed those of Benevento and Caserta. Molise sited, however, we chose a typological parameter, initially recording all Benedictine monastic buildings.

This paper shows the quantitative and qualitative results of both surveys. Its aim is to underline the importance of these area, between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, within the general process of diffusion of Christianity.

The article gives the current state of the art of the Corpus architecturae religiosae Europeae (IV-X saec.) in Croatia. In the last few years work has been concentrated on the online wiki-bridge platform. The catalogue entries forms were translated to Croatian and English, the lists of monuments to be analysed created. Preliminary work on literature and archives has mostly been done, and the drawing of ground plans of churches within the CARE model has started.

The CARE project in Wallonia has for the past five years been responsible for keeping record of some 108 religious buildings.

The archaeological aspects are reviewed in the light of recent research. The corpus ends up asking more general questions about the institutional framework concerning the limits of dioceses, the role of abbeys in the organisation of worship in rural parishes. These questions intervene to a certain extent in the chronology of some places of worship.

The Institute of History of Art at Jagiellonian University in Cracow has joined the CARE project in 2015/2016 via cooperation with Jana Mařiková-Kubková at Archaeological Institute in Prague. Actually, 17 churches have been identified and 4 another archaeological sites with some architectural evidence are awaiting a full revision. The current work on the CARE project in Poland involves collecting and analyses of the documentary evidence of archaeological sites. The working team has been cooperating with colleagues from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of Polish Academy of Science (mainly Poznań and Warsaw) and the archaeological stations on Wawel Royal Castle in Cracow, Ostrów Lednicki etc. The Christian architecture appeared within the political activity of Piast's house and forming the early state during the second half of the 10^th century. The article presents the most interesting buildings in the context of their function and the broader relationships, also Christianization and church organization after baptism of duke Mieszko in 966.

The Corpus della scultura altomedievale was officially established in 1959, when a first issue devoted to the diocese of Lucca was published. What is more, it was Mario Salmi who prompted the creation of the series already in 1951. He devised the Corpus as a part of a broader editorial project concerning pre-Romanesque monuments in Italy. Each of the Corpus volumes deals with the territory of an early medieval ecclesiastical diocese and the sculptures to be found in it. It is the CISAM scientific Committee, led by Letizia Ermini Pani, which is entrusted with the coordination and editing of the volumes. As a permanent member of the Committee, the author of this paper aims at outlining the progressive fulfilment of such a long-lasting and complex endeavour. To date, the Corpus project has at its credit the publication of twenty-five volumes and provides scholars with an extraordinary companion for the studies of early medieval Italy. Recently, the Committee started up a further specific project relevant to the city of Rome. Its purpose is the publication of the rich collection of drawings made by Ferdinando Mazzanti in the late 19th century. The drawings, still mostly unpublished, represent an invaluable source for the knowledge of early medieval sculpture of Rome, in particular when lost sculptural contexts are to be investigated.

In 2017 and in 2018, two new volumes of the project Corpus and Atlas of medieval painting in Rome are going to be published. The Corpus is meant to be an analytic overview of painting and its chronological and diachronic axis collocation. It represents an essential and powerful tool for the study of medieval painting of Rome. The Atlas sets the painting in the space, rejoicing it visually with architecture through the use of plans and 3D digital models. The system of Corpus and Atlas together is making medieval painting of Rome alive and talking, implementing more and more visual perspectives.

The project of the 'Corpus of the mosaics of Albania' started in 2013 ; developed as a series of books by an international and multidisciplinary team, this classical inventory includes all the identified mosaics, dating from the ancient and medieval times, found in situ or placed in museums, as well as lost items. Study and documentation are carried out simultaneously with the restoration of the mosaic pavements.

We intend to present the Virtual Museum realized within the project of the University of Tuscia and representing innovative documentation tools for the enhancement of Cappadocia. The University of Tuscia has been working in Cappadocia in the territory of Nevşehir since 2006, conducting the survey "Rock painting in Cappadocia. For a project of knowledge, conservation and enhancement". The work concerns the phenomenon of rock hewn painting, following an interdisciplinary methodology which links humanistic knowledge with scientific and technical investigations. Through the analysis of 89 churches and 20 civil rooms we were able to design and implement a database on Cappadocian rock settlements, churches and paintings. For each monument included in the database we provide information about: place, architectural structure, function, rock hewn liturgical and civil furnishing, decoration. With regard to the churches, special attention is paid to pictorial decoration. Iconographic themes, chronology, techniques of execution and constituent materials are accurately recorded for each monument. In addition, we studied Cappadocian landscape and rock habitat, being conscious that it plays a co-starring role alongside pictorial decorations.

This paper is strictly connected to the contribution of Maria Andaloro and Valeria Valentini, which presents the structure and the operation mode of the database "Cappadocia. Arte e habitat rupestre" ("Cappadocia. Art and rupestrian habitat"). I intend to show the potential of the same database through a specific example: the church of saint Eustachius in Göreme. This building is included in a very articulated and interesting rupestrian context. Several rooms were excavated in the surrounding pinnacles and rock structures. The Tuscia University team is currently investigating them, in order to clarify their civil or religious function. The church has a double aisled plan; the north aisle worked as funeral chapel and there is a small burial chamber in front of it. The southern aisle and the narthex are covered by paintings dating back to different phases between the early 10^th century and the 11^th century. Our database allows an analytical study of this decoration in the broader context of the Byzantine Cappadocian rock painting.The pictorial program of saint Eustachius combines features common to the Cappadocian tradition with original elements. Some iconographic details suggest the presence of a monastic community in the area surrounding the church in the Byzantine era. This hypothesis is supported also by some graffiti inscriptions mentioning monks.

During the last years, the EMCHAHE project has been exploring the architectural remains of early medieval churches in Galicia (NW Spain). Basing on this background, this paper has two main objectives. First, to present and discuss the results of the luminescence and radiocarbon dating of mortars from four early medieval churches: Santa María de Mixós, San Adrián de Amiadoso, San Xoán de Panxón and San Breixo de Ouvigo. And second, to integrate and compare, by means of cluster analysis, these new chronological results with the set of early medieval churches for which we already have absolute dating. This approach will allow us to gain a first overview of not only the chronological trends (being the end of 9^th and beginning of 10^th centuries, apparently a period of special intensity of church construction) but also of the technical, formal and spatial characteristics that define these early medieval galician churches.

Within the CARE project, the writer deals with the cataloguing of the churches for central-northern Tuscany, with a particular attention to their topographical impact on the long-term. The aim of this paper is to make a focus on the analysis of the ecclesiae episcopales in all the towns of the Tuscan territory, highlighting the following points: - report with pre-existence; - impact on the urban plots in the longue durée; - monumental developments of the episcopal churches in the Early Middle Ages; - relationships of churches with the centres of 'secular power';- relations of the ecclesiae episcopales with the other urban and suburban churches; - structural developments of the church buildings.

Through the analysis of all these elements, the main purpose of this paper is to offer an organic synthesis on the topographie chrétienne of the cities of Tuscia, incorporating the analysis of ecclesiastical buildings into a "global" reading of the morphogenetic phenomena of urbanism, until the formation of the medieval city.

This paper aims to propose some considerations about the construction activity took place in Ravenna during the Vth and VIth centuries. The survey is based on the analysis of documentation traceable in the archives and on the results of archaeological investigations carried out starting from the Modern age. It is a theme not unpublished. I want to provide some information on the sidelines of the studies already published.

If it is well known that a lot of new churches were built during the High Middle Ages, the monumental landscape of this period was also marked by the numerous Paleochristian sanctuaries still in use. These last ones have often undergone, then, modifications more or less substantial, regarding their architectural outlines (partial transformation of the fabric, adjunction of annexes, laying out of crypts…) as well as their liturgical settings (supplementary altars, implantation of ciboria, new chancel screens…) as well as their decoration (mainly on the new liturgical settings, precisely ; but sometimes also - and in some buildings among the most prestigious - on the walls, consisting in reliefs in stucco, mosaics or paintings). The study of these cases may be undertaken by referring to textual sources, when they are at disposal ; but also, of course, by observing what it is still preserved, or thanks to the archaeological investigations. This approach appears truly fundamental, in order to understand how occurred - even by anchoring in the tradition firmly established between the 4^th and the 6^th century - a progressive mutation, leading from the first generation of the Christian architecture to the realizations of the Romanesque period.

The site of Sant Pere de Terrassa (Barcelona, Catalonia) is an exceptional monument and evidence of the existence of the episcopal see of Ègara between 5th and 8th centuries. The several studies carried out since the 90's until year 2011, allow us to know in depth both archaeological and technical facts concerning one of the most ancient witnesses of medieval mural paintings within the Iberian Peninsula for the referred period. The following paper aims to analyse the most recent information from our latest study on these paintings, which were promoted by Frodoinus, bishop of Barcelona, at the end of 9th century due to political reasons.

This paper would suggest how -despite the apparent resemblance- the perception of the interior of three aisled basilicas were very different to each other; this is because there were different categories of clerics and faithfuls and who were asked to follow certain paths or/and to hold a certain position before or during the celebrations. These positions or common movements were driven by the presence of fixed or mobile separations and certain liturgical furnishings such as ambos and secondary tables. Consequently, the various positions, together with the disparate revetments used into the spaces derived from these divisions and their degree of brightness, could completely change the perception of the inner space of the different categories of the faithful who moved in these spaces.

The recent excavations in the martyrial sanctuary of St. Felix highlighted, among other things, the remains of three rooms on the east side of the basilica nova, erected between 401 and 403 by Paulinus of Nola. The discovery allowed us to fix some key points regarding the issue of the number and configuration of the annexes to the aisles and, more generally, the structure of the basilica. Waiting to analyze the documentation of the old excavations (still partially unpublished) and to proceed with the study of the relevant materials, here I will first illustrate the new acquisitions on the construction phases of the annexes, their decoration and the dynamics of the filling, postponing the publication of the excavations and the detailed analysis of the stratigraphies along with the finds.