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.

The Church of San Mauro at Parenzo/Poreč (late antique Parentium c. 550) preserves mosaics in its central and two side apses which are contemporary with and comparable to better known ones in Ravenna from the Age of Justinian. Such a three-apsed architectural form-dubbed Syro-Palestinian by Krautheimer-does not appear in Rome until the eighth century during the period of the "Greek" (often Syrian) popes. This paper explores the "Eastern" connections between San Mauro and the slightly earlier Saint Sergius in Gaza, as well as similarities with medieval Hagia Sophia in Kiev. Saint Sergius is no longer extant, but we have a detailed description of the architecture and decoration from the ekphrasis of Choricius of Gaza. All three of these churches have Annunciation and Visitation pairs that, while ostensibly based on the Gospel of Luke, also contain motifs from the apocryphal Protevangelium of James. San Mauro and Saint Sergius also have non-figural decoration that can be interpreted as alluding to the Annunciation in the Protevangelium.

The Research Unit of Università Suor Orsola Benincasa di Napoli had studied, during the CARE project, the places of worship situated or that could be localized in the area of the province of Avellino. The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of the data obtained, in particular in the analysis of the buildings recorded in the documents as ecclesiae and of those that are still called churches. In total 57 ecclesiae have been recorded: 40 of them are missing and only in few cases we can suppose where they were built; the other 17 are still visibile, but preserved in different ways. A deep study on these evidences can surely help to better understand the development of the spaces of devotion in the medieval Avellino.

During the Middle Ages, a migratory wave of Byzantine monks arrived in the Amalfi Coast. This phenomenon affected both the Duchy of Amalfi and the Principality of Salerno. The written sources of this period mention the translation of the relics, the adoption of the cult of Byzantine saints and the arrival in the territory of specialized craftsmen. The site, object of the study, is situated between the municipalities of Cetara and Maiori. The geological conformation and the ruggedness of the territory is excellent for the experience of Oriental troglodyte monasticism. However, for the same reason, systematic studies on the occupation of caves and high altitude settlements are scarce. The "Grotta dell'affresco", in the area of Monte Piano, represents the site with the most notable evidence of Middle Age material culture. The surface survey revealed the presence of several fictile fragments and a fresco, dating to the medieval period. The caves complex of Monte Piano is part of a wider area of Byzantine religious settlements which occupy the territory of Campania between late 9^th and 11^th centuries

Based on available data from archaeological investigations and written sources, the phenomenon of foundations of churches in the Lombard age is analyzed in depth. Often churches were used to host tombs of representative of the Lombard upper class, and indeed such a custom motivated the foundation of many churches. In fact, besides perpetuating the memory of who passed away, a burial in a church, whatever of ancient or new foundation, was particularly suitable to favor the legitimization and recognition of the new sovereigns. From this perspective, the foundation of churches was a practical way to allow the cultural integration between the new Lombard leadership and the pre-existing Roman-Byzantine people.

In the last two years, research has been specifically dedicated to Early Medieval churches in the city of Capua, a territory belonging to the province of Caserta (Italy) and situated near the river Volturno. The research topic is one of the most relevant regarding this city which was founded in the middle of the IX century by the Lombard aristocracies after the decline of Capua vetus. Despite the difficulties arising from written sources and material data, new interpretations concerning the individual churches can be obtained which contribute to the specific study of the IX-X century urban profile.

Last season of excavation in Phoinike (Albania) helped to better define the chronology and plan of the late antique basilica inserted in a wider Bishop complex. In the meantime a new ecclesiastical building was found on the top of the hill close to the 'Laurus Nobilis'. This church was built during the 7th c. and abandoned in the late 15th century, when the city of Phonike was already controlled by the Sultan of Epirus. It is a church square with a central apse and three small aisles, preceded by a rectangular vestibule. In the second phase, the building was restricted to two aisles. Around the ecclesiastical complex was settled a large cemetery. Some architectural elements, found in the collapsing layers, show an interior decoration made up of limestone capitals and pulvini sculpted by local craftsman. The church sets and reuses the structures of an imposing Stoà, located in one of the most prestigious areas of the city. In this paper we will try to frame the phenomenon of transformation of Albanian cities in an attempt to verify the data collected at Phoinike in a wider regional context, both in terms of new religious structures and other aspects of medieval topography.

The church of Saint-Melaine has undergone a huge restoration of its transept in 2013 and a radar survey in 2017. The study of the transept indicates several phases of construction specified by the radiocarbon dates: the crossing should be prior to the IX^th c., the arms go back to the IX^th c., being modified at the beginning of the XI^th and XIII^th centuries. The radar survey in the choir of the church has highlighted the presence of a cavity, which may correspond to a small crypt or a funeral arrangement. These data open several lines of research on the original configuration of the building and its evolution, as well as its contextualization in the religious architecture of Brittany and Gaul between the VIII^th and IX^th c.

The former St Peter and St Paul's abbey of Ferrières-en-Gâtinais (France, Loiret department) is one of the oldest Merovingian abbeys attested in ancient sources from the seventh century. This monastery is a very relevant example that allows us to observe the creation of a monastic complex in the Merovingian period, around a first oratory whose traces probably remain in the walls of the Chapel of Our Lady of Bethlehem, and its architectural evolution in the course of the first millennium with the gradual establishment of a configuration with two churches placed in the extension of one the other. The first abbey church is probably built between 821 and 828, in the time of abbot Aldric, as an octagonal rotunda whose memory has been preserved within the Gothic reconstruction of the monument. The latest research allows us to consider possible funerary functions because of this centered plan, a hypothesis that remains to be verified by future excavations on the site.

Ostrów Lednicki and Giecz are two of the most important centers of the Polish state in the 2-nd half of the 10^th century. In both sites the remains of residential complexes have been discovered. Both consist of a central planned chapel abutted to a rectangular building on the same axis. In both cases the chapel is situated on the east side of the building, divided into small rooms. On the opposite, west side of the whole complex there is a square room, possibly an aula. Taking the idea of composition into consideration we can say that the aula counterbalanced the central chapel. In this whole symmetrical layout we can follow a modular rhythm, which unites both sacral and representational parts of the complex. But the most important question is to determine where the idea of these proportions came from. It is possible that this layout was designed by the same author, who was inspired by the books of Boetius De Arithmetica and De Musica, or by Musica Enchiriadis. Not only is a mathematical theory of music described in these books, but they also contain illustrations of music proportions. It is possible that the architect who worked for Mieszko I or Bolesław the Brave knew one of the copies of the work of Boetius or Anonymus of. St. Amand.

The problems dealing with the design and origin of some early basilicas in the young just Christianized states formed in Central Europe in the 10^th century (in the lands of the Piasts in Poland, the Přemyslids in Bohemia (Czech) and the Arpards in Hungary), haven't been presented in a broader European context. The first monumental churches in Central Europe greatly illustrate the phenomenon of transmission of ready-made patterns or models selected according to the diplomatic relations of the ruling family. It is important to realize in this connexion that the milieu of the rulers of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary adapted the most modern solutions, representing new artistic qualities created by the Ottonian architecture from around the middle of the 10^th century. The Mediterranean impulse played a role in this process of transmission.

This paper aims to analyze a characteristic typology of Medieval portals, with a widespread diffusion in the Medieval western Europe. Specifically, these portals are characterized by monolithic lintels with triangular or pentagonal shape, for which a systematic study in the academic literature is still missing. Depending on the geographical and the historical context, these portals have been variously interpreted: sometimes like Early Medieval elements, result of a systematic re-use of ancient material, or like a legacy of local building traditions which dates back to the Late Middle Ages. In the following work, after an introduction on the topic and a summary state of the research, with some methodological considerations, there is a census of all the portals identified through the systematic examination of the historical and archaeological literature, which allowed to identify the moment of their major expansion. The results and interpretations of this census were then compared with some case-studies on a local scale, which include both ecclesiastical and residential building, for which a reinterpretation of the traditional local chrono-typologies allowed to make some considerations about the relationship between high and medium building contractors.

The foundation of new monasteries by the bishops during the ninth century is a practice that fully falls within the pastoral action of the Carolingian bishops along with the reorganization of basic ecclesiastical structures, carried out through the territorial organization of the parish system. The case of the foundation of the abbey of Saint Faustino Maggiore in Brescia by Ramperto, through the renewal action of the Frankish reform monks Leodegario and Ildemaro and the support of metropolitan Angilberto II, is emblematic of the episcopal commitment and a sign of the strong imperial will to represent public institutions and political orientations also in the ecclesiastical and religious fields.

The theme of the burial and its link to the evangelical tradition and to the Christian cult of relics leads to significant transformations of obituary practice in the early Middle Ages and to an ever-closer link between cemetery areas and relic memory, for which the burial within sacred spaces and next to the "holy bodies" it is considered a viaticum for eternal salvation. In the case of Brescia, the example of the funeral rituals and the cult of the Cross, attested in the women's abbey of San Salvatore - Santa Giulia acts as a model for the revival of the episcopal image in full Gregorian age through the renewal of the great round cathedral of Santa Maria (today the old Cathedral) and the erection of the tower of imperial matrix on the façade, then collapsed in 1708.

The sarcophagus of Ithacio is currently the only surviving vestige of the times of the Asturian monarchy in the funerary church of Santa Maria, located in Oviedo. It was the king Alfonso II (r. 791-842) who developed an intense urbanizing program that transformed Oviedo into a sacred city, where the church of Santa Maria became the centre of the cult of the royal remembrance. Despite its complex historical context and due to its total transformation and the consequent loss of the early medieval factory, Santa Maria has always been linked to royal power and it has always possessed a strong symbolic character.

The essay aims to shed some light on some Romanesque buildings preserved in the ancient parish district of Casalmaggiore, the largest one of the diocese of Cremona in medieval times. The preserved structures amount to six of which only two are known to historians of medieval architecture. In fact, Santa Maria dell'Argine in Vicobellignano and San Lorenzo in Fossacaprara are known and recently been studied buildings, but any search has ever been dedicated to Sant'Agata in Cappella, Santa Giulia in Cicognara and to the churches of St. John and St. Stephen in Casalmaggiore. In particular, in addition to formal comparisons and observations in order to propose a chronology for these structures, some hypotheses was also proposed about ecclesiastical settlements in Cicognara, originally a Longobard court, and in Casalmaggiore too.

Romanesque architecture in North-West Italy was mainly characterized by the use of ribbed vaults, with diagonally reinforced arches used in some important monastic sites where the architectural choices became more specific and accomplished. The diocese of Vercelli seems to be the area where rib vaults were developed; some examples are the church of San Bernardo in Vercelli and the solutions implemented in the Badia of Dulzago and partly in San Nazzaro Sesia. Novarese architecture underwent a considerable period of experimentation during the first quarter of the 12^th century: Novara cathedral, consecrated in 1132 (and destroyed in the middle of the 19^th century), is the most evident and relevant example of pillars with diagonal lesenes, an alternate system of support, and ribbed vaults with diagonally reinforced arches. Similar solutions were also adopted in Vercelli cathedral, which also no longer exists. To trace the technical and architectural changes in rib vaulting, it was necessary to investigate the main Cistercian sites opened during the 12^th century: in particular those located in Lucedio, Tiglieto, Staffarda and Casanova, and in Rivalta Scrivia, and also Canonical of Vezzolano, where the first forms of experimentation of ribbed vaults, especially in the sections and laying of ribs, reached full maturity.

The sculptures of the cathedral of Bitonto are the core of a future corpus of Apulian sculpture between the end of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth century. The sculptures of the central portal can be dated to the end of the twelfth century. The ambo of magister Nicolaus is dated to 1229. The author analyzes the style and the iconography of the sculptures, contextualizing them within a larger Adriatic area.

This essay focuses on the lost church of Santa Croce a Villa Madama in Rome, often mentioned by scholars but yet unknown in its ichnographic features. A series of hitherto unpublished drawings from the collection of the art historian Jean-Baptiste Seroux d'Agincourt, housed in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, allows reconstructing the original aspect of the building, formerly a roman cistern.

Starting from the paradoxical presence of windows on late antique baptisteries used at night, the paper considers the effect windows of cultic buildings had in the period. Drawing on late antique descriptions, the paper argues for windows being instrumental in the construction of a concept of sacred space and, with it, of a hierarchy rooted in their perception. The analysis points to the windows as part of a coherent strategy developed by the Church to both segment and integrate late antique communities in a crucial moment of its existence, when the cult became a mass religion.

This paper presents some considerations on the organisation of the monastic space in western countries, a main topic in the current debate on monasticism. The uses of the area within the enclosure, but not included in the sacred core (the abbatial church and the living quarters reserved to the monastic community), are the object of this research. It deals with a particular space, where several categories of people, very different in their status – monks, servants, dependants, visitors, pilgrims/devotees and, generally speaking, "laymen" –, meet each other and operate together. Many functions are associated to this very complex area, e.g. hospitality, crafts, permanent residence, burial, sometimes economical and commercial activities. Both written and archaeological sources allow us to understand the uses of this particular in-between space and its transformations in the Early Middle Ages.

The early medieval church of Montecorvino Rovella (Salerno) has been known since the 1980s for its high-quality wall paintings - a Virgin Theotokos surrounded by Saints Ambrose, Simplicianus, Gervasius and Protasius - which raise important iconographic and historical questions."This contribution illustrates the first results of a multidisciplinary project, with observations on the cultural links between Montecorvino Rovella and the monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno. Initial results suggest that the church was closely linked to the Carolingian world, although standing firmly in Lombard territory. Stratigraphic analyses have identified a unitary campaign of paintings covering the entire church, and ultraviolet/infrared photography has revealed geometric preparatory drawings in the apse. The review of old excavation reports also allows us to propose a new interpretation of the site as an elite funerary church. Finally, the geophysical surveys conducted inside and outside the church open promising avenues for a new campaign of excavations.

The aim of the paper is to show how raw materials were reaching the San Vincenzo al Volturno abbey, and to identify where they were temporarily stored before the manufacturing process. I will focus on worked bones and leather that have been aplenty found during the recent excavations of the quays. The docking of San Vincenzo comprised a masonry quay which was flanked by two piers, a large wooden platform and a waterfront made of half-poles.

The article discusses the origin and dating of pre-Romanesque chancel screen arches and gables. The discussion was occasioned by the finding of a stone architrave with obliquely cut endings at Bribir in the hinterland of Šibenik, which can be explained as part of a new type of gable composed of two angled architraves. Attention is also drawn to the numerousness of such findings in Dalmatia when compared to other parts of Europe. The example of a chancel screen gable from Cista, probably the earliest of all, speaks in favour of the idea that this particular element of early medieval liturgical furnishings may have originated in Dalmatia.

El acta de consagración de la Seu d'Urgell, fechada en el año 819, es uno de los documentos más controvertidos y conocidos de la historia medieval catalana. Su antigüedad, así como el número de parroquias sujetas a la sede episcopal de Urgell que recoge, han convertido este documento en una fuente básica de muchos estudios históricos y de otras disciplinas. Aun así, el acta en cuestión presenta un conjunto de contradicciones internas que han obligado a considerarlo un documento facticio, elaborado a posteriori de la datación textual que presenta. En las últimas décadas, los estudios sobre este documento, tanto si los autores lo consideran un falso elaborado con la voluntad de engañar como si le otorgan veracidad, se han centrado en intentar fechar el momento de su elaboración. En el presente estudio, a través del análisis del acta y del contexto histórico del territorio, intentaremos acotar la cronología de su elaboración y explicar los motivos que habrían llevado a un obispo urgelitano de principios del siglo xi a fabricar este documento.