Conferences, Workshops and Seminars

BOOK PRESENTATION 

Friday, March 28th at 7:00 PM at the Jovellanos Public Library in Gijón

"The Mystery of Santa Cristina de Lena. History and Archaeology of a Pre-Romanesque Settlement" 

presented by author Iván Muñiz, who will also give the talk

How Many Wars Did Your Eyes See? Archaeology of Memory and Civil Wars in the Asturian Middle Ages

 This monograph studies the temple of Santa Cristina de Lena (Felgueras, Lena) and its territory in the valley of the river Lena from a comprehensive historical perspective, from its foundation in the 9th century to its latest restoration in the 21st century. The reader is treated to a story in which kings, master architects, sculptors, feudal lords, monks, peasants of yesterday and today, parish priests, archaeologists and contemporary art historians, all protagonists and witnesses at the same time of the vicissitudes through which this jewel of Asturian pre-Romanesque art has passed, appear and disappear in a polyphonic manner. The author exploits all the sources available to the historian, from the walls of the temple and the archaeological records obtained in the excavations to the analysis of the current plot of land and its toponymy, as well as all the documents referring to the valley that have been preserved up to the present day. Santa Cristina is understood in its social and territorial context, a point of view hitherto unheard of in studies of Asturian pre-Romanesque art.