On 5th October, at Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Consolação e Santos Passos (Guimarães), Joana Palmeirão presented part of her research with St Fortunato!

HB took part in the European Researchers’ Night 2024, sharing the fascinating world of corpi santi with a diverse audience. We had the pleasure of engaging with curious young minds, entire families, and researchers from various fields. It was an enriching experience that helped spread awareness about our research on holy bodies.

HB is on!

From 20th-22nd September we will have our short-video included among the activities of the European Heritage 2024 edition.

https://www.patrimoniocultural.gov.pt/eventos2/jep/2024#

António, Diana, Gil & Miguel, secondary school students from different places in the country, spend an entire week from 8th-12nd July with us at HERCULES Lab under the scope of Science at the Lab Program “Holy Bodies | The relics examined by the scientists”. It was a holistic, hands-on experience where they could visit the simulacra of corpi santi in Lisbon and had the art history context of these assets, learn the basics of palaeography and biological anthropology, prepare samples and work with different equipment at the lab, and use 3D scanning technology in reliquaries.

We all had a great time! Special thanks to the “Holy Bodies | The relics examined by the scientists” team!

photo credit: Gil Pujebet

We’re excited to be at the InART2024 conference in Oslo this week!

• Two fascinating works we’ve been developing within the context of Holy Bodies were presented!

We discussed our research on the materiality and conservation status of the St Vicente’s simulacrum – one of the four martyrs’ simulacra belonging to the Major Seminary of Coimbra (Coimbra, Portugal).

We also presented the study on the simulacra of St Primogénita and St Teodoro, part of the collection held by Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Almada (Portugal). These are particularly intriguing examples of young children’s relics, and they have been the subject of our comprehensive osteological and material analysis.

Last month, our team member, Alexandra Gago da Câmara participated in the prestigious International Conference “The Venice Charter [Re]Framed: New Heritage Challenges”, held at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon.

Alexandra’s presentation, “Corpi Santi in Portugal—Devotion and Heritage”, delved into the intersection of devotion and heritage, shedding light on the context of Holy Bodies in Portugal.

Check out more about the conference here:

https://www.letras.ulisboa.pt/pt/agenda/international-conference-the-venice-charter-re-framed-new-heritage-challenges

Meet José Tavares, an MSc student passionately working on HB’s project under the supervision of Professor Eduarda Vieira (UCP) and Professor Teresa Ferreira (UÉ).

Today, he shared an outstanding talk, showcasing his research at the Jornadas de Investigação do Mestrado em Conservação e Restauro de Bens Culturais at Universidade Católica do Porto (CITAR).

His work on St Vitorino, one of the corpi santi held by SCMA, is two-fold: developing novel conservation approaches to safeguard St Vitorino and conducting its analytical characterization.

The HB project team collaborated on two International Museum Day activities on 18th May, 2024. A cycle of conferences on relics and reliquaries was held at Montemor-o-Novo.

After weeks of intense laboratory work, we are excited to share our latest results!
Today, we present our research on St Clementina and St Simplício martyrs at the 14th Inorganic & Bioinorganic Chemistry Conference (NOVA FCT) #2024ibicc.

Our panel presentation is focused on the analytical characterisation of these simulacra, encompassing radiographic and osteological analyses, as well as the study of textile fibres and decorative motifs adorning the fabrics. Furthermore, we unravel the materials of the multi-layered structure shaping the face of the simulacra by investigating organic materials used as adhesives for the textiles and paper overlaying the skull, beneath the top-gauze layer.

This work is part of the final internship project of Miguel Pires, a Biotechnology BSc student (UÉ) working within the context of the Holy Bodies project.