Vegetalising Ancient Architecture. A Multi-scalar Approach of the Relationship with Nature: Gardens, Vegetal Décors and Architecture in Gallo-Roman Sanctuaries (1st-3rd c. AD).

Descrizione del progetto

Esplorare la vegetazione nei santuari gallo-romani

La divisione occidentale tra natura e cultura è oggi sempre più messa in discussione. Nell’antichità romana, un rapporto armonioso con la natura era considerato essenziale per l’ordine e la prosperità, evidenziando l’importanza della vegetazione all’interno degli spazi abitativi. Sostenuto dal programma di azioni Marie Skłodowska-Curie, il progetto VegArch indagherà sul ruolo della vegetazione nei santuari gallo-romani datati dal I al III secolo d.C.. Questa ricerca esaminerà l’influenza delle tradizioni italiche e il fenomeno della «iper-vegetazione» in architettura, studiando come questi elementi abbiano plasmato la percezione della natura, del cosmo e del divino attraverso nuove testimonianze archeologiche. Il progetto intende approfondire la comprensione della vegetazione nella storia dell’architettura occidentale e a far luce sui rapporti delle società antiche con il mondo naturale.

Obiettivo

Amid today’s environmental challenges, the long-standing Western divide between nature and culture is increasingly being called into question. Roman Antiquity, a significant period in our past, helps us reconsider such opposition. For the Romans, maintaining a harmonious relationship with ‘nature’ was essential to sustaining order and prosperity, as it was not a mere physical environment, but a subversive force, a realm intertwining the sensory with the divine. The use of real and iconographic vegetation in the living spaces was a central concern. The VegArch project aims to explore this vegetalisation within the specific context of Gallo-Roman sanctuaries of the 1st-3rd c. AD. From the penetration of Italic traditions to an unprecedented ‘hypervegetalisation’ of architecture, this greening has long been explained by a presumed persistence of Celtic naturalism or a mere decorative trend. Its role in shaping the experience of nature, the cosmos, and the divine can now be addressed with the expanding archaeological data and ecofacts and through an interdisciplinary approach. The vegetal forms will be gathered and compared in a trans-medial analysis, considering real and artificial forms as one and the same vegetal art and the sanctuary as a unitary system. This formal step will highlight the specificities of Gallo-Roman contexts in a global/local perspective. Through comprehensive and contextualised case studies, the vegetal forms will then be analysed in their spatial, temporal and sensory dimensions to reveal their polysemic value and how they engage the senses and shape the experience of the sacred. The resulting synthesis will contribute to the cultural history of vegetalisation of Western architecture, helping to unveil the relationship with nature in ancient societies, questioning our own practices and beliefs. The VegArch project, for which ENS is the ideal institution, will open numerous new perspectives and foster long-term European collaborations.