Periodic Reporting for period 2 - AdriArchCult (Architectural Culture of the Early Modern Eastern Adriatic)
Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2023-08-31
Between the 15th and 18th c., the Eastern Adriatic, partitioned between Venetian and Dubrovnik Republics, the Kingdom of Hungary-Croatia and the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires, was politically transformed into a vast archipelago, including mainland coastal towns divided from the hinterland. Insularity became the area's main characteristic in terms of almost exclusive dependence on maritime communications. The project explores the impact of this change, focusing on architecture as the most evident materialisation of a culture and its transformations. The goal is to examine the architectural culture in question regarding both its consumption and production as factors of political and economic consolidation of different political entities interacting through war and commerce. Moreover, the quick spread of the revival of antiquity and the Catholic Revival fuelled the need for architectural creation with specific functional and symbolic characteristics, setting cultural standards. On the other hand, the economics of the production of architecture consisted of interrelated systems of the provision of materials (esp. Istrian stone) and organisation of construction sites, which, given the ease of sea transport, resulted in a fluctuating and floating market of architectural goods.
This approach will provide an original contribution to the understanding of cultural practices that not only produced specific buildings, the most significant among which are now listed as World Heritage sites, but also put into circulation ancient and modern models, techniques and materials for a European-wide audience. Moreover, by investigating the trans-border and trans-confessional character of the Eastern Adriatic architectural market, the research will offer an innovative model for studying such phenomena across Europe. The result will be a dynamic vision of the architectural production of a region that connects the various faces of European culture.
This approach will provide an original contribution to the understanding of cultural practices that not only produced specific buildings, the most significant among which are now listed as World Heritage sites, but also put into circulation ancient and modern models, techniques and materials for a European-wide audience. Moreover, by investigating the trans-border and trans-confessional character of the Eastern Adriatic architectural market, the research will offer an innovative model for studying such phenomena across Europe. The result will be a dynamic vision of the architectural production of a region that connects the various faces of European culture.
The initial phase of the project was devoted to personnel recruitment. The group includes 3+1 PhD Students, 3 post-doctoral researchers, 7 external experts, 1 project manager and 1 IT developer. Moreover, two visiting scholars relying on their own funding have been included in the project's activities.
Research activities have been conducted individually and collectively through regular research exchanges (colloquia, on site-seminars, co-authored papers, and database).
The group attended regular in-person and online meetings and workshops in Venice and began disseminating the project results through conference attendance, setting up a network of collaborations.
Collectively, the group has worked toward the realisation of the project research goals and the accomplishment of its outcomes in accordance with the DoA:
• Workshops and seminars organisation: we set up a full-fledged program, both online and in person, of colloquia, seminars and workshops on the key themes of the project;
• Symposia attendance: the group has presented the preliminary research results in project-organised sessions at four large conferences and several thematic conferences;
• Doctoral theses: 3+1 PhD students have been selected and coopted who are currently working on their theses.
• Completion and publication of several essays on the architectural culture of early modern Eastern Adriatic by the PI and other group members;
• Several publications, including in peer-review journals, have been submitted;
• Database on architectural production and circulation of knowledge has been set up and is currently being filled with archival and bibliographical data;
• For the realisation of a digital platform of the project presenting the results and the research materials to be linked to online publications, we realised an overarching webpage (https://pric.unive.it/projects/adriarchcult/home).
Research activities have been conducted individually and collectively through regular research exchanges (colloquia, on site-seminars, co-authored papers, and database).
The group attended regular in-person and online meetings and workshops in Venice and began disseminating the project results through conference attendance, setting up a network of collaborations.
Collectively, the group has worked toward the realisation of the project research goals and the accomplishment of its outcomes in accordance with the DoA:
• Workshops and seminars organisation: we set up a full-fledged program, both online and in person, of colloquia, seminars and workshops on the key themes of the project;
• Symposia attendance: the group has presented the preliminary research results in project-organised sessions at four large conferences and several thematic conferences;
• Doctoral theses: 3+1 PhD students have been selected and coopted who are currently working on their theses.
• Completion and publication of several essays on the architectural culture of early modern Eastern Adriatic by the PI and other group members;
• Several publications, including in peer-review journals, have been submitted;
• Database on architectural production and circulation of knowledge has been set up and is currently being filled with archival and bibliographical data;
• For the realisation of a digital platform of the project presenting the results and the research materials to be linked to online publications, we realised an overarching webpage (https://pric.unive.it/projects/adriarchcult/home).
The group research has helped broaden the understanding of the project topics and partially revise its research hypotheses through a more nuanced understanding of the historiographical issues while setting up a commun Zotero bibliographical database on the Eastern Adriatic architecture. Moreover, the main database on archival data and books related to architectural phenomena has been set up, providing preliminary insight into the dynamic of the Early Modern architectural market of the eastern Adriatic, which will be a key tool for the analysis until the end of the project, when it will become open access resource.
Expected results until the end of the project:
• Launched and developed two Open Access bookseries (“Archipelagus”, Brepols and “Art and Architecture of the Adriatic”, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari) featuring the results of the research of project members and translations of important historiographical work from less spoken languages, mainly Slovenian and Croatian
• Workshops and symposia organization: organization of one major event on the core project topics, and several minor events.
• Doctoral theses: completion of 4 PhD theses.
An integrative project on Marche and Friuli as contact regions has received funding through the FARE program of the Italian Ministry of University and Research. The project will generate one PhD thesis, two workshops and one international conference while also creating an archival-artworks database complementary to the AdriArchCult database.
Expected results until the end of the project:
• Launched and developed two Open Access bookseries (“Archipelagus”, Brepols and “Art and Architecture of the Adriatic”, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari) featuring the results of the research of project members and translations of important historiographical work from less spoken languages, mainly Slovenian and Croatian
• Workshops and symposia organization: organization of one major event on the core project topics, and several minor events.
• Doctoral theses: completion of 4 PhD theses.
An integrative project on Marche and Friuli as contact regions has received funding through the FARE program of the Italian Ministry of University and Research. The project will generate one PhD thesis, two workshops and one international conference while also creating an archival-artworks database complementary to the AdriArchCult database.