Padua, 6-8 May 2026
Palazzo Bo, Archivio Antico; Accademia Galileiana, Sala del Guariento; Palazzo Bo, Archivio Antico; Accademia Galileiana, Sala del Guariento
Conference on “Materialising the Holy. Matter, Senses, and Spiritual Experience in the Middle Ages (12th–15th century)”
Organized by Zuleika Murat, Valentina Baradel, Vittorio Frighetto and Teresa Martínez Martínez
From 6 to 8 May 2026, the fourth international multidisciplinary conference in the “Experiencing the Sacred” series will take place within the framework of the ERC project SensArt, under the title Materialising the Holy: Matter, Senses, and Spiritual Experience in the Middle Ages (12th–15th Century), at the University of Padua.
Recent scholarship has increasingly foregrounded materiality, shifting art-historical inquiry from a primary focus on images to the physical substance of objects, now understood as active sites of meaning and devotion. In parallel, the Middle Ages witnessed a profound transformation in theories of perception: drawing on Aristotle, thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas argued that all knowledge originates in the senses, so that intellectual understanding is grounded in sensory experience rather than opposed to it. Consequently, in contrast to earlier traditions influenced by Augustine of Hippo, medieval scholars came to regard the senses as indispensable instruments of cognition and as legitimate pathways to engagement with the divine. Building on this dual reorientation toward matter and the senses, the ERC project SenSArt (2021–2026) has explored the interplay of art, material culture, and sensory experience in medieval Europe.
At this final conference of the project, international scholars from a range of disciplines – including historians, art historians, architectural historians – will examine the role of materiality within the sacred context of the Middle Ages. The sessions will address topics such as Sensory Epistemologies and the Theology of Sacred Matter, Nature as Sacred Medium, Translucent Materials and Light, Sacred Materials and the Body, Material Word: Interacting with Sacred Texts, Liquid Matter: Mediating and Embodying the Sacred, Crafting the Sacred Surface: Media, Materiality, and Devotional Practices, Wax and Fragrances: Making the Sacred Sensible, and Transcending Structural Boundaries: Architecture as Sacred Matter. The conference will also feature a keynote lecture by Bissera V. Pentcheva (Stanford University), entitled The Pursuit of Heights: Romanesque Architecture, Aquitanian Notation, and the Office of Sainte-Foy at Conques.
The conference will be held at Padua (Italy), and sessions will take place in the following locations:
6 May – Palazzo Bo, Archivio Antico
7 May – Accademia Galileiana, Sala del Guariento
8 May – Basilica del Santo, Sala dello Studio Teologico
Online participation is possible by registering at the following link
For more information, please consult the event poster and programme.
This conference is organised by the ERC research project SenSArt – The Sensuous Appeal of the Holy. Sensory Agency of Sacred Art and Somatised Spiritual Experiences in Medieval Europe (12th-15th century), Grant Agreement nr. 950248, PI Zuleika Murat, Università degli Studi di Padova (https://sensartproject.eu/).