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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 1518: Meaning Matter: From Everyday Life to the Spirituality - Material Objects as Communication Media

Thursday 4 July 2019, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:Institute of History of Art & Culture, Pontifical University of John Paul II, Kraków
Organiser:Dariusz Tabor, Institute of History of Art & Culture, Pontifical University of John Paul II, Kraków
Moderator/Chair:Paul Knoll, Department of History, University of Southern California
Paper 1518-aThe Brewing of Medieval Cracow: Reconstruction of Technology and Discovery of Meaning of the Everyday Beverage
(Language: English)
Sławomir Dryja, Institute of History of Art & Culture, Pontifical University of John Paul II, Kraków
Index terms: Archaeology - General, Daily Life, Economics - Urban, Technology
Paper 1518-bThe King's Single Body: Some Remarks on Materializing the Royal Presence in 14th-Century Poland
(Language: English)
Piotr Pajor, Institute of History of Art & Culture, Pontifical University of John Paul II, Kraków
Index terms: Architecture - General, Art History - General, Political Thought, Social History
Paper 1518-cMythical Creatures from Physiologus: The Tension between Fantastic Materiality and Real Symbolic Meaning
(Language: English)
Lucyna Rotter, Faculty of History & Cultural Heritage, Pontifical University of John Paul II, Kraków
Index terms: Art History - General, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Mentalities, Science
Paper 1518-dVegetable Masque, Mysterious, and Mystical: Visual Paradigm of Spirituality?
(Language: English)
Dariusz Tabor, Institute of History of Art & Culture, Pontifical University of John Paul II, Kraków
Index terms: Art History - Painting, Art History - Sculpture, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Religious Life
Abstract

This session is devoted to the material objects, which are carriers of symbolic meaning. In fact its materiality was a favorable feature, that allows to communicate the message of great importance. Piotr Pajor examines the strategies of visual and symbolic representation of the royal power during the reign of the last two kings of the Piasts dynasty, Wladislaus the Short and Kasimir the Great. Dariusz Tabor considers the widespread motif of medieval art - a masque with twigs. This motif is originated from the biological area. However this masque was placed in the context of the spirituality. Sławomir Dryja reconstructs the medieval technology of brewing. Consequently he tries to read the symbolic meaning and the cultural role of beer, the everyday beverage. Lucyna Rotter studies the shape and characteristics of mythical animals, registered in the 'Physiologus'. Its 'anatomy' and 'physiology' were the background of the profound, symbolic meaning.