Studies on Early medieval monasteries in Western Europe have increased in recent years thanks to the improvement of archaeological and textual approaches to this issue that made it possible to obtain innovative information on monastic churches and spaces, their uses and evolutions, and their political, economic and social meaning. However, the architectural structure of these complexes is still quite unknown, since archaeological excavations are usually limited in extension at these sites. Works undertaken at different regions have not either been compared and have been discussed mainly at local level. And general reflections have been frequently based on the written accounts as main information source, leaving aside the capacity of archaeology to go deeper into further aspects.

Considering this brief state of the art, it is the aim of this seminar, held at the Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma (EEHAR-CSIC) and coorganised with the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), to bring together studies recently developed at different monasteries of Spain, Italy, France, England, Ireland and Central Europe that might help to reflect on the methodologies hitherto applied, on the current understanding of these complexes and on the strategies of knowledge for the future.

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29 september 2022

30 september 2022

This International Conference, held at the Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma (EEHAR-CSIC) and coorganised with the Institut français du Proche-Orient (IFPO-CNRS), approaches the constructions and uses of religious Christian buildings in most of the territories of the early Islamic empire (7th-9th c.), from Armenia and Iraq to Ifriqiya and al-Andalus. Archaeologists and historians are invited to present, compare and discuss their respective sources, methodologies and perspectives with the aim of finding possible consistent chronological and geographical trends and breaks.

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