Devoción eucarística y artes suntuarias: la custodia de la Catedral de Barcelona

Conferencia de Joan Domenge (Universitat de Barcelona)

Presentan: Aurelio Vargas Díaz-Toledo y Olga Pérez Monzón (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

Conferencia inaugural del Máster Universitario en Estudios Medievales de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid para el curso 2022-2023.

The custody of the cathedral of Barcelona, the crown that serves as a canopy, the throne on which it sits and the band that decorates it constitute a unique and exceptional sumptuary set, but of great complexity. Both its layout - with tweaks and additions that occur over the centuries - as well as the history of its creation and the transformations it underwent represent a real challenge for the historian who faces its study and understanding.

With the purpose of getting closer to the monstrance and its history, we will trace its origins, in which converge the initiative of the Cabildo, the generous involvement of royalty, and the Eucharistic devotion of ladies who shed their jewels to magnify the display of the Blessed Sacrament. Guided by the archival documentation, and confronting it with the preserved work, an attempt will be made to restore the custody’s original appearance: its delicate architectural forms are camouflaged under countless jewels that, despite their unequal artistic and symbolic value, are garments of the devotion professed to the sacramented body of Jesus.