The chapel of Santa Eufemia (Castulo), a case of tutelar experience on archaeological heritage in the XVIII mid-century.

Abstract

The special features of the archaeological site of Castulo, particularly in the walled city, makes it an example of special interest for the knowledge of the concept that had both the Church and the Spanish Crown, during the Medieval and Modern Times, of past material evidences. In this article we note how there was a confrontation between the  symbolic use of these items carried out by the first institution and the initiatives of patrimonial character promo- ted by the second in the eighteenth century. These were closely linked to the intellectual current of the Enlightenment and, in its bosom, to the legal practice of royalism, which clashed with the mentality of asset expansion that the church had been practicing at least since the V century, with respect to the lay and pagans public spaces.

A good example of tutelar experience is found in  the performance conducted by Carlos Lanci on the Chapel of Santa Eufemia, highly symbolic building, not only for its integration into the site, but also by the high re-use that, for its construction, was made of building blocks that referred to Classical Antiquity. The aim of this article has been precisely analyze  this case to highlight how they proceeded, what results were obtained and, therefore, to what extent was this confrontation between the interests of the parties involved. With this, we have tried to make a contribution, to the extent that the conclusions of a particular analysis can afford, the study of the evolution undergone by the...