Since their appearance inside the churches, tombs were an important element of their décor and the symbols of individual and dynastic memory. Continuous renovation and destruction of churches during the last centuries caused the loss of a lot of late medieval tombs or at least their change from the original position. This altered the perception of the tombs, making it difficult to understand the original intent of the deceased (or the commissioners of such monuments), and, thus, their intended audience. The choice of the tombs’ placement within the church was influenced by several factors: considerations regarding the lighting within the building, devotional paths and the use of space by liturgical celebrations are only a few examples of such reasons for the final decision making. The choice of specific ecclesiastical spaces, the privatization of family chapels, the use of language in the inscriptions and the font of writing or the expression of specific layouts of burials in last wills are all hinting at the need for representation in front of a specific audience we still need to understand better. This workshop takes these problems up, using a multidisciplinary perspective to open up the discussion on how funerary monuments were perceived in the later Middle Ages.

The aim of the conference is to address the issue of the visibility and accessibility of burials in medieval churches. The main focus of the workshop is the epigraphic analysis of this aspect, as highlighted by the papers of FEDERICA COSENZA and LORENZO CURATELLA, who will analyse in detail the prestigious burials in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, using this example to highlight the main questions that the conference aims to answer; In the next two papers, by GIORGIA MARIA ANNOSCIA and FLAVIA DE RUBEIS, epigraphy and iconography will also play a major role in the analysis of strategies for communicating death in the Roman and Italian Middle Ages. Epigraphy will also be at the heart of the presentation by ANDREAS ZAJIC, who will focus on the readers of these inscriptions, as well as that of ANNA PETUTSCHNIG and ELISABETH TANGERNER, who will discuss tomb graffiti using the example of the cloister of Regensburg Cathedral. A more iconographic perspective will be offered by ANDREAS REHBERG, who will discuss heraldic ornamentation, which is also one of the most visible aspects of medieval tombs and funerary chapels. The workshop aims to approach the topic in a multidisciplinary way: the contributions of SUSANNE KERN and PAOLA VITOLO will give us the opportunity to reflect further on the structure and topography of burials in medieval churches and cloisters, with Italian and international examples, while ALFONSO FORGIONE will give us an overview of the visibility and accessibility of burials from an archaeological point of view, focusing on some Italian cases in Abruzzo and Tuscany. So far, the lectures have focused on the theme of visibility, but it is also right to think about those who did not want to be visible: in this sense, the lecture by HANNA HIRT, who will focus on the signs of humility on late medieval tombs, will be enlightening. Finally, the evening lecture by GIULIA BARONE will play a central role, taking a devotional approach to the phenomenon of tombstones and chapels in medieval Roman churches.