3rd meeting of young researchers at UP 1 - IJUP - Universidade do ...

Methodologies for a Contextual Inventory of Religious Ovarense
Heritage
S. Vechina
1 Department of Heritage Science and Techniques, Faculty of Letters, University of Porto, Portugal.
2 CEPESE.
Presently, taking an inventory of cultural goods has attracted the attention of numerous
national and international institutions. The Vatican took a written position on the topic on
December 1999 which was published by the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage
of the Church. This Magna Carta entitled Necessity and Urgency of Inventory and
Cataloguing of the Cultural Heritage of the Church made the Church’s concern in
safeguarding and knowing its artistic legacy in the religious sphere evident. Portugal followed
suit.
Within the national context, the method for taking inventory in various projects of religious
heritage is based on a formal analysis which has directed our knowledge on the subject towards
suppositions and failed results. The execution of a cultural object and its artistic quality depend
on the role of artist commissioned. A work of art could have a formal context which is
reminiscing of an artistic trend of the past in accordance with the models and structures of the
day yet be created fifty years later. Situations such as those above lead us to reflect and defend
a new approach to the method of taking inventory: an analysis based on documents which is
scientifically more rigorous and that will help better know the object and all its artistic
constraints.
Starting the inventory project of religious artistic heritage in the county of Ovar, a careful
analysis of various inventory projects was carried out and the county’s own method was
created with inventory forms of diverse Church assets in Ovar. For the first time, the inventory
form had justifiable and pertinent fields of analysis that would safeguard and know each item
of heritage. The form also included guidelines used for filling it out which required the reading
and analysis of the Diocese and Parish documentary assets (revenue and expenditure records
for brotherhoods, fraternities, Reeve Committees; Visitor’s books; Inventories, notarised
documents; etc).
Bringing together archive with field work results in dating works of art, naming artists and
their school, as well as the knowledge of the change of architectural space throughout the
centuries and the existence of objects that have not survived time or/and the changes to sacral
spaces. This entire universe of information, existing or missing, (Crypto-History) is of great
importance for the understanding of existing heritage material, knowing the main active
workshops in and out of the county that have produced art for this region in addition to
knowing the role of the patrons and commissioners of the art in order to define the artistic
quality of the Religious Heritage in Ovar
In conclusion, taking inventory using written and graphical documentation has rigorous
knowledge as the primary objective. This knowledge is contextualised in its period with its
characters and respective regional constraints (whether social, cultural, political or economical)
this way taking inventory is valuable work which allows for a qualitative leap in future
projects.
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