The first PCMA Seminar in the “Local Traditions, Shared Faith: Early Christianity in Comparative Perspective” series will feature Prof. Gabriele Castiglia (Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana, Roma) with a presentation: “Basalt, Alabaster, Coral: Building Sacred Space in Early Christian Adulis”.
Abstract: The excavations at Adulis (Eritrea), carried out by the Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana between 2017 and 2020, have significantly deepened our understanding of the rise of Early Christianity in the late antique Horn of Africa. They show that the most intense period of church construction occurred mainly in the 6th century. The strengthening of monotheism encouraged the development of a unique architectural style, where Christian structures blended long-standing local building traditions with selectively adopted external influences from the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.
Within the context of the Aksumite kingdom, this reveals a dynamic process of cultural exchange, where imported forms were reinterpreted through indigenous spatial practices. By studying churches and sacred sites within their broader urban and landscape environments, architecture served as a medium for expressing religious identity, political power, and cross-cultural connections in this influential region.
The seminar will be held on Thursday, 14 May at 2 pm (Warsaw time) on the Zoom platform.
To receive the link, please email: seminarium.pcma@uw.edu.pl
The seminar series “Local Traditions, Shared Faith: Early Christianity in Comparative Perspective” is a thematic series within the PCMA Seminar. The series is organized by Dr. Aleksandra Pawlikowska-Gwiazda (National Museum in Warsaw), the head of the PCMA UW expedition to Sheikh Abd el-Qurna (Egypt). The event brings together scholars working on Early Christianity and monasticism across the Eastern Mediterranean and adjacent regions from Late Antiquity to the early Islamic period.