HUMANIST CULTURE IN COLONIAL TUNJA: A COSMOPOLITAN PERSPECTIVE? Patricia Zalamea (Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá)

November 8, 20216.00 − 7.30 pm

CATS Lecture Hall010.01.05Voßstraße 2, 4010 69115 Heidelberg

www.hcts.uni-hd.de

© P

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What did it mean to be a humanist in sixteenth century Tunja? Set on the Colombian Andes, Tunja was construed as a major artistic center of the colonial territory of Nueva Granada by its first-generation Spanish settlers, which included writers, captains and clerics. In addition to building new homes and churches, these inhabitants of Tunja established a local intellectual network based on rivalry, innovation and genealogy. Showcased in Juan de Castellanos’s Elegies of Illustrious Men of Indies, these notions are also visible in the artistic commissions tying these identities to newly conquered territories. This talk also compares Tunja to other Colonial sites in Latin America in which humanist culture flourished, albeit under specific contexts that transform the very notion of humanism, such as Lima and Salvador de Bahía. Faced with the global circulation of printed texts and shared knowledge, these humanist pockets developed specific responses that deserve to be examined in conjunction.

INSTITUT FÜREUROPÄISCHEKUNSTGESCHICHTEZEGK