C5: Topologie der Erinnerung

This art history project examines as a representation of society the network of Neapolitan aristocratic family chapels which developed over a period of generations. The chapels and tombs illustrate the genealogical structures which constituted the aristocracy's self-image and were expressed through formal and spatial references to older monuments and urban structures. They offer a reflection of an aristocratic society especially conscious of its need for remembrance through tomb monuments. This is particularly true of the times of upheaval which were repeatedly triggered in Naples through a change of the ruling house. Two phases of political change are thus examined: the second half of the 15th century – since in 1442 the Aragon dynasty came to power in Naples and made use of new forms of representation for its legitimation – and the Habsburgs' assumption of power through the viceroys residing in Naples in the early 16th century, which led to a further modification of the practice of family tombs.

The goal of the project is to analyse the topological order which manifests itself in the family tombs and thus more closely characterise the materiality and mediality of the remembrance of the dead by the living which was constitutive of society. In the context of the current spatial discourse space is understood, on the one hand, to be constructed as relational and intersubjective while, on the other, considerations inevitably include the materiality of built urban space. With recourse to the research on medieval commemoration of the dead (memoria), the tombs can be interpreted as an element of memorial practice which served to uphold the social position of subsequent generations. Positioning among the families is manifested not least through exclusion, inclusion and distinction which are legible only in relation to the network as a whole. Following cataloguing of the family tombs on the basis of extant monuments as well as the wills of aristocrats and the guide literature to Naples, a model is to be developed which will enable registration of the social structure's inscription in an urban space organised in terms of aristocratic estates (sediali).

Since her doctoral dissertation on the tombs of the Anjou dynasty in Naples, the project's director has studied Neapolitan aristocratic tombs with use of the methods of memoria and representation. Recent studies focus on the methodological problem of finding adequate forms of presentation for historical space which is understood as a social fabric but also has a concretely tangible component which is interspersed with material symbols.

The project's junior researcher is examining the interaction between political representation of Neapolitan aristocrats and their family tomb practice. The historical focus is on the political upheaval from the Anjou-Durazzo to the Aragon dynasty around 1442, thus providing an exemplary assessment of how political change gave rise to cultural change which was visualised in the cityscape and the tomb monuments.