On Friday, 26 April 2024, the Hospital de Tavera, located in Toledo, was the venue for a remarkable study day entitled "Habsburg Collections. From the Islamic Mediterranean to the Empire". The event was well received, bringing together more than ninety people in the historic building, and was inaugurated by the director general of the Fundación Casa Ducal de Medinaceli, Juan Manuel Albendea Solís, and the director of the UCM Department of Art History, Mateo Mancini.
This day, organised by Clara Ilham Álvarez Dopico, Raúl Romero Medina and Noelia Silva Santa-Cruz, who represented the Complutense University of Madrid in the framework of the project activities MIRAS - Crossed Gazes of which the Fundación Casa Ducal de Medinaceli is a member through its director.
The Habsburg collections represent the history of an empire which, in its Mediterranean dimension, was built in opposition to the Islamic world. The studies presented at this meeting illustrate the trajectory of groups of works from the Islamic world until their integration into imperial collections.
The inventories of royal and noble property with the aim of identifying the orientalia, The sumptuary objects that circulated between the Spanish court and its Maghrebi neighbours were evoked, based on the valuable information provided by archival documentation.
