On 24 and 25 October 2001, the RIALE research group at the Universitat de València organises the International Seminar ‘Spiritual Landscapes: cultural dialogue between Germany and Spain’, an academic meeting held at the Valencian Library intended to go deep into intellectual, cultural, and literary relations that have historically linked the Valencian field to the German-speaking world.
The seminar is perceived as a space for interdisciplinary reflection intended to study cultural exchanges between Germany and Valencia, paying special attention to the spreading of ideas, intellectual transfer, and the processes of reception that have contributed to set a shared cultural tradition within the European context.
The activity gathers specialists from different disciplines, including philology, history, philosophy, and culture history, with the aim to analyse the established connections between thinkers, writers, artists, and travellers from both cultural spaces. From a comparative perspective, the different discourses will explore the mutual influence of intellectual currents, literary movements, and cultural projects developed throughout centuries.
Under the academic direction of Berta Raposo, the seminar is included in a line of research that is focused on Hispanic-Germanic cultural relations, which will be further established as one of the cornerstones of RIALE’s scientific activity. The selection of the Valencian Library as the headquarters for the meeting also reinforces the link between cultural heritage, historical memory, and academic research.
Through conferences, discussions, and discussion tables, the seminar fosters an open and diverse vision of the exchanges between Germany and Valencia, understood not only as historical processes, but also as spaces for dialogue able to generate new ways of intercultural understanding.
With this initiative, RIALE contributes to strengthening international academic relations and to promote the study of European cultural connections from an interdisciplinary perspective. This way, the seminar constitutes an important step for establishing a network of researchers interested in the analysis of cultural transfer, intellectual mobility, and the construction of shared identities between the Hispanic and German-speaking fields.
