On Friday, September 18, ISI Florence had the pleasure of co-hosting “The Birth and Transformation of Images in Sacred Sites,” a conference exploring how sacred images form, transform, and endure across cultures and centuries.

The event resulted from a collaboration between ISI Florence, the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology at the University of Tokyo, the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut, SAGAS (University of Florence), and the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering at the University of Pavia.

Among those gathered for the conference, the atmosphere was scholarly, reflective, and reverent. The presentations alternated between three languages: Italian, Japanese, and English, with translations throughout. The speakers outlined their research topics and often enriched them with introspective, personal anecdotes. The Q&A sessions were a great opportunity for the international audience to connect elements of the sacred sites presented with those in their own countries.

Overall, the meeting was a successful opportunity for intellectually stimulating and spiritually resonant exchange, and ISI Florence would like to extend its gratitude to all those who participated.

For those who were not able to join but would like to deepen their knowledge of the topic, we recommend reading the article by Olimpia Niglio. Professor Niglio’s article, published in the newspaper Avvenire, offers a brief but insightful synopsis of each of the six presentations. An electronic version of the article is available here.