Arquitetura como Partitura do Sagrado. Arquitetura Religiosa e Música Sacra como simulação do transcendente

Abstract

Throughout history, religion has played a decisive role in the construction of societies and their cultural and artistic expressions. Despite the transformations associated with different eras, the human search for a connection to the transcendent remains constant, manifesting itself through symbolic and sensory forms capable of making the sacred apprehensible in the earthly world. The religious experience can thus be understood as a profoundly human experience, and the need to approach the divine is reflected and translated into the creation of spaces, rituals and artistic languages that seek to materialise this relationship, giving it form, meaning and permanence. In this context, religious architecture plays a central role as a means of mediation between the human and the sacred. Temples, as spaces of worship, reflect the historical, ideological and spiritual transformations of faith, while also conditioning the way in which celebrations and rituals are experienced. Architecture thus becomes a material testimony to the relationship with the divine and an active element in the construction of religious experience. At the same time, sacred music plays a fundamental role in intensifying this experience. From Gregorian chant, which structures the Holy Word, to the consolidation of polyphony in the Renaissance period, music contributes to amplifying the symbolic dimension of liturgical space, promoting a deeper sensory and emotional experience. The articulation between sound and space creates an integrated experience that transcends the visible and reinforces the spiritual dimension of the rite. This dissertation aims to study the confluence between architecture and sacred music as forms of representation and mediation of the transcendent, with a special focus on the Renaissance period, between the 14th and 16th centuries. The research is structured around a theoretical and historical component, dedicated to the analysis of architectural and musical practices in the religious sphere, and a practical component, centred on the case study of Évora Cathedral and its School of Music, as a significant example of the interaction between space, sound and spirituality.