Formal proposal for the celebration of the
INSAP Xth - OXFORD XI - SEAC 25th
CONFERENCE in Santiago de Compostela
Title: THE
ROAD TO THE STARS
Venue: SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA (Spain)
Dates: September 18 to 23 2017
Scientific rationale:
Astronomy as part of the culture and society has a clear social character that needs to be studied. Cultural Astronomy
attempts to do so by exploring the way in which different societies across history and in present times deal with the issues
where the sky is involved.
Santiago de Compostela is at the end of the most important European Pilgrimage route, the ‘Road to Santiago’
(Camino de Santiago). Compostela, from Latin Campus Stellae, can be translated as the ‘field of the steles’, but has also
traditionally been nicknamed as the ‘Field of the Star’. Indeed, cultural and traditional astronomy has played a significant
role in the configuration of the actual place of Santiago, a role that probably links with a deep and very old tradition of
astronomy in the local culture across centuries and millennia (for instance, in Spain, the Milky Way is traditionally
known as “El Camino de Santiago”). Such tradition has inspired artists, rulers and the like and we can now profit from
the experience of a truly astronomical landscape with different layers of knowledge added at different epochs from the
megalithic phenomenon to present time, including Bronze Age rock art and Medieval hierophanies in churches.
Such landscape and setting is the place we propose for the celebration of the Oxford XIth Conference. We have already
formal agreements with ISAAC, SEAC and the INSAP to celebrate a joint meeting for 2017 in Santiago, and we indeed
think that it will be a great occasion for the celebration, for the first time in the history of our discipline, of a composite
meeting of all three main traditional forums on Cultural Astronomy worldwide.
Oportunity:
We propose that the meeting takes place in coincidence with the Autumn Equinox. Both
practical and scientific reasons prompt us to propose this date. Although for late
September the university lectures have already started, it is still a period of reasonably
good weather in Galicia, and the pressure of tourist is declining, so it is rather easier to
accommodate all the people attending the conference than at any other epoch in the
heat of the summer season. Besides, if the weather is good enough, we could witness the
illumination effect that has recently been discovered in the Cathedral of Santiago by
our research group. On the day of the equinox a sunbeam of the setting sun enters
through the Romanesque window of the western façade, illuminating the image of Saint
James in the main altar of the Cathedral.
Local Organizing Committee (LOC)
Juan Antonio Belmonte, IAC
Lourdes Costa Ferrer, Secretary
Felipe Criado Boado, Incipit
Marco García Quintela, USC
A. César González García, Incipit, Chairman
Andrea Rodríguez Antón, IAC
Benito Vilas Estevez, USC
Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC)
Juan Antonio Belmonte, Spain (Chairman for INSAP issues)
Rosalyn Frank (SEAC), USA
A. César González García, Spain (Chairman for SEAC issues)
Duane Hamacher (ISAAC), Australia
Jarita Holbrook (ISAAC), South Africa
Ron Olowin (INSAP), USA
Frank Prendergast, Ireland (Chairman for ISAAC issues)
Michael Rappenglueck (SEAC), Germany
Clive Ruggles (IAU CC4), United Kingdom
Valerie Shrimplin (INSAP), United Kingdom
Rolf Sincalir (INSAP), Chile
Ivan Sprajç (SEAC), Slovenia/Mexico
Sun Xiaochun (IAU CC3), China
Barbara Tedlock (ISAAC), USA
Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)
From ISAAC EC Members
Gerardo Aldana, USA
Efrosyni Boutsikas, UK
John Carlson, USA
Robert Hannah; New Zealand
Alejandro Martín López, Argentina
Stephen McCluskey, USA
Ricardo Moyano, Mexico
Emilia Pasztor, Hungary
From SEAC EC Members
Ioannis Liritzis, Greece
Lionel Sims, UK
Georg Zotti, Austria
From INSAP IEC Members
Francesco Bertola, Italy
Marvin Bolt, USA
Nicholas Campion, UK
Enrico Corsini, Italy
George Coyne, Vatican City
Chris Impey, USA
David Pankenier, USA
Richard Poss , USA
Gary Wells, USA
Venue:
Famous for being the end of the renowned pilgrimage route, Santiago is today the Capital
of the autonomous region of Galicia (Spain), in the northwest corner of the Iberian
Peninsula. Besides, it is the seat of the oldest University in the region. Despite its small
size (everything is within walking distance), these three former factors combined make of
Santiago a hub for cultural activities throughout the year. Galicia is recognized within
Spain as a region with a rich and varied culinary tradition, including both seafood and
tasty veal together with extraordinary varieties of wine.
The conference will take place at the Centro de Estudios Avanzados − Casa de Europa
complex in downtown Santiago, inside the Vista Alegre Park and next to the newly
inaugurated Natural Science Museum. This is a complex belonging to the University of
Santiago de Compostela. It houses a large conference room, for more than 100 attendees, a
small hall able to hold poster and/or artistic exhibitions, as well as the coffee breaks.
Being the University of Santiago (USC) one of the co-organizers, the use of this facility is
out of charges.
Proposed schedule (September 18th to 23rd 2017):
•
•
•
Oxford and SEAC conferences have been jointly organized in the past and the results have been very satisfactory as
the aims and goals of the two societies are absolutely coincident. However, a slightly different approach is the one
of INSAP. These conference series usually hold a number of sessions devoted to art and literature, as well as
Cultural Astronomy research, sharing several interest with ISAAC and SEAC. In this sense, this schedule proposes
to tentatively devote a couple of special sessions to the interactions between arts and astronomy, depending on
demand. The same can be argued for the rest of the sessions that will be centred on various aspects of Cultural
Astronomy.
Contributed Talks will be adequately allocated, according to the topic, in 8 sessions (see enclosed preliminary
programme). These would be of between 15 and 30 minute depending on the number of accepted abstracts. There
will be at least one invited talk per session of 30 minutes each. We hope to have also plenty of space for posters
and a special poster session will possibly be scheduled as well.
We plan to offer a welcome reception cocktail on Monday evening, probably in one of the dependencies of the
University of Santiago historic buildings. Tentatively, this reception might be offered by the local city council of
Santiago.
CONFERENCE VENUE
300 m.
Proposed schedule (September 18th to 23rd 2017) [continue]:
•
On Wednesday a visit to the Dombate Dolmen is planned. This is the largest megalithic sepulchre in Galicia and
houses some of the most remarkable examples of megalithic art in the Atlantic façade, being aligned to midwinter
sunrise. The site has been recently musealized and restored and we will have the opportunity to visit the interior of
the full size replica where the paintings are on display as well as the magnificent dolmen location. The site is one
hour drive from Santiago and the meal of this day will be on route. http://www.turgalicia.es/ficharecurso?cod_rec=280378133&ctre=167&langId=en_US
•
On Friday evening we plan to visit the Cathedral for witnessing the illumination effect of the setting sun, weather
permitting. After this, we would like to have the Conference Dinner in one of the Renaissance cloisters of the nearby Hostal dos Reis Catolicos, a 16th century pilgrim hospital right next to the Cathedral in Obradoiro Square.
•
Finally we are organizing a post conference one-day tour for Saturday. In the morning a visit to the rock art site of
Campo Lameiro is planned http://paar.es/en/, where possible calendrical symbolism has been identified. We hope
to have lunch at the medieval village of O Carballiño, widely famous in Galicia for its octopus (‘Polvo a Feira’), and
in the afternoon we plan to visit the Iron Age hill-fort of San Cibrán de Las <http://www.turgalicia.es/ficharecurso?cod_rec=280381111&ctre=77> one of the largest of Galicia, offering an imposing architecture. Finally to
end this tour, we intend to visit, for a wine-tasting, one of the cellars in the Albariño grape region (Rias Baixas),
famous for its excellent white wines. This would make an unforgettable close to the conference. A fee of c. 50 € is
estimated for this tour.
Preliminary Programme
Monday 18
09:00-11:00 First Session
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-13:00 First Session
13:00-15:00 Lunch time
15:00-17:00 Second Session
17:00-17:30 Coffee break
17:30-19:00 Second Session
19:30 Welcome cocktail
Tuesday 19
09:00-11:00 Third Session
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-13:00 Third Session
13:00-15:00 Lunch time
15:00-17:00 Fourth Session
17:00-17:30 Coffee break
17:30-19:00 Fourth Session
19:00-20:00 Poster Session
Wednesday 20
09:00-11:00 Fifth Session
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-13:00 Fifth Session
13:00-15:00 Lunch time
15:00-19:00 Excursion to Dombate
Thursday 21
09:00-11:00 Sixth Session
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-13:00 Sixth Session
13:00-15:00 Lunch time
15:00-17:00 Seventh Session
17:00-17:30 Coffee break
17:30-19:00 Seventh Session
Friday 22
09:00-11:00 Eighth Session
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-13:30 SEAC GA *
13:30-15:00 Lunch time
15:00-17:00 ISAAC AGM *
17:30-20:00 Cathedral Tour and Equinox
20:30 Conference dinner
* Free time for non society members
Saturday 23
Full day post conference excursion
Outreach:
Three outreach lectures devoted to the general public
will be scheduled on the evening of Tuesday 19,
Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21. These will be
handled by first line scholars of our discipline (TBD).
Conference fees:
We are estimating a conference fee of at most 300€, for early registration, including abstract
booklet, coffee breaks, social events, Wednesday excursion, and conference proceedings (in
electronic format). We plan to offer a lower fee for students.
Besides the SEAC travel student grant, we also plan to offer the possibility for a further
number of student grants covering the conference fee and some additional funds depending
on the final financial status of the conference.
Sponsors:
Apart from the different societies (ISAAC and SEAC) and organizations (INSAP) which
would act as organizers of the conference, but have little additional funding possibilities.
As part of the organizing institutions, we count on the support of the Incipit-CSIC, USC and
IAC, which will provide the venue (USC), and logistics before, during, and after the
conference (CSIC and IAC).
We plan to request support from the local government of Galicia and the city council of
Santiago to help with the expenses of some of the social events and the post conference tour
(e.g. entrance fees to the sites). We also plan to contact other cultural institutions of the city,
as the Concello da Cultura Galega for further support. Any additional funds might be used
for extra grants.
Accommodation and Meals
Santiago is a famous tourist destination, besides a University town, so there are
plenty of different accommodation facilities, ranging from youth hostels in shared
rooms for 4€ per person, or University halls, with ensuite individual rooms from
10€ (we will try to reserve a few for our delegates), to all ranges of one, two, three
or four star hotels (just check e.g. www.booking.com). We do not plan to offer
accommodation through the organizing committee but a list of convenient Hotels
close to the venue will be provided.
As well, a list of the restaurants and taverns (and cheap university cantinas) for the
meals during the conference will be provided. Santiago is a marvellous dining
venue so we have decided that it is better to offer the delegates freedom of will to
choose their favourite place for lunch, and indeed for dinner.
Connections to-from Santiago:
Santiago has a small but modern and fully operative International Airport with
several daily flight connections to Madrid and Barcelona (and from there to the rest
of the world), and several flights per week to Paris, London, Dublin, Frankfurt and
other European destinations. There are regular buses and indeed taxis connecting the
airport with the town at just 10 km.
Santiago is also connected by high-speed train (AVE) to Madrid as well as by
splendid but long motorways (5½ and 6 hour drive from Madrid and Hendaye,
respectively).
Finally, you can always consider doing the Road to Santiago as a Pilgrim! (by foot,
bicycle or horse). But it may take longer!
WELCOME TO SANTIAGO!
BENVIDOS A SANTIAGO!