Guadalupe: A bridge between continents is the title of the conference with which the Fundación Casa de México will close in its auditorium on September 10 at 7 pm the various acts that have shown the figure of Guadalupe. The Virgin of Mexico.
These events have been an initiative that has proposed a critical and multidisciplinary review around the figure of the Virgin of Guadalupe and its influence on art, spirituality, identity and popular culture. Throughout the programme, exhibitions, conferences, workshops and other activities have been held that invite reflection on the validity, complexity and scope of this emblematic image.
This paper explores the expansion of devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe from Mexico into two key territories: southern America and southern Spain, particularly Andalusia. In the first case, it will be analyzed how the Guadalupan advocation came into conflict with the Virgin of Guadalupe de Extremadura, displacing ancient devotional practices and occupying traditional worship spaces in the American sphere.
In parallel, its presence in Andalusia will be addressed, with special attention to the city of Granada, as part of the binomial between the riches from the New World and the spiritual conquest led by the Virgin of Tepeyac.
This expansion not only highlights the symbolic power of the Mexican image, but also promoted a process of transformation in Extremaduran devotion. The paper concludes with the modernization of the Virgin of Guadalupe de Extremadura in the eighteenth century, influenced by her non-Hispanic counterpart, and with the symbolic meeting between both figures in the choir room of the Monastery of Guadalupe, where they currently dialogue in the same space as a reflection of the historical and cultural links between Mexico and Spain.
Rafael López Guzmán, Professor of Art History at the University of Granada, will be in charge of the lecture. López Guzmán has been director of Cultural Extension at the University of Granada, member of the Andalusian Real Estate and Museum Commissions, and director of the Permanent Seminar on Historical Heritage at the International University of Andalusia. He coordinated the scientific project “El legado Andalusí” and directed the Master of Cultural Management at the University of Granada. Has also organized international postgraduate programmes, coordinated by AUIP, on “Heritage Management and Conservation” (Cuba and Colombia). He has been president of the Spanish Art History Committee (CEHA) and director of the Department of Art History at the University of Granada. Correspondent of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and the History Academy of Cartagena de Indias.
In 2014 he was awarded the Andalusian research prize “Plácido Fernández Viagas” in recognition of his research career. In 2023 he was appointed Honorary President of the Spanish Art History Committee (CEHA) and Doctor Honoris Causa by the University Center for Humanistic Integration of Mexico City. He has also coordinated and curated numerous national and international exhibitions, many of them directly related to Mexico.