In 1991, Lleida hosted a pioneering congress on the Seu Vella, which marked a turning point in the research and management of the monument. That meeting gave rise to new perspectives and strategies that have been fundamental in recent decades.

Since then, the monument has been the subject of multiple scientific meetings focused on specific aspects. For example, the Càtedra del Turó de la Seu Vella organized the Porta dels Apòstols de la Seu Vella Symposium, on 16 and 17 November 2022, which focused on the architecture, iconography, sculpture and the restoration process of the Porta dels Apòstols. The symposium “Valorization of heritage through information and communication technologies”, which took place on November 29, 2024, also approached the monument from the scope of new technologies applied to the dissemination, interpretation and interaction with heritage.

Thirty-five years after the 1991 congress, the momentum of that event has come to be consolidated but also reveals the need to overcome partial views. The 2026 Turó de la Seu Vella Congress aims to be this new milestone: a space for debate and collective reflection that allows the monument as a whole to be reconsidered in all its breadth and complexity. The Turó must be understood as a comprehensive heritage landscape, in which history, architecture, urban life and collective memory come together.

The change of name is not accidental. While the 1991 congress was mainly dedicated to the cathedral —although it also included other approaches—, the 2026 congress emphasizes the Hill’s globality: the church, but also the king’s castle, the walls and bastions, the ice wells and all the dimensions that make up this exceptional heritage landscape.

The aim is to approach the Hill from diverse and complementary perspectives, which include both historical-artistic and archaeological study as well as the perspectives of heritage management, interdisciplinary research, teaching, tourism, technologies and the relationship with the city and today’s society.

With the participation of top-level researchers and professionals, this congress is presented as an opportunity to project the future of the Hill of La Seu Vella and reinforce its role as a symbol of identity, research space and heritage of reference.