On Tuesday morning, students and visitors to SMU’s campus saw an unusual sight: a Roman Catholic archbishop walking into the Meadows Museum.
It marked the signing of a collaboration agreement between the Meadows Museum and the Fundación Catedral de Santiago de Compostela, which will lead to a major exhibition at the Meadows Museum in February 2027.
The exhibition will include about 70 objects from the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, which was built starting in the 11th century and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. The cathedral is the final stop on the Camino de Santiago, one of the most famous Christian pilgrimage routes visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The exhibition will feature Romanesque sculptures, silver and gold metalwork, tapestries, paintings, manuscripts and archaeological artifacts.
The Most Rev. Francisco José Prieto Fernández, archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, said the exhibition will create a camino, or path, between Dallas and the cathedral.
“The beauty of the exhibition is to emphasize the idea of the camino, not only the camino de Santiago, but also the fact that humanity is constantly on a walk and this serves to go deep into the root of humanity,” he said through a translator.
Amanda W. Dotseth, director of the Meadows Museum, jointly curated the exhibition with Ramón Yzquierdo, director of the Cathedral of Santiago Museum. She said one of the highlights of the exhibition will be works by Master Mateo, a medieval sculptor and architect best known for The Portico of Glory at the cathedral. His Saint Matthew, Horses from the Retinue of the Three Kings and King David will travel to Dallas among other works.
Dotseth said “art is a great unifier” that reminds us of what we have in common.
“We're really using art to build diplomatic and intellectual bridges between two people, two places that seem extremely far apart, but in a global world and one where we're united in common goals, we are not that far apart,” she said.
Jay C. Hartzell, president of SMU, said the agreement is the next step in the Meadows Museum’s evolution and collaboration with its partners in Spain.
“We're very proud of the Meadows Museum,” he said. “To be able to build on that strength through an international collaboration like this is really important and special for us.”
Along with the exhibition, the agreement will facilitate collaborative research initiatives including a book publication, an international symposium, conferences, academic presentations and educational programs.
The exhibition will open from February to May 2027 during the Jacobean Holy Year. The celebration marks a special year for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago when the cathedral’s Holy Door will be open and pilgrims can receive a plenary indulgence, a complete forgiveness of sins.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Texas at Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.
