Archaeology and material cultural heritage enjoys a particular status as a form of heritage that, capturing the public imagination, has become the locus for the expression and negotiation of regional, national, and intra-national cultural identities. One important question is: why and how do contemporary people engage with archaeological heritage objects, artefacts, information or knowledge outside the realm of an professional, academically-based archaeology? This question is investigated here from the perspective of theoretical considerations based on Yuri Lotman’s semiosphere theory, which helps to describe the connections between the centre and peripheries of professional archaeology as sign structures. The centre may be defined according to prevalent scientific paradigms, while periphery in the space of creolisation in which, through interactions with other culturally more distant sign structures, archaeology-related nonprofessional communities emerge. On the basis of these considerations, we use collocation analysis on representative English language corpora to outline the structure of the field of archaeology-related nonprofessional communities, identify salient creolised peripheral spaces and archaeology-related practices, and develop a framework for further investigation of archaeological knowledge production and reuse in the context of global archaeology.

This work seeks to demonstrate the importance of the interests of lodging service users in non-hotel resources, directly or indirectly, linked to hotels. For this, Spanish hotels located in defensive structures belonging to the Paradores chain have been selected. The conceptual framework starts from the evaluative models of the quality of service modified to this study. Then, a Big Data tool has been developed that allows for the analysis of 3372 visitor comments about subjects including the facilities, the staff, and service management. To these, other attributes not strictly linked to the classic hotel service have been added, such as the cultural heritage resources, the surrounding environment, and value-added activities already implemented. With this work, it is hoped to highlight the importance of taking advantage of these resources efficiently, especially in shaping excellent tourist services that connect respectful cultural tourism and the environment for a clear urban influence and that simultaneously takes advantage of the all the possibilities of new technologies.

The topic of museum illumination and conservation has been richly developed in recent years to take steps toward a zero-energy building concept. Most artworks preserved in museums’ expositions were designed for specifically defined light contexts, wherein daylight and seasonal changes were part of the artistic effect, an issue which has received little scholarly attention. From this premise, this paper aims to prove that defining the original illuminative context of artworks is required for a sustainable conservation, perception, and ultimate interpretation. To do this, a selection of seventeenth and eighteenth century churches and palaces from Europe, the Americas, and Asia will be presented using modern conservation frameworks for artworks. The results demonstrate that both aspects, chosen materials and light exposure, were connected, allowing the spaces to be effective without consuming too much electric lighting. This leads to a discussion about if museum displays should incorporate this context, if it is a more sustainable solution, and if it presents the artworks more accurately to visitors, even as other problems may arise.

The Spanish defeat in the Seven Years War led to a reassessment of the overseas fortification system. This paper analyses the role played by military engineers in the debate over the reconstruction of fortresses in Havana and Manila, and the influence of French discussions on the topic. The results were the product of Franco-Spanish cooperation that improved formal education. The conclusion is that the combined Bourbon response substantially advanced the science of siege craft and significantly improved the status of military engineers in Spain.

Este estudio pretende demostrar el interés filipino en crear planes de fortificación complementaria durante el siglo XVIII ante amenazas locales y conflictos globales. Además de las fronteras internas con los igorrotes y los moros, hubo de abordarse el temor a ataques británicos e incluso holandeses. Esta nueva forma de plantear la defensa, teniendo en cuenta varios enclaves complementarios, fue fruto de la cooperación cultural de diferentes tradiciones.

The Union of the Iberian Crowns (1580–1640) promoted a wider cultural exchange between Portuguese and Spanish Asian settlements in Asia. This paper identifies the remarkable circulation of artisans and patrons and the development of new building techniques during this period, which allowed for a shared cultural dialogue that may be best described as forms of mestizage. So, it tries to address the mobility of patrons and architects, which helps explain the diffusion of techniques and models. The first case shows how cultural dialogue promoted new techniques from local traditions and materials, which were later used in neighbouring settlements. The second demonstrates the role these mixed solutions played in the creation of the image of a pure state, in the form of public palaces, a mestizo society, mainly in urban houses, and a local cultural resistance, keeping traditional housing forms in the native quarters. Thanks to this approach, the currently preserved built heritage can be seen not only as a European cultural transfer but also as the result of a fruitful global dialogue.