MIRIAM ELENA CORTES LOPEZ

Miriam Elena Cortés López is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), affiliated with the Faculty of Geography and History. She holds a Doctorate from USC (2016) with a thesis titled On shots, traces and supports: history of the monumental staircase in Santiago de Compostela (16th-21st centuries), supervised by Dr. Juan Manuel Monterroso Montero.

Her research focuses on architectural history, cultural heritage preservation, and the symbolic role of monumental staircases in Galician and Iberoamerican contexts. Key areas include Baroque-era design, colonial architecture, and the intersection of art, literature, and urban development in Compostela.

Her work analyzes historical buildings like San Martín Pinario monastery, Jesuit properties, and colonial-era residences, using interdisciplinary methods combining archival research with material analysis. She is part of the Iacobus research group studying cultural heritage projects.

Notable contributions include studies on architectural manuscripts (e.g., Francisco Sarela's notes), religious spaces' staircases, and the sociocultural role of public monuments. Her publications bridge art history with urban studies, emphasizing how staircases reflect power dynamics, memory, and cultural identity.