"Bestiary" at the Foyer of the Gran Teatre del Liceu

Medieval bestiaries are much more than simple catalogs of fantastic creatures and real animals. These works, which combine scientific wisdom, religious symbolism, and boundless imagination, offer us a privileged window into the mindset of the Middle Ages, in which nature and the spiritual world blend together in a fascinating harmony.

Bestiaries are compilations that describe real creatures, such as the lion, the elephant, or the deer, alongside wondrous beings such as the griffin, the basilisk, or the phoenix. But beyond the anatomy or behavior of these animals, their main purpose was to reveal the divine truths hidden in creation. Each animal had a symbolic and moral meaning. This allegorical character of the bestiaries not only showed a cohesive vision of the world, but also an attempt to order reality through a narrative full of meaning. For medieval authors, the world was not a sum of independent entities, but an interconnected whole in which each creature had an assigned role in the great drama of existence.

We must not forget that the bestiaries were, moreover, genuine works of art. The miniatures illustrating these manuscripts transformed the texts into captivating visual experiences. The images that amplified the symbolic content helped the reader understand the moral and spiritual lessons. The illustrations, with their vivid colors and meticulous lines, were an exaltation of the diversity of divine creation.

Based on texts by Enric Casasses, resident poet of the Liceu during the 2025-2026 season, and with the help of the work of Joan Jonas, we propose the creation of a contemporary bestiary to rediscover a vision of the world where everything is imbued with meaning, where nature is sacred, and the imagination, limitless. Together with our most prominent composers-who will create a work for the occasion-and the country's performers, we will witness this creativity and our persistent desire to understand and give meaning to the world. A proposal that invites us to (re)connect with wonder, to see the world not only as a place of study, but as a space for poetry and mystery.