CIDADES, Comunidades e Territórios

A conversation with Luc Noppen, the “hero of Quebec churches”

2025-02-11T11:32:20+00:00

This interview with Professor Luc Noppen, a renowned architectural historian specializing in church architecture, explores his career, research, and perspectives on the challenges facing religious heritage. Noppen reflects on his early academic journey, sparked by a fascination with Quebec’s historic churches, and his eventual role as a professor and advocate for their preservation. He discusses the dramatic decline of church attendance and the consequent need for repurposing religious buildings. Through initiatives such as the Religious Heritage Council in Quebec, Noppen has played a key role in securing funding and developing strategies to transform churches into spaces for community use while maintaining their historical significance. He highlights the importance of community engagement in heritage conservation, arguing that the preservation of churches should be a bottom-up process driven by local interest rather than dictated solely by experts.

Noppen also stresses the role of young professionals in finding innovative solutions to heritage challenges, noting a growing number of interdisciplinary teams working on church conservation projects. He addresses the difficulties of maintaining large churches in urban centres versus smaller ones in rural areas, advocating for municipal policies that protect churches from speculative redevelopment.

Further, the discussion touches on the role of religion in heritage management, emphasizing the need to separate architectural preservation from religious practice. Noppen underscores the value of historical church buildings as cultural and social assets, warning against their loss due to neglect or commercialization. He also calls for greater international collaboration and innovative research into sustainable reuse strategies.

The conversation with Luc Noppen provides a comprehensive overview of the current debates on religious heritage preservation, offering insights into both the challenges and opportunities in repurposing churches for future generations.

Book review of Gli edifici di culto come beni culturali in Italia. Nuovi scenari per la gestione e il riuso delle chiese cattoliche tra diritto canonico e diritto statale

2025-01-28T11:08:28+00:00

Book review of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Heritage in Contemporary Europe

2025-01-02T17:07:07+00:00

(Book review of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Heritage in Contemporary Europe)

Valorisation of the cultural heritage created by the living of religious orders

2025-02-13T10:44:56+00:00

This article explores the valorisation of the cultural heritage created by religious orders, focusing on the material and immaterial legacies preserved within these communities. It begins by highlighting the rich architectural, artistic, and liturgical heritage generated by religious orders over centuries, often intertwined with the unique spiritual and social values of the communities that produced them. The article underscores the importance of understanding how these religious assets - ranging from buildings and movable objects to archives and libraries - bear witness to the evolving religious practices and histories of monastic life. We propose to delve into the impact of the suppression of religious orders in the 19th and 20th centuries, which led to the fragmentation and dispersion of these invaluable resources. Despite challenges in tracking and preserving these elements, there should be renewed focus on their cultural valorisation through interdisciplinary research and modern technological tools. Special attention is given to the integration of archives, libraries, and museums, which can collectively enhance the historical narrative of religious communities. Additionally, the article examines the intersections of cultural heritage with gender, spirituality, and intercultural dialogue. It concludes by stressing the need for a comprehensive, collaborative approach to safeguard and reframe religious heritage as a vital cultural resource, contributing to both local and global historical understanding.

A school for the Lord’s service

2024-10-16T14:38:21+01:00

In the mediaeval Church in England, half of the diocesan cathedrals were also monastic communities; this phenomenon was virtually unique in the Church worldwide. Even after the Reformation, the monastic character of cathedrals continued to have a profound influence on the liturgy of the Church of England and on cathedrals as places to maintain the daily worship of God in solemn and musical form; to be homes for libraries and scholarship, and to be places of retreat and contemplative prayer. Norwich Cathedral was the last of these monastic cathedrals to be established (1096) and the first of the monastic cathedrals to be dissolved (1538). Particularly since the mid-nineteenth century, it has self-consciously been recovering a Benedictine character to its mission and ministry, most recently in the reconstruction of three monastic buildings lost since the Reformation: the Library reading room, the Refectory, and the Hostry. These buildings, while modern in design, build upon the remaining monastic fabric and echo the proportions and materials of their monastic predecessors, exemplifying the monastic vows of stability, obedience, and conversion of life. The Cathedral’s Benedictine principles extend to its ethos as an employer and commercial enterprise.

Towards a sustainable future for ecclesiastical heritage

2024-12-12T11:29:37+00:00

Sweden is, according to the World Values Survey, one of the world’s most secularised and modernised countries. In this changing society, the Church of Sweden, until 2000 a part of the State, is responsible for 3,400 well-kept historic church buildings and cemeteries. However, the Church loses more than 80,000 members every year and the active churchgoers as well as the economy is in decline, causing redundant and closed churches. This development is comparable with other countries in Europe, though the Swedish ecclesiastical heritage still enjoys strong legal protection and receives a large annual financial compensation from the State for its conservation.
The article shows that the legal and financial framework governing the ecclesiastical heritage is based on a partly outdated expert-oriented and material-based conservation approach with origins in an even older nineteenth-century antiquarian discourse. Instead of supporting the revitalisation of many redundant churches as societal resources, the system encourages well-maintained churches without living use: “zombie-churches”. It is relevant to ask how many of these historic churches can remain accessible to the public in the future? To keep the churches open, can extended or new secular uses, benefitting local communities, be developed and promoted?
To achieve desired progress towards a holistic, dynamic and inclusive ecclesiastical heritage, several measures are proposed. My recommendations include identification and synchronisation of heritage discourses in cultural heritage practices and policies, reviewing and updating of the antiquarian system, and strengthening of professional competences in adapted reuse of historic churches as catalysts for sustainable development.

Pilgrimage shrines in Portugal according to natural and cultural characteristics, with a view to their comprehensive protection

2025-02-19T09:33:23+00:00

Este artigo centra-se nos Santuários de Peregrinação Católicos Portugueses, com o objetivo de colmatar uma lacuna nas características biofísicas e culturais que levam à definição da essência destes locais sagrados, com particular enfoque na forma como se inscrevem na paisagem. Tentaremos responder às seguintes questões:

. Que fatores fundamentais levam à sua definição?

. Como eles são constituídos?

Adotamos uma metodologia que começa por clarificar o conceito de Santuário de Peregrinação. Segue-se a necessária revisão bibliográfica para contextualizar e enquadrar o tema e estudar o seu significado religioso, espiritual, social, artístico, paisagístico e arquitetónico.

Enquanto ícones do património paisagístico, os Santuários de Peregrinação resultam da conjugação da paisagem onde se inserem, das particularidades do sítio onde foram implantados, do “investimento” da Igreja na implementação de um programa religioso e recreativo, do seu histórico percurso e influências que receberam, do seu âmbito e enquadramento, dos usos que têm, das funções que desempenham, do seu desenho.

A visita a estes locais, com posterior comparação entre santuários a nível espacial, permitiu verificar a sua inscrição na paisagem, identificando e caracterizando os subespaços que os compõem e contribuem para a sua multiplicidade e diversidade – igreja/capela/ermida, bosque sagrado, floresta, parque, jardim, via-sacra, escadório, alameda, terreiro, adro, miradouro.

Sul Abobadado Sagrado

2025-02-10T10:49:17+00:00

No sul de Portugal, as abóbadas de tijolo são um sistema construído tradicional particular para coberturas, pisos e terraços, usando materiais e técnicas locais, actualmente considerado um exemplo de construção sustentável. Foi aplicado em várias tipologias de construção, desde habitação a edifícios religiosos (igrejas, capelas, mosteiros e conventos), variando entre contextos eruditos e populares.

Os edifícios abobadados carregam valores materiais e imateriais relacionados com o artesanato tradicional, transmissão de conhecimento e práticas religiosas, tendo valor patrimonial e potencial para serem alvo de fruição por parte das populações locais e visitantes, podendo desempenhar um papel importante na regeneração das áreas do interior.

Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar o potencial dos edifícios religiosos abobadados vernáculos para promover um desenvolvimento territorial sustentável potenciado pelo uso de ferramentas digitais no turismo cultural, promovendo a sua compreensão, disseminação e exploração entre o público académico e em geral, bem como reforçar a necessidade da sua posterior recuperação, utilização e reutilização.

Este estudo foi conduzido no âmbito do projeto de investigação “Vaulted South – Casas abobadadas vernáculas no Sul de Portugal”, com foco numa sub-região interior do Sul de Portugal, o Baixo Alentejo, e baseia-se nos dados recolhidos durante o inventário de edifícios abobadados estabelecidos nas regiões de Portel, Moura e Serpa, como casos de estudo piloto. Os dados georreferenciados foram tratados num ambiente SIG para análise estatística e criação de itinerários temáticos. Os resultados promoveram um conhecimento mais profundo sobre edifícios abobadados e a criação, transferência e discussão do seu potencial conhecimento e valores culturais.

The spiritual architecture of Maqamat: from the digitisation of Architectural Heritage sites to the enhancement of cultural memory through virtual narratives

2025-01-06T11:16:09+00:00

The study of Architectural Heritage in “clustered territories”, subjected to social, religious and political compression, identifies sites as an ecosystem of landmarks connected by cultural permanence and spirituality. The maqam (pl. maqamat) identifies an architectural typology of “shrine” in the Levant dedicated to prophets, sheiks and saints across Muslim, Christian and Jewish faiths. It developed as an isolated landmark, on hilltops or desert lands, as a single-chamber structure with a dome, on holy tombs or other devotional places. From the symbolic domed module, it assumed more complex configurations, linked to historical and social factors of territorial change. As “stations” along territorial routes, they linked cultural factors, intangible heritage and spiritual practices in the legacy of local communities. The research aims to an updated mapping action of preserved maqamat, focusing on the route of Abraham’s prophets and recovering memory and heritage values from the historical Palestinian tradition. Through digital survey strategies, compared to bibliographical references, the digitisation of maqamat sites and design patterns into georeferenced 3D models enables a double-scale analysis, at territorial and architectural levels. The collection of interviews and oral stories is processed to enrich the visuality of digital 3D data, enabling a key component of storytelling to recover authentic and untold memories from the community legacy. The development of a digital narrative platform supports the communication and widespread knowledge of the heritage typology, evoking introspection and spiritual continuity, and launches a call for crowd-sourcing in the monitoring and mapping of maqamat sites with the contribution of civil society.

Decommissioned places of worship: a project in Salerno

2024-10-30T14:54:24+00:00

Decommissioned ecclesiastical heritage represents a growing challenge for historic European cities, where the abandonment and disuse of churches reflect profound cultural and demographic shifts. These buildings, once centres of community life and guardians of historical, artistic, and identity significance, now risk decay, potentially undermining the surrounding urban fabric. Repurposing disused churches offers significant opportunities for urban regeneration, with interventions aimed at integrating new functions compatible with the original identity of these sacred spaces. This study exemplifies an integrated reuse strategy designed to create a network of ecological and accessible public spaces, connecting decommissioned churches and enhancing their historical role within the city of Salerno in southern Italy.

Anticipatory grief and ecclesiastical heritage

2025-01-17T09:40:17+00:00

An increasing number of modernist churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland which were built in the 1960s and 1970s are reaching a point in their life cycle where they require extensive renovations or demolition. As church membership is falling due to secularisation, an ageing population, and immigration, the financial resources to do extensive renovations are also diminishing. Hence more and more modernist churches are threatened by demolition. Despite their relatively young age, these churches have already become meaningful for and entwined with the lives of local communities, and their removal is felt as a loss of valuable heritage. This article discusses the reasons for demolition and analyses subsequent debates in the public media. While most media attention is directed to values defined by architects and heritage professionals, the emotional and autobiographical values of the locals are less appreciated. It is argued that heritage professionals could prepare for the demolitions by adopting the framework of anticipatory grief, which acknowledges and perhaps alleviates the loss felt by the stakeholders.

Religious Heritage: Sites, People, Challenges

2025-04-10T12:58:41+01:00

Portuguese landscapes: symbols and sacred architecture

2025-02-07T09:51:14+00:00

N.A.