CIDADES, Comunidades e Territórios

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

Carlos Azevedo — 2025-04-10

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

Peter Doll — 2025-04-10

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

Henrik Lindblad — 2025-04-10

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.

Os santuários de peregrinação em Portugal segundo características naturais e culturais, com vista para a sua proteção abrangente

Mónica Monteiro — 2025-04-10

This article focuses on catholic pilgrimage shrines in Portugal, filling a gap regarding their defining natural and cultural characteristics. These are viewed jointly and interpretively: nature shaping culture and culture shaping nature. The urgent relevance arises from an analysis of the basis of the classifications of 25 shrines (those classified by Património Cultural, I. P.,
Ministério da Cultura), in which we raised the hypothesis that their landscape values were not recognized.
After researching the literature, we visited these places to observe and analyze the landscapes where they are located and the places they constitute, seeking to identify the factors that are fundamental to them. The subspaces that contribute to their spatial diversity were subsequently characterized. As icons of landscape heritage, each pilgrimage shrine is the combined
reflection of its surrounding landscape, the particularities of its site, the Church’s investment in the implementation of a religious
and recreational program, its historical course and the influences it has received, the functions it performs, and its design.
We find an interpretative matrix of pilgrimage shrines in the building and churchyard/viewpoint combination, a consistent way
of presenting certain subspaces with different articulations; 50% of these places have this typology and are located in a situation
of visual predominance, with regional or local significance. With this article, in which we identify a set of basic criteria for study and analysis, we hope to contribute to the effective and comprehensive protection of these places.

Sacred Vaulted South: Proposing GIS-powered vaults cluster analysis and cultural itineraries into religious heritage buildings

Mafalda Pacheco — 2025-04-10

In the south of Portugal, brick vaults are a particular traditional building system for ceilings, floors and terraces, using local materials and techniques, presently viewed as an example of sustainable construction. It was applied in various building typologies, from dwellings to religious buildings (churches, chapels, monasteries and convents), ranging from erudite to popular contexts.
Vaulted buildings carry material and immaterial values related to traditional craftsmanship, knowledge transmission and religious practices, with heritage value and the potential to be a target of fruition by local people and visitors, playing an important role in the regeneration of the hinterland areas.
This paper aims to present the potential of vernacular vaulted religious buildings to foster a sustainable territorial development empowered using digital tools in cultural tourism, promoting their understanding, dissemination and exploration among academic experts and the general public, as well as to reinforce the need for their further recovery, use and reuse.
This study was conducted under the scope of the research project Vaulted South – Vernacular vaulted houses in south of Portugal, focusing on an inner sub-region of Southern Portugal, Baixo Alentejo, and it is based on the data collected during the census of vaulted buildings settled in the regions of Portel, Moura and Serpa, as pilot case studies. Georeferenced data were handled into a GIS environment for statistical analysis and the development of thematic itineraries. First results promoted a deeper knowledge about vaulted buildings and the creation, transfer and discussion of their potential knowledge and cultural values.

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

Raffaella De Marco — 2025-04-10

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

Giulia Neri — 2025-04-10

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

Visa Immonen — 2025-04-10

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

Rolando Volzone — 2025-04-10

Portuguese landscapes: symbols and sacred architecture

Sebastiano Raimondo — 2025-04-10

N.A.

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

Henrik Lindblad — 2025-04-10

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

Paolo Cavana — 2025-04-10

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

Ioannis Poulios — 2025-04-10

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