The Transformation of Sacred Spaces

Patterns and Paths across Europe

5th Annual Conference of the DFG Research Group 2733 - TRANSARA

TRANSARA Jahrestagung 2025

Thinking about the adapted reuse of church buildings, some binary differentiations seem self-evident:

“Protestant churches are more easily used cooperatively because they are connected with a different understanding of sacrality than Catholic churches.”

“Secularization is connected with a continuing loss of sacred spaces.”

“In the cities, successful transformation is more likely because of a variety of stakeholders present.”

However, the work of the last years in the research group illustrates a complication of confessional, religious, and urban-rural binaries that initiated our comparative endeavor with the selection of the two research areas in East and West Germany. Effects of minority-/majority-confession came into view as well as differences in building culture. Not only did the economic capital appear as a cross-sectional dimension, but also potential for tourism, engagement cultures, and guiding images of the church.
The conference aims to develop a more complex web of transformation paths and patterns and situate it in the European context. Emerging propositions from the inner-German ecumenical comparison will be discussed in relation to perspectives from academic research and experiences in church practice / religious heritage preservation in different parts of Europe.

Prof. Dr. Alexander Deeg, Dr. Kerstin Menzel, Elisabeth März
Subproject 2, Leipzig University

Prof. Dr. Albert Gerhards
TRANSARA Spokesperson, University of Bonn

Registration and Date

Date and Place

Thursday, 15th May 2025 -
Friday, 16th May 2025

Leipzig, Heilandskirche / Stadtteilzentrum "Westkreuz"

Registration

Program and registration coming soon!

Among the Speakers:

Lilian Grootswagers-Theuns, Advisory Board President FRH, erfgoed .nu
Mgr. Barbora Spalova, Ph.D., Department of Sociology, Charles University Prague
Prof. Dr. Bernd Hillebrand, Katholisch-Theologische Fakultät, Universität Graz
Dr. Henrik Lindblad, Department of Art History, Uppsala Universiteit
Dr. Linda Monckton, Policy Development Department, Policy and Evidence Group, Historic England
Martin Reichenbach, Kirkerådet / Nordic conference on extended and new use of church buildings, Oslo
Dr. Eva Schäfer, Architekturgeschichten, Bern
Prof. Sven Sterken, Ph.D., Faculty of Architecture, KU Leuven
Prof. Dr. Johannes Stückelberger, Neuere Kunstgeschichte, Universität Basel / Institut für Praktische Theologie, Universität Bern
Prof. Dr. Monika Wohlrab-Sahr, Institut für Kulturwissenschaften, Universität Leipzig