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Welcome to the July issue of the newsletter!
This month's country of the month is Romania, our featured article takes a look at the challenges and opportunities of adaptive reuse of the iconic fortified churches of Romania's northwestern region of Transylvania.
In honour of our 10th-year anniversary, we've conducted an interview with FRH founding member Crispin Truman who discusses his perspective on the importance of FRH's mission and how the sector can work more towards the sustainability goals of the EU Green Deal.
Registration is now open for the second hybrid event of our FRH Biennial conference. The event titled "Continuity in Community Connection and Dialogue" will take place on 24 September in Bologna, Italy. Register now!
We would like to wish everyone a wonderful summer holiday and would like to share our appreciation to you, our readers, members, partners and friends, for your support. It is because of you that we are able to weather these difficult times and remain an active and united network to protect Europe's religious heritage.
As always, we are happy to feature members in our newsletter, so feel free to submit articles, event notifications, or anything else you would like to share with the network.
Jordi Mallarach Parés
FRH Executive Officer
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ADAPTIVE REUSE OF FORTIFIED CHURCHES IN TRANSYLVANIA - CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Romania, our country of the month, has a number of fortified churches in the region of Transylvania. Today, these churches, many of which lie in rural areas, are facing challenges such as deterioration and a lack of resources. The Fortified Churches Foundation, our featured member of the month has begun a project to preserve these sites through adaptive reuse by opening them up to be used as accommodation for rural tourism, which also has the effect of aiding the local community. This month's featured article explains this project in detail as well as the challenges and opportunities it has faced in the process. READ MORE >>>
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10TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY INTERVIEW
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FRH 10TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY: AN INTERVIEW WITH FRH FOUNDING MEMBER, CRISPIN TRUMAN
Crispin Truman OBE is the former Chief Executive of the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT), an FRH member organisation, and a founding member of FRH. He was also formerly a trustee at The Heritage Alliance. He now serves as the Chief Executive in the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) since 2017. In honour of FRH’s 10th year anniversary, we’ve conducted an interview with Crispin, who reflects on the achievements that FRH has made since its founding, what he sees for the future of the network, and how the religious heritage sector can work towards the sustainability goals of the EU Green Deal. READ MORE>>>
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REGISTER FOR THE FRH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE EVENT "CONTINUITY IN COMMUNITY CONNECTION AND DIALOGUE"
Register now for the second event of the FRH Biennial Conference Europe's Living Religious Heritage. The event titled "Continuity in Community Connection and Dialogue" will be a hybrid event that will take place in Bologna, Italy and be live-streamed online, making it available to everyone. The event will explore topics related to the theme of ownership and religious use of heritage spaces and places. The event will take place on 24 September from 15:00h - 17:00 CET. REGISTER NOW>>>
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NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN FOR EUROPA NOSTRA'S 7 MOST ENDANGERED PROGRAMME
FRH strongly recommends its members to consider nominating a site to Europa Nostra's 7 Most Endangered Programme, which has now launched its call for nominations for 2022. The aim of this programme is to raise awareness of the challenges facing cultural heritage, giving the winning sites access to expert aid to ensure their preservation. In last year's programme, FRH nominated three sites, two of which were chosen as winners. These sites, the Visoki Dečani Monastery and the San Juan de Socueva Chapel (pictured above) are now greatly benefitting from these titles. READ MORE>>>
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FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH HERITAGE PUBLISHES BEST PRACTICES IN JEWISH CEMETERIES
FRH Member, the Foundation for Jewish Heritage has published a catalogue on the best practices for preserving Jewish cemeteries. The project titled "Protecting the Jewish Cemeteries of Europe" is an EU funded project led by a consortium of organisations including ESJF, the European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative and Centropa. The catalogue contains examples of preservation initiatives from nine different European countries. The aim of the publication is for it to be used as a resource and a tool to inspire communities to launch their own preservation projects. READ MORE>>>
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FRH WELCOMES 9 NEW MEMBERS
FRH is pleased to welcome nine new members to its network, six full members and three associate members. The new full members include Radio TV Camino de Santiago, Cercle Royal archéologique d'Enghien, The Church Art Collection at the University Museum of Bergen, Ayuntamiento de Orihuela, FILOKALIA, and the Spirituality Institute. We look forward to working with these wonderful organisations in the future. More information about our members can be found on our website. READ MORE>>>
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NATIONAL CHURCHES TRUST RESTORES SEVERAL SITES IN NORTHERN IRELAND
FRH member, the National Churches Trust has led a support mission to restore and maintain the churches and chapels of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland has more churches per capita than anywhere else in the UK. Despite this, there have been very few grant applications submitted to the NCT and several sites are in a poor state. The NCT has worked with local stakeholders and the Ulster Churches Trust to restore several of these sites as well as to create a "Places of Worship Forum" in order to generate local community support. READ MORE>>>
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SUPPORT RELIGIOUS HERITAGE IN THE EUROPA NOSTRA/ EUROPEAN HERITAGE PUBLIC CHOICE AWARDS
Vote for the Schoolkerk project, which is representing religious heritage in Europa Nostra's public choice awards! The Schoolkerk is an innovative project of FRH member, Stichting Oude Groninger Kerken Foundation and is the focal point of its educational activities. Currently, this project is a contestant for the Europa Nostra Public Choice Awards for the winning cultural heritage projects from their Europa Nostra/ European Heritage Awards 2021. We are encouraging everyone to show their support; voting is open until 5 September. READ MORE>>>
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THIS SECTION IS FOR MEMBERS ONLY. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BECOMING A MEMBER, MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND ON OUR WEBSITE. READ MORE>>> |
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION RELEASES GUIDELINES FOR THE SAFE REOPENING OF THE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE SECTOR
Vice-President Margaritis Schinas and Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Sports and Youth, Mariya Gabriel have announced the European Commission's proposed guidelines on the safe reopening of the Cultural and Creative sector. The guidelines come at a time when the sector is gradually reopening in several member states and aims to help facilitate a coordinated approach. The new protocols are designed to cover both a safe reopening as well as the sustainable recovery of the sector. READ MORE >>>
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EUROPEAN COUNCIL RECOGNISES ROLE OF HERITAGE IN PEACEBUILDING
The European Council has formally approved the conclusions on "The EU Concept of Cultural Heritage in Conflict and Crises" and has effectively recognised the role of heritage at the heart of promoting peace, democracy, and sustainable development. The conclusions highlight that cultural heritage fosters tolerance, inter-cultural and inter-faith dialogue and mutual understanding. They have also recognised that it can be used as a target in conflicts, further strengthening the need for its protection and safeguarding. The council hopes that these conclusions will further spread awareness of the need to protect cultural heritage around the world. READ MORE >>>
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FEATURED RELIGIANA LIST: FORTIFIED CHURCHES OF TRANSYLVANIA
This month's country of the month is Romania. One of the most iconic types of religious heritage sites of its northwestern region of Transylvania is that of its fortified churches. These churches and their fortifications were built during the late middle ages by German settlers as a way to protect their villages from invaders. We've put together our featured Religiana list on some of the top fortified churches of Transylvania. This and more can be found on our Religiana website. READ MORE >>>
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FRH MEMBER OF THE MONTH: FORTIFIED CHURCHES FOUNDATION
The Fortified Churches Foundation was founded in 2015 with the goal of ensuring the preservation and maintenance of Romania's historic fortified churches. Aside from construction, the organisation uses a number of methods to ensure these buildings' preservation such as adaptive reuse, community awareness, and advocacy. They focus on traditional and sustainable techniques to ensure the preservation of both the sites in their care and their heritage. The organisation has also been very active within FRH, particularly with the Religiana project. READ MORE >>>
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SUPPORT THE HISTORIC KINDLER CHAPEL OF PABIANICE, POLAND
The Kindler Chapel is a historic chapel located in the cemetery of Pabianice, Poland. It was designed in the early 20th century in the art nouveau style and is listed on the register of monuments of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in Poland. The chapel, used by the local Evangelical community, is threatened by deterioration and a decline in its use. The community of Pabianice has undertaken a project to restore the chapel which has managed to secure enough government funding to restore the exterior but still lacks the funding to be able to fully restore the interior, which is important for the project's plans to revitalise its use in the community. The community is asking for donations, if you would like to make a contribution, more information can be found on the project's website. READ MORE >>>
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VIRTUAL JEWISH HERITAGE MUSEUM TIMIȘOARA
In Timișoara Romania, a new virtual Jewish heritage museum has been launched by the Municipality of Timișoara in partnership with the local Jewish community as well as the EU-funded, REDISCOVER project. The museum focuses on several of the different Jewish heritage sites of the city including the Fabric Synagogue and the local Jewish cemetery. Its aim is to expand its reach and provide a better picture of the history of the city's Jewish community. The museum has stated that it is an “ongoing process” and that there is more to come in the future. READ MORE >>>
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