2013 Utrecht

To raise awareness of the threats facing Europe’s religious movable heritage and to share expertise and experience on the common challenges faced all over Europe, FRH, Museum Catharijneconvent and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands organised a seminar on movable religious heritage. An overview in pictures can be found on our Flickr page.

The seminar was held at Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht on 4 and 5 November 2013. One of the aims of the seminar was to form a network of experts in movable religious heritage, supported through the structural framework of the FRH Networking Group.

The event also hosted the second AGM of FRH, and the first thematic seminar of the ALTERheritage project.There was a call for papers on the different legal frameworks for the protection of heritage interiors, launched the summer before the event.
Topics on the agenda of the seminar included:

  • Re-use and deaccessioning of religious objects
  • The relationship between building and interior, the importance of consistency in maintaining and protecting important movable and immovable heritage
  • Assessing the cultural value of movable religious heritage, tools and methods
  • Legal protection for interiors

The challenge of handing the displaced objects stems from the changing use of the buildings. There are many good and bad examples of extended and re-use in the Netherlands, and the program will include site visits to further explore some examples in the specific context of their movable religious heritage. It also included a special tour of the Museum Catharijneconvent collection.