FRH hosts POLYVERSE’s Transnational Seminar and gets ready for the creative phase of the project

On 7 and 8 May, project partners of POLYVERSE – an EU-funded project to explore and harness the power of music as a driver for intercultural and interreligious dialogue – met in Leuven (Belgium) for a Transnational Seminar and a Transnational Project Meeting.

The two events, which set the stage for further important developments in the creative phase of the project, took place in the premises of PARCUM, a museum and Flemish centre of expertise for religious art and culture located in the historic Park Abbey in Leuven.

The Transnational Seminar was held on Wednesday 7 May and explored the importance of the four religious heritage sites where the performances of the Polyverse Choir and local conferences of the project will take place from spring 2026:  the Basilica of Aquileia (Italy), the Beth Shalom Synagogue in Athens (Greece), the Cistercian Monastery of Lehnin and the Grand Mosque of Rome.

A crucial outcome of the seminar was the drafting of a manifesto that encapsulates the values and ambition at the heart of the project: intercultural and inter-religious dialogue. This manifesto is expected to play a pivotal role in guiding the collaborative creation of the new interfaith musical composition in the coming months.

The second day, on Thursday 8 May, was dedicated to the second Transnational Project Meeting, where representatives of the five partner organisations (the Jewish Community of Athens, the Monastery and Church Community of Lehnin, Future for Religious Heritage, and the Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre of Rome, under the leadership of the Società di Conservazione della Basilica di Aquileia) assessed the progress made since the start of this cross-border collaboration in January and defined the next steps to achieve the project’s ambitious goals.

POLYVERSE Manifesto to be released in June

The launch of the POLYVERSE manifesto in June this year will mark the start of the co-creation phase of the project. In September, an artistic residency in Athens will bring together three composers to jointly create an original piece inspired by the core values of the Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions. Following the completion of this new composition, local choirs will be established by project partners in Greece, Italy and Germany, creating what will become the first European Interreligious Choir.