The Religious Heritage Complex

Legacy, Conservation, and Christianity

Cyril Isnart, Nathalie Cerezales, Cyril Isnart, Nathalie Cerezales

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781350266940
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350072527
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Museum Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

The Religious Heritage Complex examines heritage-making of Christian-related legacies led by secular and clerical institutions. It argues that the relationship between public policies and spiritual practices is not as clear-cut as some might think. In fact, the authors show that religious activity has always combined care for the past with conscious practices of heritage-making, which they term "the religious heritage complex."

The book considers the ways patrimony, religion, and identity interact in different Christian contexts worldwide and how religious objects and sites function as identity symbols. It focuses on heritage-making as a religious and material activity for the groups in charge of a sacred inheritance and considers heritage activities as one of the forms of spiritual renewal and transmission.

Case studies explore various Christian traditions located in Europe, the Americas, and Africa, investigating the longstanding and tightly-enmeshed connections that weave together religion and cultural heritage. Through comparing ecclesiastical and civil heritage institutions, this book allows us to consider the ambiguity of religious heritage.

Table of contents

• Cover page
• Halftitle page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Figures
• Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 The Church Building as a Practiced Duality of Religion and Heritage
• 2 Iconography and Religious Heritage The Russian Old Believers of Romania
• 3 Cappadocia’s Ottoman-Greek-Orthodox Heritage The Making, Unmaking, and Remaking of a Religious Heritage Complex
• 4 The Other Face of Secularization
• 5 Aesthetic and Faith-based Views The Heritagization Process of the French Catholic Churches Confronted by Tourism
• 6 The Religious Heritage Complex in Italy Faith, Tourism, and the Church
• 7 Between Devotion and Heritage The Holy Week Pasos in Spain
• 8 Managing Ambivalence Heritage, Rituals, and Intimacy in Lisbon (Portugal)1
• 9 Cultural Heritage as a Religious Strategy Heritage-making at the Candomblé Temples in Brazil
• 10 Contemporary Vodun Memories of the Slave Trade Past in Southern Benin
• 11 Assembling Altars Vernacular Religious Practices and Mexican Cultural Heritages in North American Museums
• 12 The Library of the White Fathers in Tunis Interview with Jean Fontaine
• 13 The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela Interview with José Francisco Blanco Fandiño
• 14 The Religious Heritage Complex in Context Concluding Thoughts
• Notes
• References
• Index