Managing Sacralities: Competing and Converging Claims of Religious Heritage

What happens when religious sites, objects and practices become cultural heritage? What are ―religious or secular―sources of expertise and authority that validate and regulate heritage sites, objects and practices? As cultural heritage becomes an increasingly popular and influential frame, these questions arise in diverse and challenging manners. The question who controls, manages, and frames religious heritage, and how, arises with particular urgency. Case studies from Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom present an analysis of the paradoxes and challenges that arise when religious sites are transformed into heritage.

Ernst van den Hemel is a Postdoctoral research fellow at the Meertens Institute, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Oscar Salemink (1958-2023) was a Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Irene Stengs is a Professor by special appointment “Anthropology of Ritual and Popular Culture” Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and a Senior Researcher at the Meertens Instituut/ Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.