TransHERITAGE

transHERITAGE

Transformative
Religious Heritage

Bridging Northern and Southern European Approaches

Learn More

Home

About

The Initiative

Over the centuries, religious built heritage has played an essential role in Europe, shaping social, economic, environmental, and cultural values.

It defined communities and left a deep imprint on territorial development and their silhouettes, still visible in present-day city and landscape. In Portugal, as well as in Norway, at present, the dominant religions (the Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church of Norway, respectively) face common challenges, socially, in terms of dwindling communities (e.g., less worshipers and priests), environmentally and economically, due to the reduction of the number of parishes and the territorial change that result from this. This often leads to a low utilization rate or even redundancy of religious buildings.

"Churches transcend time. They are the spiritual investment and the artistic legacy of generations, and a community's greatest expression of itself over centuries. There's a concentration of shared human experience within their walls, which means that churches are a monument to the lives of thousands of ordinary people who have been completely forgotten about. This is their gift to the future" (Rachel Morley, Director of Friends of Friendless Churches) (Ross, p. 135)

Torrão
Portugal

Torrão is a Portuguese civil parish, located in the municipality of Alcácer do Sal, in the district of Setúbal (South of Portugal). This area of 372,763 km2 accommodates about 1900 inhabitants.

The main economic activities are livestock farming, agriculture, construction, cork production, wine, olive oil, honey and bread. Handicrafts include wooden miniatures, hand-painted ceramics, blacksmiths, chair stuffing, lace and embroidery.

Concerning religious heritage, we can find 10 buildings among convents, churches and chapels.

Fana

Norway

Fana is situated in Fanahammeren, a small fishing harbour about 10 km south of Bergen, Norway’s second-largest city. Today, the village has about 3,500 residents. Within the diocese of Bjørgvin (Bergen), Fana is an independent prosti (deanery).

In the nineteenth century, the firm Rosendahl & Co founded a spinning mill at the mouth of the nearby river. Fana was an independent municipality until it became a borough of Bergen in 1972. Today, Fana is mostly residential.

The church of Fana was largely built during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. A record from 1228 mentions that there was a hospital attached to it. A fourteenth-century wooden crucifix showing the suffering Christ is now kept at the University Museum of Bergen.

The initiative focuses on underused religious heritage sites in two largely rural regions in Europe with an Atlantic outlook: Alentejo (southern-hinterland Portugal) and Vestland (western Norway).

The initiative revolves around three main activities: KNOWLEDGE creation and sharing; heritage community ENGAGEMENT; PROJECTION of i) new possibilities for the religious heritage through co-creation workshops, and ii) results, with a final conference and exhibition. Bringing together the knowledge and research of the national partners ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon and the University of Bergen and the on-site experience of the local partners, TARS, Civil Parish of Torrão, the Diocese of Bjørgvin in the Church of Norway, and Fana prosti (deanery), will ensure that this initiative will be successful in finding inspiration and exploring new ways ahead.

Resources

Team

Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa

Rolando Volzone (Principal Investigator)

Researcher

+ info

Laura Pomesano

Early Stage Researcher

+ info

Sofia Macedo

Researcher and Professor

+ info

Carla Duarte

Early Stage Researcher

+ info

News & Agenda

09/03/2024

Hearing the Convent

Co-Creation Workshop - As part of the transHERITAGE project, a co-creation workshop “Listen to the Convent” will take place on March 9th, between 10am and 5pm at Espaço AQUI - Convento da Terra (Torrão).

+ info

17/04/2024

Listen to the Convent – TRANSHERITAGE Project – 9th of March 2024

The second activity of the TRANSHERITAGE project – “Listen to the Convent” – took place at Espaço AQUI (Convento da Terra – Torrão), on the 9th of March, bringing together the Portuguese and Norwegian (from Fana) teams and counting, once more, with the active participation of the local community

+ info

17/04/2024

Claustro Aberto – Atividade de Abertura do Projeto transHERITAGE – 24 de fevereiro 2024

No dia 24 de fevereiro teve lugar a primeira atividade do projeto transHERITAGE, com a comunidade da Freguesia do Torrão....

+ info

03/03/2024

First approach to the religious spaces of Torrão - 17th February

As part of the transHERITAGE project, the first official fieldworks took place on 17 February.

+ info

24/02/2024

Open Cloister

Walk & Talk - Activity opens the project to the local community – “Open Cloister” – February 24, Convent of Nossa Senhora da Graça (Torrão)

+ info

01/02/2024

Meeting with the Fana parish council on 1 February

On Thursday 1 February, Justin Kroesen (University of Bergen) and Ragna Sofie Grung Moe (Diocese of Bergen) presented the project transHERITAGE in Fana during an evening meeting of the local parish council. The medieval village church of Fana is the Norwegian case study in the project, where a gathering will be organized on 7 and 8 June.

+ info

30/11/2023

TransHERITAGE Project kick-off meeting

The kick-off of the initiative "transHERITAGE - Transformative Religious Heritage: Bridging Northern and Southern Europe Approaches" took place on 30th of November of 2023.

+ info