Past events

Past events

Over the past ten years, FRH has organised lots of activities and taken part in international projects pursuing its goal to be the voice of the European religious heritage.

2024

Online face-to-face meeting from Istanbul, Turkey – This online meeting was led by Çağla Parlak, Vice-Chair of the Association for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (KMKD) who explained the main threats to religious heritage buildings in Turkey, the risk assessments performed by KMKD and their reports and recommendations. The session took place on 24 May 2024.

FRH TALKS | “(Re)discovering Europe’s Islamic heritage: 1,400 years of history and what it means today” – First FRH Talk of 2024 featuring Tharik Hussain, author, travel writer and journalist specialising in Muslim heritage. The webinar took place on 25 April 2024.

NEB Festival Satellite event | Religious Heritage: an overlooked driver for a more sustainable and inclusive society – This online event highlighted the contribution of religious heritage to climate action and the wellbeing of European citizens through a series of examples of best practices. It was organised in collaboration with COMECE (Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union) and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). The event took place on 11 April.

FRH Masterclass | “The Churches and the City. A review of the past, present and future role of churches in urban environments” – This masterclass was offered by FRH thanks to a partnership with the International Conference “The Churches and the City” organised by the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna. It centered around the relationship between churches and cities in different European regions after World War II and explore the current and future role of religious buildings in urban contexts. 

Face-to-face meeting in Malta– FRH members met in person for this two day meeting on 25 and 26 January in Malta, exploring the main religious heritage sites in Valleta, Mdina and Rabat, and meeting with local organisations active in the protection of religious heritage, from public authorities, NGOs, to grassroots volunteer organisations.

2023

FRH TALKS | “Museums in sacred spaces: keys to success by the Diocesan and Cathedral Museum of Lugo” – Third webinar of 2023 featuring Marcos Gerardo Calles Lomabao, director of the Diocesan and Cathedral Museum of Lugo, housed in the UNESCO World Heritage Cathedral of Santa María de Lugo (Spain). The webinar took place on 15 December 2023.

Face-to-face meeting in Naumburg, Germany FRH members met in person for this two day meeting on 5 and 6 December in Naumburg, Germany.

Online face-to-face meeting from Bucovina, Romania – Second online face-to-face meeting with FRH members of 2023. This online meeting introduced participants to the religious hertitage landscape of Bucovina region, in Northeast Romania, and  the current projects to preserve and promote it among both the local community and visitors.

FRH Masterclass | “Understanding, reconnecting and rethinking the soul of religious heritage” – As part of a partnership with the 4th International Conference Architectures of the Soul, FRH offered its members the opportunity of following the keynote presentations of the conference and participating in a live follow-up session with the conference’s co-organiser Rolando Volzone. The live session took place on 10 November 2023.

12th Annual General Meeting – The 12th Annual General Meeting of FRH took place on 19 October 2023 via Zoom.

FRH Masterclass | “Reconstruction of religious buildings in 20th and 21st century Europe: monuments, heritage and identity ” – This two-day masterclass explored the question of why and how to rebuild destroyed religious heritage. It was a hybrid event hosted in Aachen, Germany, and with online participants . It took place on 25 and 26 September 2023.

FRH Talks | “European Year of Skills: the future of endangered heritage crafts” – Second webinar of the FRH Talks series of 2023. This webinar featured Daniel Carpenter and Mary Lewis from the Heritage Crafts Association, and Madina Benvenuti from Mad’in Europe. It took place on 25 March 2023.

Run for Heritage in Ilsenburg (Germany) – Activity organised by FRH and Harzer Monasteries. The event took place on 29 June 2023.

FRH Biennial Conference 2023 – The 6th FRH Biennial Conference took place on 20 and 21 April 2023 in Lund, Sweden and focused on the theme of sustainability. It was structured in four sub-themes: economic sustainability, ecological sustainability,  social sustainability and cultural/spiritual sustainability.

Run for Heritage in Lund – Activity organised by FRH and the BURB project. The event took place on 19 April 2023.

Online face-to-face meeting | Pre-conference discussion and policy paper recommendations – First face-to-face meeting with FRH members of 2023.

FRH Talks | Young Voices in Religious Heritage – First webinar of the FRH Talks series of 2023. This webinar was organised in collaboration with ESACH, the European Students’ Association for Cultural Heritage. The event took place on 2 March 2023.

2022

Online face-to-face meeting from Lithuania – This online face-to-face members’ meeting featured Darius Liutikas, President of the Community of Lithuanian Pilgrims. The event took place on 7 December 2022.

Online face-to-face meeting from Portugal – This online face-to-face members’ meeting featured researchers Catarina Almeida Marado and Rui Lobo from the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra (CES-UC). The event took place on 17 November 2022.

FRH Run for Heritage – Activity organised by FRH Member Spazio Kor. The event took place on 21 October 2022.

Masterclass: Exhibiting religious language? Communicating the languages of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in museums – This 2-day online masterclass took place on 14 and 15 October 2022.

Online Workshop: “Overlooked potential for energy efficiency: Greening Europe’s spiritual cultural heritage” – This workshop was a side event at the European Week of Regions and Cities. It took place on 13 October 2022.

Face-to-face meeting in Gotland, Sweden – Members’ face-to-face meeting hosted by the Diocese of Visby. The event took place on 29 and 30 September 2022.

FRH Run for Heritage – Activity organised by FRH Member Centro Estudios de Lebaniegos in Potes, Spain. The event took place on 14 June 2022.

FRH Talks | Sound Heritage: tips and tricks to promote places of worship  – The third webinar of the FRH Talks series with Daniel Vanden Broecke, CEO of Het Orgel in Vlaanderen  (The Organ in Flanders). The event took place on 17 June 2022.

FRH Run for Heritage – Activity organised by FRH Member Centro Estudios de Lebaniegos in Potes, Spain. The event took place on 26 May 2022.

Photo and video competition – Competition launched on 23 May to invite the public to share inspiring pictures and videos showcasing the beauty, value and diversity of European religious heritage. The application is open from 23 May to 25 September 2022. The Award ceremony will be held at the FRH Biennial Conference 2023.

FRH Talks | Youth and heritage: challenges and opportunities for the new generations – Second webinar of the FRH Talks series with the youth-led organisation ESACH (European Students’ Association for Cultural Heritage). The event took place on 23 May 2022.

Religious Heritage Innovator of the Year – Competition launched on 9 May, coinciding with Europe Day, to recognise projects that make a significant contribution to the preservation of Europe’s places of worship. The application is open from 9 May to 31 October 2022. The Award ceremony will be held at the FRH Biennial Conference 2023.

FRH Run for Heritage – Activity organised by FRH Member Centro Estudios de Lebaniegos in Potes, Spain. The event took place on 5 April 2022.

FRH MASTERCLASS “Living Religious Heritage through a Narrative Approach: from Preservation to the Continuity of Creation” – The online lecture with Nigel Walter and Ioannis Poulios took place on 28 April 2022.

FRH Talks | Roubaix, Saint-Joseph church: preserving and sharing heritage  – First webinar of the FRH Talks series, with Gilles Guey, director of Cultural Affairs for the City of Roubaix, as a guest speaker. The event took place on 28 March 2022.

2021

FRH Workshop on EU Funding – The aim of this workshop was to help organisations understand the different financing options available from the European Union.

5th Biennial Conference  – The FRH 5th Biennial Conference “Europe’s Living Religious Heritage” takes place in four separate hybrid events throughout the year in different locations across Europe. The first event took place in May in Barcelona, Spain. The second event took place in September in Bologna, Italy. The third event took place in October in Michaelstein Abbey, Blankenburg, Germany. The final event will take place in November in Brussels, Belgium.

Run for Heritage – Run for Heritage is an initiative that encourages young people to be active while learning about their religious heritage. It is taking place in 7 events in Cantabria, Spain from 18 October – 31 December 2021. These events will feature students from various schools across Spain who will be running in races among their local religious heritage sites.

New European Bauhaus – FRH was selected as a partner of the European Commission’s New European Bauhaus initiative, ensuring that religious heritage is included as an integral part of it and advocating the need for a heritage-led transformation of our society, economy and environment.

SKIVRE (end of the project) – The SKIVRE project ended successfully on 28 February 2021. As a result, 10 training modules as well as videos, good practice examples, and a comprehensive implementation guide have been published and certified.

FRH 10th Year Anniversary – As part of the celebration of its 10th Year Anniversary, FRH published a series of videos and articles featuring FRH Members and highlighting the achievements of the organisation since its foundation.

2020

#JUMPFORHERITAGE – FRH launches #jumpforheritage to carry on the legacy of the FRH Torch. The goal of this campaign is to encourage people all over Europe to get out and share a moment of joy while sharing their religious heritage.

Climate Heritage Network – FRH joins the Climate Heritage Network, a network of heritage organisations dedicated to empowering communities to reach the goals set by the Paris Climate Agreement.

2019

Torch Book publication – FRH releases its first publication the “FRH Torch Book” which documents the route of the FRH Torch initiative as well as the letters received during this journey.

Reflection Group “Heritage and the EU” FRH is selected to be part of this group along with representatives from all EU Member States, the EU Commission, the Council of Europe, and other European networks

4th Joint Conference – “Religious Heritage in a Diverse Europe” (Groningen, the Netherlands)

European Year of Cultural Heritage Expert Group – As part of the legacy of the European Year of Cultural Heritage, FRH is selected as one of the members of the European Expert Group on Cultural Heritage.

2018

FRH Torch of Heritage and Culture – In honour of the 2018 year of Cultural Heritage, this project saw a “torch” that travelled between different heritage related events across Europe and gathered letters of memories from their participants.

4th FRH Biennial Conference  – “Religious Heritage – Europe’s Legacy for the Future” (Unesco, Paris, FR)

SKIVRE – FRH along with other European organisations, begins this project which aims at helping monastic communities gain sustainable marketing skills. As a result, 10 training modules as well as videos, good practice examples, and a comprehensive implementation guide are published and certified.

Voices of Culture – FRH becomes one of the 36 members of the “Voices of Culture”, a structured dialogue between the European Commission and the cultural sector.

2017

ReligianaReligiana is started, which aims at encouraging people to explore Europe’s religious heritage.

FRH Inform – FRH Inform, which aims to create a database concerning the status of religious heritage in Europe in order to advise policymakers on how to better protect it.

FRH receives the Creative Networks Grant – FRH officially becomes one of the 28 organisations under the European Commission’s Creative Europe programme, signifying the importance of religious heritage protection being recognized at a European level.

2016

3rd FRH Biennial Conference – “Tourists, Travellers & Pilgrims” (Vicenza, Italy)

3rd Joint Conference“Religious Heritage and Tourism” (Utrecht, Netherlands)

2015

2nd Joint Conference – “Heritage Counts” (Leuven, Belgium).

Religious Heritage Achieves Recognition  – Through successful lobbying, FRH is able to get the importance of religious heritage officially recognized by the European Committee of the Regions and Parliament.

Europetour – Along with a Europewide consortium, FRH launches the Europetour project with the goal of mapping and enhancing local tourism in rural areas of Europe. As a result of this project, eight comprehensive training modules in seven different languages were published.

2014

2nd FRH Biennial Conference – “Sustaining Europe’s Rural Religious Heritage” (Halle, Germany).

Presentation to EU Parliament – FRH is invited to the EU Parliament to speak on the question “what is religious heritage’s future in Europe?” The presentation is hosted by Peter van Dalen (MEP).

Europewide Polls shows that people support Religious Heritage – FRH, in partnership with Sociovision and Toluna revealed that 84% of Europeans ages 18+ agree that European shared religious heritage represents a unique and essential part of Europe’s cultural heritage and is key element of European identity. Furthermore, 79% of people polled also believe that they have a crucial part to play in the future survival of their communities.

2013

ALTERheritage – FRH launches its first European project, ALTERheritage whose aim is to make materials for vocational learning about religious heritage conservation and management more widely available.

1st Joint Conference– “Moveable Religious Heritage – Values and Protection” (Utrecht, the Netherlands).

2012

1st FRH Biennial Conference – “Extended Use of Religious Heritage Buildings” (Venice, Italy)

2011

Founding of FRH – FRH is officially established in Brussels, Belgium and opens its office amongst the European Institutions. FRH also becomes a founding member of the European Heritage Alliance.