Photography exhibition: History, aesthetics and communities. An exploration of Christian places of worship in Belgium. What is a Christian place of worship in Belgium? This exhibition seeks to answer this seemingly simple question. Taking a historical and ecumenical perspective, and examining photographs (reproductions of Belgian churches, monasteries and abbeys) and pieces of liturgical furniture, the exhibition explores the diversity of Christian worship through the spaces that host it. Although Belgium is a country (formerly part of the Netherlands) where religious iconography became confessional at an early stage and was used as a weapon of identity during the Protestant reforms, it has also been the heart of institutional Europe since the mid-20th century, making it a cosmopolitan observatory that is particularly representative of the diversity of Christianity and its churches since the early modern period. In the light of Belgian history, the exhibition questions and analyses the involvement of architectural aesthetics and communities in the definition and fulfillment of Christian worship, from the turmoil of the Reformation (which led to new relationships with space and images of worship among Christians) to the present day, where the aesthetic importance of the place of worship as a building may be diminished or even […]
