The Medieval Country Church Space, Art and Devotion in Rural Contexts – European Perspectives from Below
Justin Kroesen
University of Groningen/ University of Bergen j.e.a.kroesen@rug.nl
Bergen Museum On 1 January 2016 I will start working as Associate Professor of Cultural History at the Bergen Museum, specializing in the material culture of Christianity. The church art collection of this museum is of European significance since it includes many unparalleled medieval cult objects originating from Norwegian country churches. Helped by a relatively mild Lutheran Reformation in the sixteenth century and the preserving isolation of the region along the Norwegian west coast, this unique collection was started as early as 1825, prior to largescale renewals in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Audorf, Germany
CULTURAL UNITY Like nowhere else, Europe’s cultural history materializes inside Medieval churches. Before the Reformation, when all of Western Europe was still religiously unified, a tightly-woven network of church buildings was established, of which thousands remain standing until the present day. In their interior settings, besides local characteristics, these medieval churches show remarkable similarities in terms of spatial distribution and imagery. A Portuguese traveller, on visiting a country church somewhere in Finland around the year 1500, would have had no difficulty whatsoever understanding the purpose of the different liturgical furnishings and vessels, and would have immediately recognized the meaning of the imagery on altars, fonts, walls and vaults. In this sense, medieval church interiors remind us today of our common ground as Europeans.
Rural treasures Since 1998 I have travelled throughout Western Europe studying hundreds of rural parish churches. It is in these often – but not always! – modest establishments especially that medieval furnishings have been preserved in situ. In spite of these unique characteristics, village churches have remained largely ignored by international scholarship in art history. Areas of special interest to me include the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Scandinavia.
Treytorrens, Switzerland
European context My future research is aimed at exploring the European context of the Bergen Museum collection by studying connections to churches and museums elsewhere – from Nordland to Sicily. Unexpected parallels may be found in Spanish Catalonia; together with Bergen, the museums at Barcelona and Vic possess the largest number of painted frontals and baldachins in Europe. Other points of comparison to other regions include the Reformation in its Lutheran, Anglican and Calvinist ‘flavours’ and the geographical location bordering the North Sea, which enables connections to be made to Britain, Germany, and my native Low Countries.
Ranworth, England
Melrand, France
Today’s Challenges Large-scale secularization has made the future of much of Europe’s religious heritage, including medieval churches and their furnishings, insecure. Dissemination of research beyond academic circles is of utmost importance for their preservation. In my Bergen position I will continue to be active in outreach and educational projects as well as in public debates about such topics. For a sample (in Dutch), see: www.ivcce.nl and www.protestantsecultuurschatten.nl
Functional approach Moreover, as a trained theologian, I adopt a different approach in my analysis of church interiors in focusing on functional aspects. Rather than treating objects and images anachronistically as ‘art’, my primary interest is in their function in liturgy and as bearers of religious ideas. In this way, it is my conviction that a deeper understanding may be gained beyond the ‘what ‘ into the ‘why’ of medieval objects.
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Barlingbo, Sweden
Krewerd, Netherlands