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Paper short abstract:

The paper aims to study the exhibition of religion as a critical problem insofar as it interrogates the very nature of the museum, in its inevitable de-contextualization of the objects from their original, religious contexts, and the attempt at reproducing the context.

Paper long abstract:

The exhibition of 'religion' in museums presents various epistemological problems, such as the delimitation of the "religious" objects, its de-contextualization from the original location of the objects, and the political aim underlying the exhibition. The 'mutism' of the objects (Minucciani 2013) can be perceived as a risk, insofar as it expropriates them of their proper liturgical and theological apparatus. The paper will offer a state of the art of the problem and the challenge it represents for the idea of museums itself.

The paper will then address a specific case study, namely, the Chester Beatty Museum in Dublin (Ireland). The presence of several important religious objects (illuminated manuscripts, papyrus, engravings, etc) from different religious contexts makes this museum a unicum in the European context. The museum engages with the special nature of the preserved objects with an attempt at a 're-sacralization' of the physical space of the museum, intended as a place for learning and meditation. The paper will explore the setting of the exhibition halls and the creation of a context in which the original religious natures of the artifacts preserved in the museum are re-proposed. The Chester Beatty employs a variety of in-person activities and online tools for people to engage with the collections. This application of the concept of the museum as an "infotainment theater" is particularly attentive to the religious sphere, with important implications on the concept of religion, which the paper will uncover.