Paper short abstract:

Religious objects from closed-down churches in the Netherlands find their way into museums, in which they acquire new meanings and sacredness. This paper analyses how museums construct narratives which overlook historical antagonism between Protestantism and Catholicism.

Paper long abstract:

Since the 1960s, the Netherlands have seen a rapid closing down of church buildings throughout the country. While a lot of public and academic attention has been paid to the buildings themselves, objects inside these churches have been often neglected. Objects from Catholic churches have to be repurposed in other churches, by Vatican decree, but also find their way into museums or unto marketplaces. This paper will present work-in-progress on the shifting meanings and values of religious objects from Catholic churches throughout their journeys to the museum and the marketplace. Juxtaposing objects from churches, which are 'officially' sacralized through ritual and ecclesiastical use, with similar objects in the context of the heritage museum, shows how human-object relationships and their emotional connections influence valuation and meaning-making.

The transformation of objects from 'religious sacred' to 'sacred heritage' is concomitant to a selective forgetting of histories of violence against and suppression of Catholicism in post-Reformation Netherlands. Using these objects as illustrative of Dutch national heritage in contemporary national museums, I will argue, entangles Protestantism and Catholicism in the Netherlands to form a narrative which builds a national identity on the concept of non-denominational 'Christianity'. Right-wing political narratives about 'Judeo-Christian' traditions figure into this constructed identity, in turn shaping meanings and value.