Session details

Organizer(s)

Susanne Rau (University of Erfurt), Jörg Rüpke (University of Erfurt) and Michel Lussault (ENS Lyon)

Keywords

Urbanity, Urban Religion, Appropriation of Space

Abstract

Urban space is characterized by multiple overlapping spaces, created by the imaginations and use of space and complicated by the movement of different people and groups. Religion offers an interesting lens into this phenomenon, as it is as much a technique to mark out space by ritual usages, ephemeral or lasting sacralisations of space, as it is a cultural technique to imagine and perform the transgression of concrete space with a view to divine addressees etc. Thus, its use of space is very different from other uses of spaces. Hence, it is conflicting or has the potential of being instrumentalised for different purposes.

The organisers have already put together a panel, but are still accepting new proposals. They particularly welcome case studies European, Mediterranean and Asian cities of all epochs on double or parallel uses and interpretation of space, especially when they are caused by religious groups. A theoretical input on the concept of co-spatiality is also welcome (see Lévy, Jacques, 2013. “Cospatialité”, in Lévy, Jacques & Lussault, Michel, eds., Dictionnaire de la géographie et de l’espace des sociétés, Paris : Belin, new édition, pp. 236-7.). Paper proposals may further consider simultaneums of churches / simultaneous use of temples by different groups, appropriation of urban space by religious migrants, processions, sacred places in present metropolises, architectural space and sacred metaphors. - We are offering to publish the contributions on our open access platform “Religion & Urbanity online” (peer reviewed): https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/urbrel/html

Papers

The written Church – Urban Monumental Inscriptions as Practice of Appropriation of Space in the Age of the Reformation

Author(s)

Teresa Schröder-Stapper (Universität Duisburg-Essen)

Keywords

Urban Inscriptions, Reformation, Knowledge

Abstract

In the age of the Reformation Catholics as well as Protestants discussed different new concepts of church. Therefore, I ask in my paper which consequences did this process have for the composition of the church interior. In which way did new religious concepts influence texts and pictures in churches or the spatial structure of places of worship? The objects of my investigation are early modern monumental inscriptions from different German cities like Braunschweig, Hildesheim and Ingolstadt during the 16th and 17th century. The selected cities represent different types of cities, which are predominantly catholic, protestant or bi-confessional. In addition, religious minorities should also be taken into account. Next to the physical space of the different churches I also look at the inscriptions on public and private buildings in the cities, because concepts of church and their spatial structure were not restricted to the physical space of the church. In this way I will also analyse the combination of physical, social and represented space as well as their multiple overlapping.

I understand inscriptions as a practice of knowledge. Those inscriptions transported and stored different kinds of knowledge types such as political or religious statements. Knowledge was inscribed into urban space and shaped the image of the cities. Therefore, the project not only aims to analyse the knowledge transported in the inscriptions but moreover wants to understand their functions in urban space. Inscriptions, understood as knowledge bound to specific objects, constituted reality and generated importance. In my paper I will analyse the cognition of ecclesiastical concepts as well as their spatial structures based on those inscriptions.

Multiconfessionalism and Migration: the City of Strasbourg in the 18th Century, a Case Study

Author(s)

Donatus Duesterhaus (Universite de Fribourg)

Keywords

Migration, Multiconfessionalism, Simultaneum

Abstract

Like hardly any other European border region, the region of Alsace on the upper rhine was characterised by the coexistence of religions and denominations in early modern times. In order to enact practical rules for this multiconfessionality, especially in the practice of religion, the practice of simultaneous religious practice for the churches was introduced in many places. After the region of Alsace fell under the sovereignty of the French king in the wake of the Peace of Westphalia, the city of Strasbourg was not annexed by the Kingdom of France until 1681. This city joined the Reformation early in the first half of the 16th century and later became the spiritual and cultural centre of Protestantism on the Upper Rhine. Educational institutions such as the Protestant grammar school and the university became of decisive importance. The former Catholic cathedral was converted into a Protestant church at this time, as were the other churches in the city. Until the annexation by France, the majority of the city's population belonged to the Lutheran denomination. In addition, only a few Reformed and Catholics lived in and around the city. This was to change significantly during the course of the 18th century as the reign of King Louis XIV and his successors changed. It introduced a new religious policy in Alsace and above all in the city of Strasbourg, with the aim of bringing about a recatholization of the population. The massive expansion and conversion of the city into a garrison city meant that many Catholics from Inner France came to the city and, in the course of its simultaneous existence, the existing regulations were changed to the detriment of the Protestants. In addition, the cathedral became Catholic again. The paper would like to examine the mechanisms of this inner-city process of change of the churches and the pratice of the simultaneum, especially in the city of Strasbourg, taking into account cultural and mentality-historical aspects.

Liturgy on the Move: Armenian Christian Urban Itineraries

Author(s)

Christopher Sheklian

Keywords

Transit, Liturgy, Minority Rights

Abstract

Armenian Apostolic Christians move between the thirty-six active churches in Istanbul, following a weekly itinerary where Divine Liturgy is celebrated on different days at different churches throughout the city. Using the rapidly expanding public transit system, Armenians use modern infrastructure to support a practice reminiscent of ancient "stational liturgy." Similarly, Armenians in Paris connect churches, schools, and libraries that have emerged over a century and a half in different parts of the metropolis through their movements and interactions. Finally, in Amsterdam, urban remnants of an early modern Armenian presence anchor the highly dispersed contemporary Armenian community, most of whom do not live in the city center. Through these movements and orientations toward specific ecclesial and cultural centers, Armenians trace out a "minority geography" of the city that often overlaps with transit hubs, tourist locations, or municipal centers. Despite this overlap and their use of all of the forms of public transit in these urban centers, Armenian Christians trace out a fundamentally different cartography of the city.

Grounding their itinerary in the liturgical calendar of the Armenian Church and connecting urban nodes in surprising ways places Armenian Christians in these urban centers and insists on their place within it. While old buildings in all three cities are reminders of a longer history of Armenians presence, it is contemporary infrastructure, such as the much-touted "Marmaray" in Istanbul that connects them. Armenians move between churches and other centers of Armenian life, connecting active sites with less-used ones. Modern transit thus undergirds a contemporary form of stational liturgy that links up Armenian sites throughout urban centers and allows the religious minority to assert their right to the city. Through a comparison of these three urban centers, the paper explores how the concatenation of urban infrastructure and liturgical practices allows for a unique religious minority claim to presence and belonging in the space of European cities.

Religion and Co-spatiality in a Former European Colonial City in India

Author(s)

Nuno Grancho (Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark)

Keywords

Religion Space, Ritual and Display Diu

Abstract

This paper is about space, rituals, and display as part of the cosmopolitan process through which a former Portuguese colonial city in western India (Diu) has been forged. We take inspiration on an ethnohistorical framework made manifest in the urban realm, by making an interpretation of Diu’s spatial cultures thorough its religious and political voices.

The paper will take some of Diu’s repeated rituals: first, the most noteworthy catholic ritual, which is the procession that celebrates the apparition of the Virgin Mary; second, the Muharram muslim pilgrimage (circumambulation/procession in urban context); and finally, the staging of hinduism (a ‘substitute’ for pilgrimages which includes shrines or areas that ‘replace’ a circuit). There could be no doubt that all these rituals referred are about spatial mobility, display, public space and colonial domination in the city. Social history and cultural anthropology methods and concepts will be used to construct Diu’s model of spatial mobility under colonial rule which happens in multiple overlapping spaces. Focusing on the problem of authority as a cultural concept and as a managerial reality, we will consider some deference, sumptuary symbolism, and religious body.