Europaeum Summer School 2008 - Bonn

Sacred Buildings in the Modern City

Summer School Coordinators:
Professor Albert Gerhards
University of Bonn

Ever since the Middle Ages, cities, towns and villages have been dominated by churches with their steeples and cupolas. Until today, churches are normally situated right in the middle of the village, and urban silhouettes are characterized by the vertical landmarks of sacred buildings.

However, in recent years more and more exceptions to this rule have become visible. Frankfurt Cathedral, for example, can no longer successfully defend its former position of power against a whole forest of banking cathedrals, the so-called Mainhattan, and the days of St. Matthew’s Church in Frankfurt, the radiant modesty of which used to put the surrounding multi-storey buildings in the shade, seem to be numbered now. Present-day town planning does not even allow for stunning church buildings any more because there is simply no more demand for such projects.

The six-day Europaeum Summer School will challenge students to think about “Sacred Buildings in the Modern City”, not just for as examples of a particular faith or denomination, but as cultural repositories facing difficult problems in a modern, secular, and increasingly globalised Europe. Thus, apart from aspects of town planning, sociological, psychological, historical and cultural aspects will be taken into consideration.

Some on themes that will be explored are:

• Sacred Topography in a Secular City
• The Art and Architecture of the Sacred
• Mosques, Synagogues, and Temples: has the sacred topography become globalised in European cities?
• Secularisation of Religious Buildings

The working language will be English.

For timings and further details, please see the full Programme.

Sunday, 14th September 2008

ARRIVALS

Session I: Introduction (Rheinisches Landesmuseum)
The Meaning of Sacred Spaces in European Societies

• Prof. Dr Albert Gerhards, University of Bonn/ZERG
• Dr Paul Flather, Secretary-General, The Europaeum
• Dr Gabriele Uelsberg, Museum Director (Rheinisches Landesmuseum)

Discussants: Two student participants

General Discussion

Dinner at the Museum
with Prof. Dr Wolfgang Hess, Prorector of the University of Bonn

Session II (Rheinisches Landesmuseum)
Searching for Traces: Hidden Topography of a Modern City

• Dr Sabine Schrenk, Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn

Discussants: Two student participants

General Discussion

Excursion to Bonner Münster (Bonn Minster)
From the Early Christian to Middle Ages: Martyrs’ Graves – Church Buildings – Worship

• Professor Albert Gerhards
• Julia Kerstiens M.A., Bonn
• Including a guided tour of St. Helena Chapel and Münstercarrée

Session III (Kreuzkirche)
The Second City-Centre: Historical Interplay of Society and the Sacred
Professor Arno Bölts-Thunecke, Kreuzkirche, Bonn

Discussants: Two student participants

General Discussion

Session IV (University Main Building, HS VI)
Melting Pot or Clash of Cultures? Living Together in a Multi-Religious Society
Professor Andreina Milan, (Bologna/Cesena)

Discussants: Two student participants

General Discussion

Students’ presentations

Reception in the Old City Hall of Bonn Excursion Visit
A Sacred Space Defined Anew: The Art of Inter-Religious Dialogue

• St. Helena, exhibition of works by Susanne Krell

One-day excursion to Cologne

Session V (Kolumba Museum)
City and Religion: The Sacred Becomes Political
Chair: Dr Bekim Agai

• Paul Böhm, the architect of the Cologne Mosqu
• Hasan Karaca, DITIB

Discussants: Two student participants

General Discussion

Visit to Antoniter-Church, guided tour by Dr Bertold Höcker

Session VI (Cologne Cathedral)
The Classical Idea of a Cathedral: A Sacred Space for All

Cologne Cathedral & Dombauhütte: guided tours
with Dr Ulrike Brinkmann, Dombauhütte

Wednesday, 17th September 2008

Session VII (EAR)
Sacred Space in Protestant Perspective: Is there any?
Professor M. Meyer-Blanck, Bonn

Discussants: Two student participants

General Discussion

Students’ Debate (EAR): There is no place for the sacred in 21st Century Europe
Chair: University of Bonn Debating Club Representative

Session VIII (EAR)
The Signs of the Sacred in the Cityscape: Multi-Religious Perspectives

• New Mosques in Europe. Design, Identity, and Minority Status
  Dr Sabine Kraft, Marburg
• "Jewish" Architecture in Germany since 1945
  Dr Ulrich Knufinke, Braunschweig

Discussants: Two student participants

Thursday, 18th September 2008

Excursion to Aachen

Session IX (Grabeskirche)
with Prof. Dipl-Ing. Ulrich Hahn, Aachen

Session X: Aachen Synagogue
Jewish Presence in German Society: Yesterday and Today

Discussants: Two student participants

Session XI: Aachener Dom (Aachen Cathedral)
Identity in Transformation

Discussants: Two student participants

General Discussion

Session XII (University Main Building, HS VI)
How to continue from here: the Future of the Sacred in Europe
Chair: Prof. Wolfram Kinzig, Bonn

• Dr Arto Kuorikoski, Helsinki
• Prof. Dr Werner Gephart, Bonn
• Dr Krzysztof Kowalski, Krakow

Students’ Debate with speakers for and against (EAR)
Chair: University of Bonn Debating Club Representative

Session XIII: Conclusions

• Prof. Dr Albert Gerhards, University of Bonn/ZERG
• Prof. Dr Wolfram Kinzig, EVROPAEVM/ZERG
• Two Student Contributors

List of Speakers

PAUL BÖHM is a german architect. He studied Architecture at Technical Universities of Berlin and Vienna. During his career he worked as an assistant in the office of Bernhard Strecker and Jürgen Eckhardt, for Richard Meier in New York and finally at the Böhm office in Cologne. Since 2001 he has his own office. He worked on several international projects, among others in India and China. In 2006 he won a competition for a project of the new central mosque in Cologne announced by the Turkish Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB).

DR. ARNO BÖLTS-THUNECKE is judge of the Juvenile Court emeritus and is currently working as a protestant Präses Presbyterii (priest) at the Kreuzkirche in Bonn.

DR PAUL FLATHER is Secretary–General of the Europaeum, an association of leading European Universities, and Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford. He was the founding Secretary-General of the Central European University (1990-1994) originally set up in Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw by George Soros, and director of international and external affairs for Oxford University (1994-1999). Formerly, he worked at the BBC, Times Newspapers, and served as Deputy Editor of the New Statesman. His research work is on Indian political development since Independence. He has worked with dissident movements in Central Europe in the 1980s, and with race equality groups in the UK. He was an elected member of the London Council in the 1980s (chairing its committee on post-school education 1986-1990). He currently chairs the Noon Scholarship Committee, and is on the board of the Roundtable.

PROF. DR. ALBERT GERHARDS studied philosophy and theology in Innsbruck and Rome, when he got his ordination to the Catholic priesthood in 1976. In 1989 he joined the University of Bonn as professor and director of the Department of Liturgical Studies at the Catholic-Theological Faculty. Prof. Gerhards main research interests are directed towards history, theology and practical liturgy, ecumenism, Judaism and church art. Since 2005 he is the spokesperson of the Center of Religion and Society (ZERG) in Bonn.

DR BERTOLD HÖCKER is pastor at the Antoniter City-Church in Cologne and an expert in Gregorian chant. He studied Theology in Kiel, Munich and Tübingen. He wrote his doctoral thesis in 1994 at the University of Kiel on „Latin Gregorian Chant in Lutheran Service“. Since then he was engaged in many projects concerning church music pedagogy, as well as status of homosexuals within the Church and society and AIDS-aid. Since 2000 he lectures on Gregorian chants and liturgical studies at the Music Academy of Lübeck.

JULIA KERSTIENS, MA, completed her Magistra Artium degree in art history, liturgical science and literature at the University of Bonn in 2007. After being a student researcher from 2005 until 2007 in the Department of Liturgical Studies, she is currently working on her doctoral thesis in the Department of Art History at the University of Bonn. She is especially interested in interdisciplinary approaches to sacred spaces of medieval and present times.

PROF. ANDREINA MILAN is Professor of Architecture at the University of Bologna. She studied architecture at the University of Venice, where she also lectured between 1987 – 1994. Her primary research interests concern history of architecture, especially relationships between old buildings and modern urban development, also considering effects of climate and environmental influences. Since 2003 is she engaged in several projects dealing with national and international urban development planning, as well as organisation of work-shops and intercultural e-learnings projects. Currently she researches on rebuilding of German cities after World War II.

DR. SABINE SCHRENK studied classical Archeology at the Universities of Fribourg and Bonn, where she obtained her doctoral degree on Christian Art and Architecture. She worked at the Department of Archaeological Preservation in Köln and at the Franz Joseph Dölger-Institut in Bonn. Since 1999 she works as research assistant at the Christian-Archeological Department at the University of Bonn and since 2001 she is “Konservatorin für Kunst vor 1500” by the Abbeg-Stiftung in Reggisberg.

Reading List

Cesari, Jocelyne, Mosque Conflicts in European Cities: Introduction, in: Journal of ethnic and migration studies: JEMS, vol. 31, no. 6, Abingdon 2005, p.1025-1043.

Gerhards, Albert, Spaces for Active Participation. Theological and Liturgical Perspectives on Catholic Church Architecture, in: Stock, Wolfgang Jean, European church architecture 1950 – 2000,  München 2003.

Gerhards, Albert, The Relevance of Avantgarde. Catholic Liturgy and Church Architecture from 1900 to 1950, in: Stock, Wolfgang Jean, European church architecture 1900 - 1950,  München 2006.

Sachs, Angeli, Voolen, Edward van (eds.), Jewish Identity in Contemporary Architecture, Berlin London New York 2004.

Schwebel, Horst, The Liturgy as a Client. Changes in ProtestantChurch Architecture between 1900 and 1950, in: Stock, Wolfgang Jean, European church architecture 1900 - 1950,  München 2006.

Schwebel, Horst, An Aversion to Grand Gestures. Theological and Liturgical Perspectives on Protestant Church Architecture, in: Stock, Wolfgang Jean, European church architecture 1950 – 2000,  München 2003.

Stirrat R. L., Sacred Models, in: Man, New Series, Vol. 19, No. 2, (Jun., 1984), pp. 199-215 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

Additional Links

Built of Living Stones: Art, Architecture, and Worship
Guidelines of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
(More about the institution: http://www.usccb.org/whoweare.shtml)
Issued by NCCB/USCC (Now USCCB), November 16, 2000.
Copyright © 2000, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc.
http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/livingstones.shtml#preface

Religion and politics - A revived area of conflict
Thomas Meyer, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Berlin 2007
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/04874.pdf

Europe and Islam: No Securitization, Please!,
Gündüz, Zuhal Yesilyurt International Policy Analysis, Friedrich Eberet Stiftung 2007.
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id/04966.pdf

Information on Cologne Cathedral
http://www.koelner-dom.de/
http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/glk?http://www.unesco.org/whc/sites/3.htm

Website of KolumbaMuseumCologne
http://www.kolumba.de/

Information on Bonn Minister
http://www.bonner-muenster.de/basilika/index_engl.htm

Information on Aachen Cathedral
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Aachen_Cathedral.html
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/3/video

Online information and news coverage about Cologne Mosque project
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne_Mosque_project
Deutsche Welle: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2570710,00.html
International Herald Tribune: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/06/opinion/edcologne.php
British Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1555604/Huge-mosque-stirs-protests-in-Cologne.html
Islam Today: http://www.islamtoday.com/showme2.cfm?cat_id=38&sub_cat_id=1173
The Economist online: http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9725332
Spiegel_online_international: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,489257,00.html
Reuters UK: http://uk.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUKNOA52997720070705

Site of PaulBöhm, the architect of the planned mosque in Cologne
http://www.boehmarchitektur.de/

Theomag Heft Thema “Religöse Räume”
http://www.theomag.de/54/index.htm (german)