The Future for Religious Heritage: European Sustainable Religious Heritage conference was held in the university town of Lund, just 20 km from Malmö and only 60 km from Copenhagen.
Sounds unusual and interesting? Yes it was!
The topics covered the challenges faced by various religions and religious groups: from the problems of abandoned churches in Scandinavian countries, which could better serve the local community, to tourism following the forgotten traces of Islam in Buddhist Thailand. The overarching goal of the conference was to find sustainable and energy-efficient solutions for religious heritage.
Our colleague, Magda Soboń, presented the results of her research on the impact of dynamic environmental changes on massive wooden objects. This problem is particularly important for the interiors of historic churches, often decorated with wooden sculptures.
The research is the result of the PRELUDIUM project (No. 2020/37/N/HS2/01727), about which you can read more on the project subpage.
In addition to the substantive part, the organizers introduced us to their heritage, both tangible – such as the cemetery in Malmö designed by the famous Swedish architect Sigurd Lewerentz – and intangible heritage – a concert of Saami folk songs.
