The Survival of Medieval Furnishings in Lutheran Churches. Notes towards a Comparison between Germany and Scandinavia

Perhaps paradoxically, of all medieval churches in Europe, those that became Lutheran during the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation possess the greatest wealth of medieval interior elements. Compared to Puritan Britain and the Calvinist Low Countries, Lutheran churches were not as thoroughly stripped of their medieval furnishings, while on the other hand Baroque renewals were much less far-reaching here than in Catholic regions. Although Lutheranism in general exerted a preserving effect on medieval church interiors, there are important differences between regions, both within Germany and between Germany and Scandinavia (here to be understood as “the Nordic countries”, i.e. including Finland and Iceland). This article makes a first attempt towards a comparison of the survival rates of medieval church furnishings in Lutheran Germany and the European North. Both regions are more or less on a par with regard to several specific elements including high altars and their decorations, triumphal arch crosses and baptismal fonts. However, other elements, such as tabernacles, choir stalls, chancel screens, pulpits and side altars are much more often preserved in Germany than in Scandinavia. It may be concluded, therefore, that the Reformation generally had further-reaching implications on the material culture of Nordic church buildings than on German ones

“This Is My Place”. (Hi)Storytelling Churches in the Northern Netherlands

This article proposes storytelling as a tool to return historic church buildings to the people in today’s secularized society. It starts by recognizing the unique qualities shared by most historic churches, namely that they are (1) different from most other buildings, (2) unusually old, and (3) are often characterized by beautiful exteriors and interiors. The argument builds on the storytelling strategies that were chosen in two recent book projects (co-)written by the author of this article, on historic churches in the northern Dutch provinces of Frisia (Fryslân) and Groningen. Among the many stories “told” by the Frisian and Groningen churches and their interiors, three categories are specifically highlighted. First, the religious aspect of the buildings’ history, from which most of its forms, fittings, and imagery are derived, and which increasingly needs to be explained in a largely post-Christian society. Second, churches tell us local histories, because they were the communities’ most public space for centuries, and a room for social representation. Finally, third, local history is always “glocal”, because it is interwoven with multiple connections to other places far and near. Researching, cherishing, and telling these stories are powerful means to engage communities in the future preservation of their old churches as religious and cultural heritage.publishedVersio

Burkhard Kunkel, Die Kunst der lutherischen Kirchen im 16. Jahrhundert. Medien, Mitteldinge, Monumente – eine Geschichte der materiellen Kultur, Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 2020

In 2017, Alexandra Walsham rightly observed a ‘lingering fallacy that the Reformation was inherently antagonistic to Christian materiality’ («Recycling the Sacred: Material Culture and Cultural Memory after the English Reformation», Church History 86.4 (2017): 1121–1154, here p. 1122). In German literature, however, the ‘preserving power of Lutheranism’, has become something of a motto in (art-)historical scholarship since the late 1990s. The small but programmatic volume entitled Die bewahrende Kraft des Luthertums. Mittelalterliche Kunstwerke in evangelischen Kirchen (‘The preserving power of Lutheranism. Medieval art works in protestant churches’), edited by Johann Michael Fritz (Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 1997), radically changed the narrative about the Protestant Reformation as an age of fundamental change to one of remarkable continuities, at least in art history. Medieval interior ensembles such as those found in Doberan abbey, Halberstadt Cathedral, St Laurence’s parish church in Nuremberg and many country churches across Germany (between Franconia and Schleswig-Holstein) are indeed unparalleled in Europe. Outstanding examples outside Germany are found in several other areas that became Lutheran, in Scandinavia (Jutland, Scania, and Gotland) as well as Transylvania (Romania) and the Zips region (Slovakia). In his introduction, Fritz provocatively argued that such ensembles survived not despite, but rather thanks to the Lutheran Reformation. Frank Schmidt, in his chapter, cogently defined ‘continued use’, ‘altered use’ and ‘non use’ (in German: ‘Weiter-’, ‘Um-’ and ‘Nichtnutzung’) as the three principal factors that made that altarpieces, screens, pulpits, sculptures and fonts could live on in Lutheran churches.publishedVersio

Tabernacle Shrines (1180-1400) as a European Phenomenon : Types, Spread, Survival

Tabernacle shrines from the period 1180-1400 are rare today, and not a single one is entirely preserved with its original polychromy and in the context for which it was made. Most examples are found in Scandinavia, Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula, which indicates that such shrines were a European phenomenon. This is confirmed by isolated survivals found in intermediate locations in France, Germany, and Slovakia. The similarities between these objects from the north, center, and south of Europe enable us to follow their Europe-wide development. The one country that possesses by far the largest number of preserved tabernacle shrines is Sweden. This is why the present study refers to Swedish examples to identify European types. The first type is the 'Appuna-type' shrines, dating from c. 1200, that contain an early sculpture of the Sedes Sapientiae. The second group are shrines of the Fröskog-type, which are characterized by the presense of reliefs on the interiors of their wings. The third type, more vertical and of architectural character, is called the 'Kil-type' and had its largest spread during the fourteenth century. It was in the relative periphery of the continent, and in modest churches in isolated locations, that tabernacle shrines had the best chances of surviving. The fact that academic art history was not invented precisely there has largely prevented tabernacle shrines from making it into our art-historical handbooks to date.Los retablos-tabernáculo del período 1180-1400 son raros hoy en día, y ninguno se conserva entero, con su policromía original y en el contexto para el que fue producido. La mayoría de ejemplos se encuentran en Escandinavia, Italia y la península ibérica, lo que pone de manifiesto que se trataba de un fenómeno europeo. Esta dimensión viene confirmada por algunos ejemplos aislados en territorios intermedios, en Francia, Alemania y Eslovaquia. La similitud de las obras en el norte, centro y sur de Europa es tal que permite esbozar su desarrollo en términos generales. El país europeo que posee la mayor cantidad de retablos-tabernáculo conservados, es, con diferencia, Suecia. Es por esta razón que, en este estudio, nos referimos a ejemplos suecos para identificar tipologías europeas. El primero es el "tipo Appuna", de alrededor de 1200, que contiene una escultura temprana de la Sedes Sapientiae. El segundo es el "tipo Fröskog", que se caracteriza sobre todo por la presencia de relieves en el interior de las alas. El tercer tipo, más vertical y con marcado carácter arquitectónico, se denomina el "tipo Kil" y tuvo su mayor difusión en el siglo XIV. Fue en la relativa periferia del continente, y en iglesias modestas en localidades aisladas, donde los retablos-tabernáculo tuvieron las mayores probabilidades de sobrevivir. El hecho de que la Historia del Arte como disciplina académica no fuese escrita precisamente allí ha influido en que hayan permanecido poco estudiados hasta hoy en día