religions Article “This Is My Place”. (Hi)Storytelling Churches in the Northern Netherlands † Justin E. A. Kroesen Department of Cultural History, University Museum of Bergen, P.O. Box 7800, NO-5020 Bergen, Norway;
[email protected] † Article written in the framework of: Project of the Ministry of Science and Innovation AEI/10.13039/501100011033: “Sedes Memoriae 2: Memorias de cultos y las artes del altar en las catedrales medievales hispanas: Oviedo, Pamplona, Roda, Zaragoza, Mallorca, Vic, Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona” (PID2019-105829GB-I00). The author is Council member of Future for Religious Heritage (FRH) since 2020. Prof. Diarmaid MacCulloch (Oxford), Prof. Jan N. Bremmer (Groningen) and Mr. Peter Breukink (Zutphen), former director of the Foundation of Old Groningen Churches, made valuable comments on the manuscript. Abstract: 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.