Ecclesiastical Museums and the Pontifical Letter on Its Pastoral Functions

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3539136
AutoresMaria Isabel Roque (0000-0002-2258-8904, University of Évora, autor correspondente)
Ano2023
Volume14
Fascículo1
Páginas96
Data de publicação2023-01-10
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoReligions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
EditoraMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel14010096
OpenAlexW4315491537
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas27

The Catholic Church arrogates a long tradition of protecting and using heritage to complement its evangelisation ministry from the medieval ecclesiastical treasures included in museology proto-history. While these treasures have adopted museographic features, other typologies of ecclesiastical museums have appeared, demanding regulations that could orient their activities. After the Second Vatican Council, the Church became increasingly focused on guaranteeing a worthy destination for the objects left over from worship. In 2001, the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church published the Circular Letter The pastoral function of ecclesiastical museums, establishing that the ecclesiastical museum is an adequate solution for these objects, keeping them close to the cultural group of origin and providing continuity to its original catechetical function. Two decades later, a critical analysis of the Letter is proposed in the theoretical frame of museum studies. Considering the recovery object's original meaning in the museum discourse, the connection to territory, and the interaction with the plural and heterogeneous audience, the conformity of the Letter with the museum theory is underlined. With a focus on its general accuracy, the aim of this study is to evaluate how the Letter remains actualised and adapted to contemporaneity in addition to the challenges and transformations now faced by museums

Art · Christian ministry · Epistemology · Linguistics · Plural · Sociology · Theology · Visual arts · Worship · Computer Science · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · History · Museology · Museums and Cultural Heritage · Philosophy · Religious Tourism and Spaces