Future for Religious Heritage

Future for Religious Heritage (FRH) is the only European network bringing people and organisations together that wish to save, protect and promote Europe’s religious heritage. The network is a not-for-profit association, non-religious and is open to all organisations. The FRH provides a Europe-wide platform for cooperation, exchange of ideas and knowledge. Since its founding, it has played an important role in raising awareness, advocacy work and strengthening the religious heritage sector both on a European and global level. In the past years the FRH has contributed to the professionalisation and sustainability of religious heritage and related sectors by gathering data on needs and knowledge gaps, collecting best practices, providing opportunities for knowledge sharing and the development of toolkits.

2017-2020 CREATIVE EUROPE PROJECTS

FRH aims to promote Europe’s religious heritage and to create awareness about the significant threats it currently faces. Through the development of online tools, 2 bi-annual conferences and meetings with members across Europe, the network will offer an international exchange platform for grass-roots actors.

Inspired by the Olympic Flame in Athens, the network launched the ‘Torch Initiative’, a European treasure box full of personal stories on religious heritage. The torch traveled all around Europe during the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, stopping in 9 different countries, where it collected personal letters and memories from prominent members of the international community but also from European citizens themselves.

In October 2018 FRH held its Biennial Conference in Paris, with 200 participants from 24 countries and 65 organisations, bringing together experts from the field of religious and cultural heritage, academics, representatives from EU institutions and representatives from public and private institutions. In June 2019 the network co-organised the international conference ‘Religious heritage in a diverse Europe’ in Groningen, The Netherlands.