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This dissertation offers an exploration of four multiple-used city churches where Protestant faith communities share the church building with other secular users. Due to their multiple use, religious communities have to relate to secular actors, such as those involved in art and heritage. After an introductory chapter on the multiple use of church buildings, chapter 2 deals with the Geertekerk in Utrecht, where a relationship is established between the history of Remonstrant use and the current exploitation model. The (re)construction and the interior design show how the Remonstrants experience their own church building and what connection they see between aesthetics and spirituality. Chapter 3 of the Sint-Joriskerk in Amersfoort reveals the historical relationship between the local congregation and the interior of the church building. This church building is a good example of the increasing visibility of its Catholic past, partly due to the influence of tourism. Chapter 4 discusses the development of the Grote Kerk in Zwolle, which presents itself with the brand name Academiehuis. Besides restorations and alterations, the changes in the administrative structure are striking. The worship life is limited mainly to vespers. In the period 2015-2020, several developments took place in this church building, which gave rise to changes in ownership and in the user agreement. Chapter 5 concludes the series with the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, where the religious community lost ownership over the church building already long ago. In terms of multiple use, the Oude Kerk occupies a special position as a cultural institution with museum status. The commonalities, but also the frictions, between religion and art were clearly revealed during specific exhibitions and related events. This study shows not only that multiple use fits in very well with the history of the church buildings, but also that the church buildings have a great capacity to appeal to various users. Through the multiple use and the restorations, the pre-Reformation Catholic past is strongly and tangibly brought back. The interactions between users increase, but the users do not know from each other how they relate to the church building. Through all the care and investments, church buildings are becoming more accessible and prominent in their respective cities. Ownership is gradually becoming less unambiguous. The religious communities become more aware of the relationship between their liturgy and the church building. It is remarkable that some other users boldly name and appropriate the sacredness of the church building. De-churching is also visible in a shift in determining ‘proper use’ of the church building: instead of faith communities and church institutions, the new owners decide about what they consider proper use. As for rituals, a general trend is that Catholic holidays, silence and music are often chosen as starting points. Based on long-term ethnographic research and a detailed analysis, 'Religious Heritage as Shared Space’ shows and analyses the struggles and dilemmas of the various users.

This study investigates early modern Catholic mourning culture in the Dutch Republic (1588-1795) and further developments in the period towards the restoration of episcopal hierarchy in 1853. Starting point in this investigation is materiality and the role objects played in the practice concerning death and remembrance. For Catholics prayer for the dead has always been an important aspect of the mourning tradition. Praying on the graves was encouraged by the clergy with the aim of both preparing one’s own death and intercession for the souls of the deceased. The practice of praying on the graves was thus connecting the generations and the ban on doing so in churches and on graveyards in the Dutch Republic must deeply have divided the community. As a result of the Reformation and the desecration of churches and graveyards, Catholics and Protestants came to be buried side by side in public space without the opportunity to re-consecrate the grounds or to pray for their loved ones at the funeral.Dutch Catholics came to an alternative Catholic ritual at the deathbed for which special ‘beaardingsdoosjes’ (tiny boxes for consecrated soil ) were in use. It appears that for Catholics a disconnection took place between the place of interment and the place of prayer and remembrance. Being no longer allowed to pray for the souls of the dead in public, and as burial sites were always public areas in the Netherlands, Catholics translocated their remembrance to the private setting of their homes or ‘huiskerken’(house churches). Several objects, such as commemorative coins and In Memoriam cards dating from the 17th and early 18th century, point to this practice. Burial practice on former holy grounds showed the ongoing need in the Catholic community for prayer in the presence of the dead body. Part of the tradition was the inscription on slabs of the petition ‘Bid voor de ziel’(Pray for the soul), but after the Reformation this phrase was applied no longer on the graves in the churches and graveyards. It is interesting to see the petition reappear on Catholic remembrance objects that were at first only used for individual prayer, but later on became part of a new collective remembrance system in the mission stations. Thus these objects can be considered as facilitating an alternative route in which the tradition of collective remembrance could survive. Mourning objects functioned on the threshold between private and public environment and sometimes exceeded the margins. By appropriating civil mourning objects Catholics kept in touch with society and at the same time created a way to display their identity. Both lay-men and -women and clergy took advantage of upcoming ideas on individuality for middleclass citizens in the 18th century, which is embodied in personal mourning objects . For the clergy these objects were also carriers of the resentment against the loss of honour in their remembrance, which couldn’t do without explicitly indicating their Catholic identity. They had to wait until the restoration in the 19th century to get compensated for this loss.

The celebration of the Lord’s Supper of the Dutch Lutherans was influenced by German Lutheran theology, but is nevertheless bearing the marks of the Dutch Reformed environment as well, e.g. in the frequency of it’s celebration. Also the design and the decorations of the Dutch Lutheran vessels (with some dynamic connotations over the centuries) bear signs of both spheres. Although some accents have changed during the centuries, with their early purchased silver sacred vessels the Lutherans glory in a manifest material culture. These vessels which were and are used for the Lord’s Supper by the Lutheran minority in the Netherlands were studied as a source itself. Therefore, in this thesis I combined methods of material Christianity and memory-studies with the traditional approach to the study of the liturgy, as part of church history. This approach combined, entirely to the current Zeitgeist, theology with religious studies. The interdisciplinary approach was helpful. For instance, material Christianity made aware of the continued use of old vessels, the beginning of an early flow of precious new vessels, particular rich forms and the dynamic meaning of the inscriptions. At the same time – and that is in report with memory-studies –a collective confessional identity was formed. This turned out to be a specific and continuing application of their own form and visual idiom over the centuries. Furthermore, I used anthropological studies in this Church's historical thesis, like how donations were made and how rituals can be associated with social status. I perked up aspects of such studies on the acquiring and the continued use of Dutch Lutheran vessels. It proved that not only different forms of rituals in religious groups contribute to identity formation and community building, the objects that are used helped as well. The communion ware not only appeared to be a sensible source but it also showed an expression of identity of the Lutheran tradition because of the chosen materials, forms and decorations. Especially various confessional tinted inscriptions have given substantial additional information. Except from textual inscriptions also figurative decorations were applied. Most of them also were part of a theological identity program, showing they were not only Protestants, but Lutherans; in particular when Lutheran symbols were used. All together, forms and decorations underline and characterise a religious minority culture of Lutheran Protestantism in the Netherlands throughout the ages.