Trans(Re)Formation - Three cross-border exhibitions

Description

raRaingarTrans (Re-)Formations: Frisian Monasteries as places of transition and reform in the 15^th and 16^th centuries

The project challenges established views on the anti-monastic narrative of the Reformation which is still prevalent in much of the historiography on the period. Rather than conceptualizing monasteries and their inhabitants as forces of intellectual standstill and backwardness we aim to focus on monasteries as space of education and learning, which contributed to a new approach to spirituality. Humanism and the Devotio Moderna were intellectual and spiritual movements which were also embraced by members of the monastic orders. They offered intellectual pathways into the religious changes in the 16^th century and beyond.

The project aims to visualize these monastic contributions through a series of exhibitions on both sides of the Dutch-German border: Kloster Ihlow, Klooster Ter Apel and the Johannes a Lasco Library in Emden opened on 26 August 2017.

The project is funded by EDR (http://www.edr.eu/de) and Freiheitsraum Reformation (http://www.freiheitsraumreformation.de/)

Project partners: the Universities of Groningen and Oldenburg, Klosterstätte  Ihlow, Klooster Ter Apel, Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek Emden, Stichting Oude Groninger Kerken. Stichting Oude Groninger Kerken.