Exhibiting the Sacred: Objects, Spaces, and Practices between Museums and Territory, Museums, Materials, Discussions, 26 January 2026
Exhibiting the Sacred: Objects, Spaces, and Practices between Museums and Territory
Guest Editor: Alessandro Paolo Lena
In contemporary society, sacred spaces and objects are increasingly subject to processes of musealization, heritagization, and cultural reinterpretation that redefine their status, meanings, and modes of engagement. Museums and places of worship appear, at least at the institutional level, as distinct domains governed by different aims, languages, and practices: on the one hand, the secular and scientific sphere of the museum; on the other, the religious and devotional sphere of sacred space. Nevertheless, numerous points of contact and overlap invite a critical examination of the ways in which the sacred is selected, preserved, exhibited, and made accessible to diverse and plural audiences.