Demise of religious buildings

More and more churches and synagogues are being used for non-religious purposes or even being pulled down, according to a group dedicated to conserving them, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt.

The Future for Religious Heritage Association (FRH), which was founded in Cambridge in 2010 and is based in Brussels, delivered the warning at its third annual meeting in Halle, Germany. Reports had confirmed that in the Netherlands, changes of use and demolitions were happening on an “avalanche-like scale” but this was also evident in Belgium. In France the Government, which must maintain pre-1905 churches, was finding this increasingly difficult.