From Romanticism to New Age : The Evolving Perception of a Church Ruin

Abstract

By September 1, 1796, the Directoire had decided to dissolve all religious orders in France and the territories under French rule. Hundreds of abbeys, monasteries and convents, with all their lands and goods, became state property. They were sold the following month to raise money in order to avoid state bankruptcy and finance the war effort. While most churches in dissolved communities were completely destroyed or recycled, Villers became a ruin —one of the finest ruins of a medieval church on the continent.The purpose of this article is to examine the evolving perception of an important church ruin. How did a collapsing structure without any economic value or sacred significance gradually become a national monument deemed worthy of care and public funding for its maintenance. In the two centuries since the takeover of abbey, perceptions of the ruins have varied: Romanticism and picturesque, Catholicism and monasticism, history and archaeology, the Middle Ages, etc. These changing perceptions have themselves become part of the history and heritage of the site, leaving their mark on the monument as choices were made, in particular during restorations. There has always been an economic dimension to the site as well, from the sale of the abbey and its building materials to the most recent forms of cultural tourism and marketing. The acquisition by the government in 1892 clearly saved the ruins. Both major public restoration campaigns were long term investments and provided returns in the form of new tourism developments. For heritage to be maintained and survive, its only hope is to generate money, attract tourists and provide jobs. A site such as Villers is considered as a business and must be marketed as a product that delivers what people are looking for.Therefore, it is critical to determine what people today expect from a ruined church. A survey conducted in 1995 revealed that nearly all visitors interviewed were touched by the magic, mystery and grandeur of the site. A few months ago, new tourist road signs were installed along the motorways in Wallonia. The campaign explicitly neglects to mention the names of the featured sites, but combines a color photo with a hip and sometimes ambiguous slogan. The ruins of Villers were showcased on one panel bearing a large, somber photograph of the arches of the cloister galleries facing the church ruins, with the catchphrase Les pierres prient ––“Stones pray. This new-age-tinted slogan accurately reveals today’s perceptions of the monastic ruin, where neither monks nor visitors pray. With the monks long gone and modern-day visitors little interested in prayer, marketers promote the alluring sacred character of the site by giving the stones the power to pray. And old stones are associated with heritage in general and ruins in particular.It is impossible to imagine how the church ruins will be perceived in another century or two. The only thing that is certain is that they will continue to attract visitors.

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