Religious Heritage Symposium on Spiritual Artifacts, Collectors, Collections, and Communities
On 3–4 December 2025, the University of Groningen hosted the international symposium “What Remains? Spiritual Artifacts, Collectors, Collections, and Communities,” organized by the Centre for Religion and Heritage in collaboration with Utrecht University. Supported by the Rijksdienst voor Cultureel Erfgoed, NOSTER, and the University Museum Groningen, the event brought together scholars, curators, theologians, and community representatives to address the complex legacies of spiritual artifacts in museum collections and the ethical challenges surrounding their curation and potential restitution
The symposium was framed by ongoing global debates about the restitution of colonial-era collections. This event turned its focus to spiritual artifacts—objects once imbued with sacred significance, now housed in secular museums. Together with organizers Andrew J.M. Irving, Todd H. Weir, and Birgit Meyer, participants sought to explore how these artifacts are valued, displayed, and understood, both in Europe and in the societies from which they originated. Central questions included: How do museums acknowledge or overlook the spiritual agency of these objects? What roles did Christian missions play in their collection and devaluation? And how can institutions engage respectfully with the descendants of their makers?
The two-day program was structured around five thematic panels, each designed to foster dialogue among different stakeholders. The first day focused on the creation and fate of collections, with panels on “Collectors,” “Curators,” and “Spiritual Artifacts.” Presentations examined the motivations and practices of prominent collectors such as Rudolf Otto and Theo van Baaren, whose acquisitions were shaped by scholarly, missionary, and sometimes commercial interests. Curators shared their experiences of exhibiting artifacts whose spiritual meanings are often obscured by ethnographic or aesthetic frameworks, with case studies from the Asmat Museum in Papua and the Übersee-Museum Bremen. A highlight was an experimental panel held in the University Museum Groningen, where participants engaged directly with objects from the Van Baaren collection, exploring how artifacts might “communicate” beyond their status as museum pieces.
The second day shifted focus to the prospects and challenges of restitution, with panels on “Re-collecting what was lost” and “Past Religions and Decolonization.” Discussions addressed how local communities perceive and engage with the return of spiritual objects, revealing a spectrum of responses—from reluctance to reclaim artifacts whose spirits are feared, to renewed appreciation of cultural and spiritual heritage. Theologians and scholars from the Global South shared insights into how Christian and non-Christian communities are re-evaluating indigenous traditions, with papers on Akan Pentecostalism, Kachin sacred practices, and the ambivalent heritage of Shuar shrunken heads in Ecuador.
Key insights emerged from the symposium’s rich exchanges. Many artifacts were collected by missionaries who dismissed them as “idols” or “fetishes,” a framing that persists in some communities today. Provenance research, such as that on the Van Baaren and Spiess collections, revealed the entanglement of scholarly, missionary, and commercial networks in the acquisition and interpretation of these objects. Museums face significant dilemmas in balancing preservation, display, and respect for artifacts’ spiritual dimensions. While local museums, such as the Asmat Museum, can honor ancestral presence, European institutions continue to grapple with the limits of secular exhibition. The return of objects is not always welcomed; some communities fear the return of spirits, while others see restitution as an opportunity for theological reflection and cultural reclamation. Scholars and practitioners are increasingly experimenting with new frameworks—such as “heritage” and “animism”—to move beyond colonial categories, though these terms themselves remain contested.
The symposium also provided a platform for emerging scholars, with two presentations by PhD candidates and lively participation in the Q&A by ReMA students and PhD candidates taking part in the NOSTER seminar that accompanied the symposium. The event concluded with a lively discussion on future directions for research, curation, and community collaboration, underscoring the need for more inclusive and ethical approaches to religious heritage.
“What Remains?” made a compelling case for rethinking how spiritual artifacts are valued, displayed, and returned. By centering the voices of collectors, curators, theologians, and communities, the symposium advanced a more nuanced and ethical approach to religious heritage—one that acknowledges both the resilience of spiritual meanings and the imperative of decolonial practice in museums and academia.