INVITATION TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
The fate and significance of the cultural heritage of monasteries dissolved during the
Kulturkampf
(On the 140th anniversary of the Act on religious orders and monastic congregations of 31
May 1875)
Gostyń (Święta Góra – Holy Mountain, Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip
Neri)
16–18 July 2015
The conference is organised within the framework of the project Cultural heritage of
dissolved monasteries on the territory of former Poland and in Silesia in the 18th and 19th
centuries: fate, significance, cataloguing (Ministry of Science and Higher Education’s
“National Programme for the Development of Humanities”, no. 11H 11 021280). The coorganisers are: Wrocław Friends of History Society, branch of the Polish Historical Society,
and the Institute of History of the University of Wrocław.
Subject of the conference:
1. The Kulturkampf and the attempts to limit the role of the Church (and religious orders) in
the state in 19th-century Europe
2. Anti-monastic Kulturkampf legislation: a novelty or continuation (in terms of its contents
and legal formulation)?
3. The impact of the Kulturkampf on the development of monastic life in Germany
4. The condition of monastic life in Silesia, Wielkopolska, Pomerania and East Prussia around
1840–1875
5. Monasteries and monastic houses dissolved in Silesia, Pomerania, Wielkopolska and East
Prussia during the Kulturkampf
6. The fate of movable property, including archives and book collections, of the dissolved
monasteries, and their current condition
7. The fate of immovable property, architecture, parks and gardens of the dissolved
monasteries and their current condition
8. The fate of monks and nuns from the dissolved monasteries
9. The impact of the Kulturkampf on the development of monastic life in Galicia
10. The revival of monastic life after the Kulturkampf
Please send the proposed titles of your full papers (up to 20 min.) and short communication
papers (up to 10 min.) to: derwich@gmail.com before 30 April 2015.
The conference fee is PLN 150. The fee covers: board, conference materials and participation
in accompanying events. The project participants will also get free accommodation.
Accommodation (including breakfast) for those who are not project participants is PLN 60 per
night. We will publish positively reviewed papers as part of our conference proceedings; each
published author will receive two copies of the volume. No travel costs will be reimbursed.
The organisers will cover the costs of speakers’ participation, provided the speakers submit
their papers in a version that is ready for publication or will guarantee in writing that such a
version will be delivered by 1 September 2015.
At the end of the conference, on 18 July, the organisers have planned a day-long tour of
nearby dissolved monasteries.
Yours sincerely,
Prof. dr hab. Marek Derwich
derwich@gmail.com