Refurbishing the House of God. Adaptive Reuse of Religious Buildings in Flanders

Finding new uses for parish churches is not yet a problem in Flanders since very few of them are redundant. Several aspects of the situation are very different from that in the Netherlands. The churches are managed by church councils called ‘kerkfabrieken'. Existing legal provisions mean that no parish churches are sold, but this does not apply to churches, chapels and other buildings belonging to monastic orders and papal congregations. A monastery is considered to be the private property of the order or congregation in question. It is these buildings that often become redundant, and without listed status they cannot be protected from demolition or adaptive reuse. The conversion of religious buildings in Flanders is usually less radical than in the Netherlands.