General report from the Seminar in St Jean du Gard ? Mialet ? Anduze

Introduction

As the result of necessary cancellation of the planned Seminar in Rome , the meeting in French Cevennes region , in the holy place for the French protestants  was organized . The area is  famous because of the uprising of the Camissards against the  absolute power of the King , for the freedom of  belief  and faith . The need of tolerance is the theme very important nowadays too .

The course of the Seminar

The first day of the Seminar ( November 2nd )  was devoted for sightseeing of the picturesque little town of Anduze , visiting the Museum of the valleys of Cevennes and the protestant temple in this town . We  wanted to get to know the sources of local inhabitants?  identity  in order to understand their culture , way of life , to be able to truly know the context of the bloody wars for the freedom of cult in the past . The history of the protestant movement and the history of the region were presented to us by the owner and founder of the Museum in Anduze, Mr Daniel Tavier . The collection of the Museum is made of more than 10 thousand items showing the traditional farming and craftsmen techniques . There is a special hall showing the history and tradition of the protestants living in Cevennes , explaining that the strong resistance against the power of the  Catholic Kings was caused by the lack of religious tolerance . The harsh living conditions shaped people who were tough , used to hard work and strongly believing in their ideas and values , ready to fight for them .

Visiting the temple in St Jean du Gard was made possible by the Chairman of the parish Counci Mr Jacques Rossel . The holy building , burnt and ruined  in the course of the religious wars was rebuilt in the 19th  century in the Neo Classical style . The size of the temple- now strikingly big ? can be explained by the number of the practicing protestants living in the area in the past . There were times when 95% of the population used to practice this religion there.

On the second day of the Seminar ( November 3rd ) there was a conference of the program members who were present at the meeting, namely:

Arch.arch. Ewa Kuryłowicz, Director of the  Program , ( Poland ) , Jurij Kryvoruchko ( Ukraine ) , Zygmund Knyszewski ( France ) , Konrad Kucza- Kuczynski ( Poland ), Michel Leger ( France ) , Jerzy Uscinowicz ( Poland ), Csanady Gabor ( Hungary )  and the guests : Jacques Canal ( France ) , Stefan Kuryłowicz ( Poland ) , Patricia Blanc, photographer, ( France ).

After the introductory speech of arch  Z. Knyszewski on the history of the French protestants, titled ? The Protestant movement and its influence upon the overall progress  or about the need for tolerance  ?   , director E.Kuryłowicz presented the organizational  problems of the Program?s  functioning.  The detailed  summary  of her presentation is attached to this report .

The afternoon of that day was  devoted  for the visit in the places of memory for the Camissards , in the Museum of the Desert , established in the house belonging to the family of Pierre Laporte? s , the main hero of the fights, known as ? Rolland ?. The house has not been changed since the 18th  century  and now is turned into the museum showing the whole history of the fights of the  partisans of Cevennes . The Museum now  is the place of collective memory for the people of the area, prosecuted for their religion and strong will for defending their freedom of worship. After the Museum we saw the famous bridge of the Camissards, famous  for the numerous fights  during the religious wars in the past , and the temple in Mialet, were we were received by the Chair of the Parish, Mrs Werdeillan. The  unique octagonal temple , as all the other ones, was ruined in the 18th century and rebuilt in the 19th. The day ended with watching the movie ? Queen Margot ? showing the  17th century episode of the religious wars in French history  in which the protestants were involved.

The last day of the Seminar ( November 4th ) was devoted for presentations of the  other papers :

Konrad Kucza-Kuczyński talked about difficult religious tolerance in Poland.

Csanady Gabor presented the metaphorical text on the problems of the origin of the tolerance in our civilization .

The papers of Jerzy Uścinowicz ?Problems of the conversion of the religious symbols in the sacral architecture of the boarder areas?   and  Jurij Kryvoruchko?s about the Lviv  sacred architecture  were not presented in full due to the lack of time. Their text will be available on the Program?s web site.

The Seminar ended with the sightseeing of the historical  old town of Avignon and the Popes? palace.

Report from the meeting prepared by director of UIA WP arch. Ewa Kuryłowicz.

Report  from the meeting held during the Seminar of the UIA WP ? Spiritual Places ? which took place in Cevennes, France, in the town Saint Jean du Gard on November 3rd, 2006 . The resolutions of this Report are obligatory for the members of the Program , as being mutually agreed . Realization of these resolutions is essential for continuation of the works of the Program as it is now .

In the days  November 2-4, 2006 the International Seminar ? The need of tolerance ? has been held . It was organized to the great extent thanks to the great input of deputy director of UIA WP ? Spiritual Places ? arch. Zygmunt Knyszewski  and CIAF member Patricia Blanc., who provided hotel, list of the seen sites of the great spiritual and historical value as well as unusual food . Thank You very much !!!

During the course of the Seminar , on Nov.3 , on 9-12 hrs , the meeting took place during which the  new tasks and assignments for the WP members were discussed and given . Fulfillment of these tasks , expected by the new UIA authorities, especially by the new  UIA Secretary General arch. Jordi Farrando , is essential for the fluent  continuation of the Program? s works . The Program? s work has to be based upon the work of all its members . The role of the Secretariat andof the Director is to supervise these actions and coordinate them . In the meeting the following  persons took part : arch. arch. ( 1 ) Ewa Kuryłowicz, Poland  director, ( 2 ) Csanady Gabor, Hungary , ( 3 ) Jurij Kryvoruchko , Ukraine ,( 4 ) Jerzy Uścinowicz, Poland , ( 5 ) Konrad Kucza- Kuczyński , Poland , (6 ) Zygmunt Knyszewski , France  and the guests  : Patricia Blanc , CIAF, Francja, Michel Leger , UIA , PR ?Cultural Identity and the Historical Heritage ?  and  Jacques Canal, CIAF, Francja.

At the beginning of the meeting the director, Ewa Kuryłowicz obtained the declaration of the active work on behalf of the Program from all members present . The new web site has not been visited by all members yet. Director asked everyone about their personal possibilities of establishing the ties with the official external organizations with the Program , as it is expected by the UIA authorities . She also asked about the possibilities of getting the financial means for the Program?s works , additional to the financing given by Association of Polish Architects SARP- the host organization for the Program:

Summing up, Director Ewa Kuryłowicz stated that :

1. Active work of all Program members is essential in order to meet the requirements imposed by UIA before 23rd  UIA Congress in Torino , Italy .
2. The present members  agreed that all activity in the field covered by the Program? s manifesto , performed by  any Program member should be done under the patronage of the Program , in order to promote its work and to inform about its existence . This means in practice showing the affiliation of a given person and adding the logo in any written material ? UIA logo along with the inscription : UIA WP ? Spiritual Places? , as on our letterhead.
3. It has been agreed that the specific tasks for the Program members  will be taken seriously and will be fulfilled as promised.

Those of You who have not sent the pictures for  the web site yet are kindly asked to do it immediately .

The pictures should be described with the name of the photographer, name of the object and possibly name of the designer .

Please note  that the internet communication nowadays is in the international cooperation  the absolute necessity and caring about our web site, its quality and content is for our work essential , especially in the light of the theme of the coming UIA Congress :  ?transmitting architecture? .

Please write to the secretariat if You are interested in printing Your UIA   business cards ( at Your own expense ? 100 cards appr. 150 Euro ) .

Cordially ,
Prof arch. Ewa Kurylowicz, PhD
Director of UIA WP ?Spiritual Places?

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Work Program members in the temple in Saint Jean du Gard , November 2nd, 2006.