Museum or Church?

This doctoral project examines the art museum as a “new cathedral”, an attribution that has been made since the 1980s. It analyzes the differentiation in two directions: Firstly, in the understanding of the museum as a “new place of worship” in the literal sense and, secondly, in the function of the museum (building) in the post-industrial age. The recent institutional and architectural history of the museum is thus discussed in the light of the social changes that took place at the same time. This is also linked to the observation that since the 1990s, church renovations and new buildings have been realized that are sometimes indistinguishable in their conception from contemporary museum buildings.