Temporary expositions
Religion and the Flood
In the southwestern part of the Netherlands religion has always played an important part in the lives of its inhabitants. Many of the Flood's victims belonged to the stricter Protestant denominations.This exhibition looks at actual churches, but also considers how ministers kept in touch with the members of their congregations, whose evacuation had left them in temporary accommodation all over the country.
The exhibition is not intended to present an overall picture but rather to give an idea of what happened to the churches and what the buildings looked like when their congregations returned. In addition, attention is paid to the active role played by the Salvation Army in this and similar disasters.
Many circular letters testify to the evacuees' attempts to keep one another informed. Churches offered their support and shared in people's joys and sorrows. The large collection of material also shows that oecumenical cooperation was widespread.
Brief mention is made of the different approaches of Roman Catholics, with their devotional pictures and obituary cards, and the stricter Protestant denominations, with their sermons aspect of the influence of religious faith is found in the names of floods
Research by Jasper Goedbloed into floods named for the Saint on whose name day they occurred, such as the St. Ignatius flood of 1 February 1953, and a financial contribution by the Kattendijke /Druckerstichting have enabled the publication of
1 febr.1953 de St. Ignatiusvloed. - Stormvloedrampen met een heiligennaam
to accompany the exhibition.
This is a reference book offering permanent reminders of the role played by religion in anxious times.