Churches from former factories – conversions and controversies

This paper focuses on architectural transformations of some post-industrial objects into sacral functions. The discussed works mainly relate to churches, chapels and parish houses of various Christian denominations, mainly Protestant. Such transformations provoke questions about the limits of acceptance for adaptation works in the context of objects associated with a religious cult. The doubts that arise are connected primarily with the theological-liturgical dimension, that means the interpretation of the sacrum space. As far as conservation work is concerned, the analysed examples confirm the thesis of high architectural potential inherent in post-industrial objects. They also show a wide spectrum of possible interferences in a given structure during the conversion process.