Anniversary commemoration and reception of Religious Peace of Augsburg 2005

This article provides an overview of the celebrations and exhibitions on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the Religious Peace of Augsburg, which had a wide public appeal because its relevance to the present was - or rather, seemed to be - obvious. Politicians, the churches, and the media were interested in the event because today's public is so conscious of the so-called "clash of cultures". However, there were several problems with celebrating this particular historical event: First, the complexity of the historical event "Religious Peace of Augsburg" was difficult to communicate to the public. Second, the achievements of the Peace of Augsburg were often enthusiastically overstated, e. g. by attributing the separation of church and state or the beginning of modem religious toleration to it. But such simplifications are unavoidable if we want to impart knowledge about early modern history to the broader public.