Kate Collyer Jun 19, 2014:

Nothing new, but... This reminded me an awful lot of Norwich, where I did my MA. Hence my references, even if they're rather belated for this particular question. Interesting that one goes for Helen's approach and one for Phil's!

Jaime Hyland (asker) Jun 18, 2014:

Religious landscape I appreciate Craig and Kirsten's view. I too have come across a lot of places where "-landschaft" is really not translatable as "landscape", However, I think historians and archaeologists talk a fair deal about the political landscape or the social landscape of a particular time. Based on that fact, I'm going to go with "religious landscape" this time. "sacral landscape" might be closer, but it just sounds a bit too much like a Gregorian choir for my taste.

Kirsten Bodart Jun 18, 2014:

I have to agree with Craig it has little to do with the landscape in itself, but everything with the figurative meaning of 'landscape' as the amalgamation of a set of conditions.
What about 'Its 6 churches and 1 Dom bear witness to the city's significant religious importance in the Middle Ages'?

Apparently the city became the religious centre of the area at some point during the middle ages. Maybe wait for the remainder of your presentation to gather information and the decide on a term?
I think you need to paraphrase it, Germans tend to become too lyrical for their own good sometimes.

Craig Meulen Jun 18, 2014:

Hochschullandschaft, Sakrallandschaft, usw I come across this use of "-landschaft" far more often in German than I do "-- landscape" in English. Colleagues have indeed provided a few links to usage in English, but please be careful - some of them are more "tangible" referring, indeed, to the "shaping of the landscape" as Helen writes, but the German usage is _often_ much more general/abstract. For example, "Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns Hochschullandschaft" was a document I once translated, which had very little to do with architecture or the landscape, but simply to do with the wide range of choice of universities etc. Jaime will have to tell us whether the wider context of his article influences him to choose the more tangible or the more abstract English solution.

billcorno (X) Jun 18, 2014:

Sacred holy places How about this? I'm from the American midwest, so it might be a bit plain.

Helen Shiner Jun 17, 2014:

Or 'ecclesiastical landscape'.

Helen Shiner Jun 17, 2014:

@Jaime I would go with your 'religious landscape'.

Jaime Hyland (asker) Jun 17, 2014:

It's a little what my mother would have called "gipsy rose cuppa tea" but I think it conveys the original fairly truly. :)

Horst Huber (X) Jun 17, 2014:

No doubt about the translation of the phrase, but does it work any better in English?

Jaime Hyland (asker) Jun 17, 2014:

Hi Horst Couldn't "zeugen von" be fairly simply translated as "bear witness to"?

Again, I don't think they're referring to any particular physical area.

Thanks for your suggestion!

Horst Huber (X) Jun 17, 2014:

sacred space? townscape? "Zeugen von" may not have been the best choice.

Jaime Hyland (asker) Jun 17, 2014:

Thanks Brigitte I sort of doubt they're talking about land areas literally. I'm leaning towards "religious landscape" as the answer, since historians talk about "political landscapes" and sim., but I'd very much welcome any other suggestions.

BrigitteHilgner Jun 17, 2014:

sacred compound? might work - depending on what it looks like