The theory of modernity posited that societies would secularize in the process of modernization. As we witness new forms of religiosity as well as heritagization of established religions, this secularization thesis has recently been questioned. But how should the heritagization of religion be understood in a post‑secular context? This paper examines the initiative of the Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership to conserve and interpret the ruins of the Abbey in Bury St Edmunds (UK). In this instance of heritagization, re‑assembling different materials, ideas and affects into religious heritage, processes of “sacralization”, “aestheticization”, and “reconstruction” happen alongside each other. In providing new interpretation of the ruins, stakeholders debated different ideas on the significance of the ruins and their history. Examining how stakeholders framed the materiality of the site differently, the paper demonstrates that the interpretation of the ruins is to this day determined by affects that have their origins in the Reformation and the Dissolution of the Monasteries.