Dear reader,
Welcome to our quarterly newsletter! Read about recent news and developments of the International Heritage Cooperation programme of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed | RCE).
Do you have any questions or suggestions? Please let us know.
Happy readings! |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
| Kyiv’s inner-city 2024 (photo: Unsplash)/free of rights |
| | This year’s edition of the Course on Urban Heritage Strategies is
tailored to crisis situations. How to deal with the historic urban core when
your city is under siege? How to prevent loss and how to prepare for
rehabilitation? How to organize required maintenance and how to withstand
development pressure? Urban professionals working in crisis situations, especially from
Ukraine, are invited to apply. Professionals
from the Netherlands and other countries are also welcome to join this course.
The course is split into two parts. Part one, focusing on theories and concepts is
offered online. Part two, focusing on practical skills and networking, is
conducted at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
This course is a
joint endeavor of the RCE with Erasmus University of Rotterdam and Delft
University of Technology. | |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
| An online group photo with all the participants of the workshop. © RCE |
| | | The RCE organized a knowledge exchange between
South Africa, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands in order to explore the possibilities
of generic solutions for global challenges and to build an international
network of experts. These three countries might be geographically far apart, however,
the challenges they face regarding conservation efforts are similar. Laying
three case studies side by side they investigated the primary reason for
conservation within each dimension (cultural, environmental, social, and economic). | |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
| | | Participants at the Iziko South African National Gallery. ©Reinwardt Academie / Ruben Smit |
| | | You’re young, you work in a museum and you’re surrounded by objects with a traumatic past – objects with ties to slavery, for instance. How do you tell visitors about these harrowing histories? How do you deal with cultural heritage that pours salt into wounds that haven’t closed yet? Last November, 24 young museum and heritage professionals from around the world gathered for a week-long knowledge exchange about some of the more painful aspects of cultural heritage. Many insights were shared and discussed. | |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
| Students from Leiden University and Anton de Kom University investigating the remains of buildings at Plantation Esthersrust. Photo: M. Manders, © RCE |
| | Between the 7th and the 26th of January 2024
three students from the faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University
(Netherlands) and their professor Martijn Manders went to Suriname for
fieldwork at Esthersrust, a former cotton and coffee plantation. Esthersrust is
situated on the Atlantic Sea coast and was already in use in the early 1800s.
The Dutch team joined (former) students from Anton de Kom University in
Suriname and together they monitored the site that is being washed away by the
ocean, due to coastal erosion related to climate change.
In this blogpost you will read this experience through
the eyes of one of the students from Leiden University. How did their day look
like and what is it like to experience fieldwork in another country as a young
researcher? | |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
| West-Indisch Huis, a national heritage site. Gerard J. Dukker, BY-SA 3.0 © RCE |
| | | In November, the RCE and the ErfgoedAcademie organized two webinars on multivocality in relation to national monuments and built heritage. Two important questions guided the sessions: How do our (choices of) National Monuments or National Heritage reflect society? And how can we accommodate multiple voices and histories within National Monument lists? These questions were tackled by international experts in a series of presentations, offering inspiration for discussions between approximately 90 participants in attendance from more than 10 countries. Masja Bentzen Wischmann, Lorna Cruickshanks and Sofia Lovegrove wrote a short article reflecting on the main discussion points and insights that came up in these sessions. The article includes also the recordings of both online sessions. | | |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
| | | Hoender Pasar Drawbridge as reconstructed in 1937. Temminck Groll, © RCE (nr TG72-14-008) |
| | | Jakarta’s
Hoender Pasar Bridge once gave access to the city’s famous chicken market. The
bridge dates from the 17th century and was located close to the then
Castle of Batavia, overlooking the Kali Besar canal. Constructed under VOC-rule,
it was executed as drawbridge, a quite famous piece of Dutch engineering. Today
it is one of the few remaining drawbridges in the country. Now that local
authorities have decided to reconstruct the currently dilapidated structure,
the Indonesian Architectural Centre (PDA) consulted the RCE on the history and
technology of this type of bridge. For the occasion our former colleague and
member of the Dutch Bridges Association, Gert Jan Luijendijk, has been able to
provide the Indonesian counterparts with the requested information. The bridge
is supposed to be reconstructed later this year. |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
| Shophouses in Labuhan Deli. Peter Timmer © RCE |
| | | In Medan, many Dutch-era colonial buildings are currently being restored. Less well known is that the origins of this Indonesian metropolis lie in the small town of Labuhan Deli. Today, it is a somewhat forgotten area in the city’s northern reaches. The Sumatra Heritage Trust organised a workshop focused on preserving Labuhan’s heritage and revitalising the area, the RCE took part in this workshop. | |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
| | | Cover of the brochure Filling Losses in Paint. © RCE |
| | Are you a conservator of easel paintings and do you want to keep up with current knowledge and/or learning how to apply new techniques? Within this brochure you will find information about the different types of losses found in ground and paint layers on different substrates, historical approaches to and materials for filling, methods for removing old fillings that are no longer suitable, modern types of fills and recipes, and some techniques for fillings and applying texture to fillings.
| |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
| | | The colonial past has left traces in the collections of Dutch museums and other institutions. Because of the imbalance of power, many objects were removed from their countries of origin and brought to the Netherlands. Through this, these objects were lost to their communities. The current Dutch policy on colonial collections aims to help rectify this historic injustice by facilitating requests for restitution of cultural heritage objects from countries of origin, by working towards openness and transparency about collections in the Netherlands and by strengthening international collaboration on these collections. | |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
| | | | | From 29/05 to 01/06 specialists in the field of Architectural Finishes Research (AFR) will come together at this international event. During
four-days they can meet and exchange ideas and new developments in the
interpretation, preservation, documentation, education and management of
historical architectural finishes: from paint to other colourful finishing
materials. The programme alternates between lectures, social events and
excursions in small groups, and promises to be ideal for nurturing a more
professional and cohesive global Architectural Paint and Finishes Research
community. | |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
| The International Heritage Cooperation programme of the Cultural Heritage Agency of
the Netherlands follows from the International Cultural Policy
Framework 2021-2024 of the Dutch government. Other organisations executing the
national International Heritage Cooperation programme are DutchCulture, the
National Archives of the Netherlands, KIEN and the Embassies of the Netherlands
in the partner countries. For more information on their activities, see their
respective websites.
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|---|
|
|
