Dutch Cultural Heritage Governance and Policy
Cultural heritage is present everywhere in our society. In our museums, historic city centres and rural areas. But also in the soil and under water, and as intangible heritage in our traditions, rituals and stories. It tells about where we come from, who we are and how we develop. The Dutch government ensures that this heritage is well cared for. The government does this by protecting cultural heritage, but also by enabling new developments, using the values of the historic objects and structures. Cultural heritage is at the heart of society, offering opportunities and connecting people.
Governance
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, municipalities, provinces and owners are jointly responsible for the care of our cultural heritage. The national government supports owners in this. For example with subsidies and loans for the almost 62,000 national monuments and over 1,500 protected archaeological sites. Municipalities are responsible for, among other things, granting permits, supervision, and enforcement in relation to national monuments. The Cultural Heritage Agency RCE provides an advising role in this. Provinces are responsible for restoration subsidies and the supervision of municipal monument tasks, among other things. This is stated in the Heritage Act and the Environment Act.
Cultural Heritage Agency
The Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE) is the Netherlands’ centre of expertise on heritage. It is an executive body of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. It operates in four domains: Archaeology, Landscape, Collections and Monuments.
The varied work of the Cultural Heritage Agency includes generating and disseminating knowledge, advising on developments and innovations in heritage care, implementing policy and legislation, administering guarantees and subsidies, and providing practical advice.
RCE’s strength lies in connecting three key elements: practical expertise, scientific knowledge and government policy. These elements are mutually reinforcing, whereby the RCE bases its practical advice on scientific knowledge, on its extensive experience and on the objectives of government policy. Conversely, the RCE’s practical expertise and knowledge make a significant contribution to the development of policy.
The Agency’s main activities are organised in programmes and projects. Some are practical in nature, while others are more concerned with knowledge development, like the National Archaeology Agenda (NOaA). This agenda contains 23 main themes and associated questions in archaeology research in the Netherlands.
Another example is the Heritage and sustainability programme, which concerns the positioning of cultural heritage in the global goals for sustainable development and dealing with climate change. The Knowledge of archeology programme develops next-level care for archeological sites. And the Participation programme stimulates more commitment of the general public in heritage care, including attention for the different perspectives within our society, following the principles of the Faro Convention. Another programme is Heritage in the 20th Century. The 20th century has produced a wide range of art objects, buildings and industrial properties. The cultural value of this recent heritage is not obvious to everyone. Aspects of how to manage and preserve it also remain unclear. The RCE frequently receives questions about these topics from heritage professionals, private individuals and policymakers. This programme is created to provide answers.
These and other programmes relate strongly to the policy document ‘Heritage Counts’ by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science.
Dutch Cultural Heritage Research Centres and Institutions
The RCE works closely with several research centres and institutions. In the RCE laboratory in Amsterdam, scientists work alongside their counterparts at the University of Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum. They undertake research to ensure that objects of art and design, books, archival documents and other objects of historical value can be preserved for posterity.
NICAS
The Netherlands Institute for Conservation+Art+Science+ (NICAS) brings together researchers from the disciplines of conservation, art history, physical science and computer science. NICAS wants to develop the connections between these disciplines in the form of a cohesive research programme, with a focus on the origin of the object and the life of the object through time. The ultimate goal is a more complete understanding, an enriched presentation and optimal preservation of cultural heritage.
Funding
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) is one of the most important science funding bodies in the Netherlands and realises quality and innovation in science. NWO invests in curiosity-driven research, research related to societal challenges and research infrastructure.
NWO facilitates curiosity-driven disciplinary, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. In this role, NWO focuses on all scientific disciplines and on the entire knowledge chain with an emphasis on fundamental research. NWO connects researchers from various disciplines and across the entire knowledge chain and brings researchers and societal partners together. NWO encourages national and international collaboration in the field of cultural heritage via among other the JPI Cultural Heritage programme (JPI CH) and the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA).
NWO funds the personnel and material cost for scientific research and knowledge exchange and impact activities of Dutch universities and public research institutes. NWO invites partners from industry, the government and societal organisations to contribute with their own knowledge agendas and questions to the programming, realisation and co-funding of research.
French Cultural Heritage Governance and Policy
France has a remarkably rich, diverse and attractive cultural heritage which plays a significant economic role and greatly contributes to the worldwide influence of French culture.
The Ministry of Culture is responsible for defining and implementing the State’s policy on the protection, preservation, restoration and transmission of cultural heritage. These missions are conducted through the Regional Directorates of Cultural Affairs (DRAC) and the Territorial Architectural and Heritage services (STAP). Within the Ministry of Culture, the General Directorate for Heritage and Architecture plays a crucial role in managing public policies in various cultural heritage fields: architecture, archives, intangible cultural heritage, museums, monuments, sites, and archaeology.
If you are interested in reading more about France’s cultural heritage policy, institutional and legal frameworks, please consult France’s profile in the Herein System.
French Cultural Heritage Research
In close cooperation with the General Secretariat and with all the services of the General Directorate for Heritage and Architecture, the DIRI (Délégation de l’inspection, de la recherche et de l’innovation) designs master plans for research in cultural heritage fields, defines the transversal research objectives, implements the research policy and evaluates the results. It is specifically responsible for leading actions on ethnological heritage and oversees the implementation of UNESCO Convention for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage (ICH).
It also act as the link with other ministries and institutions such as the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l’Innovation, or MESRI), the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche or ANR); the High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (Haut Conseil de l’évaluation de la recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur) or the National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, or CNRS).
The DIRI coordinates the driving forces of higher education and research around large-scale scientific projects and infrastructures at a time when France’s research landscape is undergoing profound changes in particular in the context of the “investments for the future” programmes (programmes d’investissements d’avenir). For instance, these programmes led to the creation of the Foundation for Cultural Heritage Sciences, which currently runs, amongst other projects, three state-funded projects, Patrima, Patrimex and Espadon.
Funding Sources
The State funds French public research (running, investments and personnel) through the Ministry for Higher Education, and Research and Innovation (28,7 billion euros in 2020). This budget covers the running costs of public research and incentive research based on calls for projects, particularly through the ANR. Regarding the Ministry of Culture, the Transmission of Knowledge and Democratization of Culture program, which has merged with the Cultural Research and Scientific Culture programme, reaches € 590 million in the 2021 budget.
French Cultural Heritage Research Centres and Institutions
The multidisciplinary and holistic approach to heritage research requires the participation of different ministries’ departments in collaboration with various professions (researchers, curators, archaeologists, architects, restorers) and organisations. Hereunder is a non-exhaustive list on the French research landscape of cultural heritage landscape:
Centre for Research on Conservation (Centre de recherche sur la conservation – CRC)
Centre for Research and Restauration of the Museums of France (Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France – C2RMF)
Historical Monument Research Laboratory (Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques)
Interdisciplinary Centre for the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (Centre interdisciplinaire de Conservation et Restauration du Patrimoine – CICRP)
National Prehistory Centre (Centre national de la Préhistoire – CNP)
Research and Conservation Workshop (Atelier de Recherche et de Conservation)
Foundation for Cultural Heritage Sciences (Fondation des Sciences du Patrimoine)
Observatoire des patrimoines de Sorbonne université
Carbon Dating Laboratory (Laboratoire de Mesure du carbone 14 – LMC14)
Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research (Direction des recherches archéologiques subaquatiques et sous-marines – DRASSM)
European Institute for the Non-Destructive Photon-based Analysis of Ancient Materials (Synchrotron Soleil / projet IPANEMA)
National Library of France (Bibliothèque nationale de France)
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