Heritage

Key figures

Immovable heritage
The RCE has been collecting data on the state of Dutch movable, immovable, intangible and digital heritage for years. Facts and figures on built and archaeological monuments, museums and collections and historical landscapes are presented in the Heritage monitorBy the end of 2024, the Netherlands will have 61.686 built national monuments, including mills, castles, churches and landscaped green areas, such as parks and country estate gardens. By far the largest part consists of houses and housing complexes (31.517), followed by farms, mills and businesses (9.894). The Netherlands also has 1.464 archaeological national monuments.

Museums and movable heritage
Dutch museums welcomed 2023 million visitors in 31,5, more than a quarter of whom came from abroad. This number of foreign visitors is still lower than before the corona pandemic. However, because the Dutch visit museums more often than before, the total number of visitors has returned to the level before 2020. More than half of all museums are located in North and South Holland and Gelderland. The total turnover amounted to 1,49 billion euros, of which slightly less than half came from own income. The sector appears to have weathered the corona pandemic well financially and has seen its turnover increase again after the temporary corona support was withdrawn. Moreover, since 2015, it has increased faster than inflation. At the same time, medium-sized and small museums are still struggling: they are dealing with fewer visitors and income and rising costs. More than 45.000 people, two-thirds of whom are interns or volunteers, work in the museum sector. Almost two out of three museums are history museums (CBS 2025a, CBS 2025b).

Challenges and Threats: Protecting Heritage

Much heritage is vulnerable and in order to preserve it, it is necessary to continue to manage, practice and protect it. How to preserve and manage heritage has been regulated in the Heritage Act. At the end of December 2024, Minister Eppo Bruins (OCW) announced that he wants to amend the law on several points. One of the reasons for this is the preparation for the ratification of the Faro Convention. He wants to tighten the definition of cultural heritage, “to clarify that governments, heritage institutions, heritage communities and individual citizens jointly determine what cultural heritage is and that this is an ongoing social discussion.” (Bruins 2024).

Since January 1, 2024, the handling of heritage in the physical living environment has been in the new environmental code regulated. This concerns matters such as the environmental permit for national monuments, the appointment of a monument committee, or taking cultural heritage into account in environmental plans. Municipalities have until 2030 to complete environmental plans. The Environmental Act includes not only spatial planning, but also regulations for heritage conservation in the living environment. This law requires a new approach from municipalities with various spatial instruments. On the other hand, there is still no new Archives Act. The current law dates from 1995 and a 2021 bill The House of Representatives has still not yet passed the measure to better align the law with the practice of digital information management.

Despite all this legislation and policy initiatives, heritage remains vulnerable. As is also evident from the mission of the RCE. It is committed to preserving heritage as best as possible in order to “to give the future a past and the past a future.” (RCE 2024a). There are various challenges and threats to be identified in this area. How do we make heritage climate-proof and protect it against extreme weather, such as drought and flooding or, in the Caribbean, tropical storms? How do we protect physical heritage against decay and damage? How do we sustainably preserve digital heritage? And do we make this accessible while respecting privacy?

Cultural heritage has been included in the National Climate Adaptation Implementation Programme of the National Government. This includes actions to better protect cultural heritage against climate change in the future. In addition, the program describes how knowledge about the past and heritage can be used in measures around climate adaptation. The Heritage Deal Program supports projects that interweave the preservation and use of heritage with climate adaptation, energy transition, sustainable economy, nature and agriculture, the housing challenge and mobility. Since 2020, the program has supported more than 50 projects. The 8th Implementation Programme appeared in the fall of 2024 (see also the theme page Sustainability).

Digitizing and unlocking archives and heritage is valuable, but also has pitfalls. The Caribbean parts of the Kingdom all indicate that this is important to them, due to their limited own archiving capacity and the possibilities that digitally unlocking and sharing archives about their shared colonial past offers. Cooperation in this area is essential (Raad voor Cultuur The broad social and political controversy that arose in January 2024 when the central archive for special jurisdiction from immediately after the Second World War was partially digitally disclosed not only shows how sensitive the opening of archives can sometimes be, but also that digital archive access and privacy can sometimes be at odds with each other (Steketee 2025).

In addition, there are concerns about the state of national monuments and physical heritage in the Netherlands and the Caribbean. Heritage is dilapidated, is not registered as a monument or has been damaged or irreparably changed by repurposing (Toebosch 2024, Gräper 2024c, Koren 2024).A major challenge is how to structurally arrange the restoration and preservation of this heritage financially and organizationally. The heritage sector itself, the RCE and municipalities and provinces all signal urgent problems with capacity shortages at municipalities, pressure on the implementation capacities in the sector, inadequate, ad hoc financing and too little attention for heritage within spatial tasks to organize the living environment. Various members of parliament from different parties also expressed their concerns about this in the committee debate on heritage in October 2024. (RCE 2024b, FIM et al. 2024, IPO, VNG 2024, Tweede Kamer 2024).

In a letter to the House of Representatives at the end of December 2024, Minister Bruins stated that he shares the various concerns about heritage. He wants to set up an advisory committee to improve heritage care in municipalities and provinces and is making 800.000 euros structurally available for the Government Information and Heritage Inspectorate. In addition, the minister also signals other threats to heritage. That is why he wants to include heritage in the national crisis plans that are currently being drawn up on what to do in the event of wildfires, high water and extreme violence. The resilience of the sector must be increased in the context of the increased threat of war in Europe. Due to these threats, a new Safe Heritage Task Force was set up at the end of 2024 (Bruins 2024).

Heritage: for whom and by whom is it and who can participate?

Heritage is not only important for an awareness of our past, but also gives meaning to the present and future society. According to the Raad voor Cultuur:

"any discussion about the value of culture will have to take into account the one characteristic that distinguishes culture from all else. That is the aesthetic value of the arts and the intrinsic value of heritage. No other part of our society – sports, economy, science, religion – makes such an explicit appeal to this aesthetic and intrinsic value. In heritage, an object or action creates a personal connection between people and (their own or another) history, traditions and stories"(Raad voor Cultuur 2023).

In short, heritage occupies a central place within society. Many millions of people from all kinds of communities participate in heritage, as is evident from the above-mentioned research by RCE and KIEN. One of the challenges for governments is to better reach and support the various heritage communities, their intangible heritage and heritage practices. Boekman Extra #2024, published in December 47 Intangible heritage policy in the Netherlands. Heritage in motion delves deeper into the policy of the current cabinet and its predecessors in this area (van der Leden 2024b).

In January 2024, the Netherlands signed the Faro Convention. This treaty places people and society at the centre, as well as their relationship with heritage. 6 million euros are available for implementation in the Netherlands. Cultural professionals, practitioners and makers also form heritage communities with their own needs in this sense, both those involved in the making or practicing and those who manage it (such as archivists, conservators or curators). With this as a starting point, it is important that people also have access to heritage and can participate in it.

Attempts are currently being made to put this principle into practice in various ways. For example, the Cultural Participation Fund has made promoting active heritage participation one of its five policy objectives for the coming four years (Cultural Participation Fund 2024). In addition, a new Living Heritage Network was established at the end of 2024, which aims to improve cooperation between communities, volunteer organisations and professional partners. Over the next two years, two project leaders will develop the network. State Secretary for Culture Fleur Gräper also instructed them to actively involve communities that currently have less access to cultural facilities, but still need them. In addition, the State Secretary wants intangible heritage in the Caribbean Netherlands – on Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius – to become a permanent part of the cultural agenda (Gräper 2024a).

In October 2024, Minister Bruins of OCW announced new policy agreements with municipalities and provinces to strengthen heritage practice through better support for volunteer organizations and heritage communities. This resulted in the administrative agreements on cultural practice 2025-2025 in January 2028. In this, the ministry, the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) and the Interprovincial Consultation (IPO) jointly drew up agreements on intangible heritage and heritage participation for the first time. Their ambitions are threefold: promoting a strong ecosystem for cultural practice, in which everyone has the opportunity to practice culture throughout their lives, placing the cultural and heritage practitioner at the center, and focusing on the connection between culture and social-societal issues (Tweede Kamer 2024, Bruins et al. 2025).

The colonial past lives on: dealing with the shared colonial heritage

The legacies of the colonial past continue to have an effect to this day. This shared history and its tangible and intangible heritage therefore remain undiminished in the centre of attention.

The 'Keep your heritage alive' subsidy scheme, which ended in June 2024, resulted in more than 160 awarded initiatives that focused on the rich cultural traditions and intangible heritage of the Indian, Moluccan, Papuan and Peranakan communities in the Netherlands (Colman 2024). The scheme ended on 1 July 2024. Dutch Slavery Memorial Year, in which more than 200 initiatives and activities were organised with the support of government subsidies via the Fund for Cultural Participation and the Mondriaan Fund. For the years after, the government is making another 200 million euros available to continue to pay attention to this shared slavery past. In addition, the Schoof cabinet is in the process of setting up a Slavery Past Commemoration Committee. This “independent commemoration committee will oversee the implementation and organization of a grand, dignified commemoration of the transatlantic slavery past.” (Uitermark 2024)

This commitment is in line with broader developments surrounding the colonial heritage of the Netherlands and its former colonies. In recent years, there has been increasing attention for dealing with this shared heritage. For example, a process has been set in motion in which space has been created for the return of heritage to these countries, something that then State Secretary Gunay Uslu called a turning point in dealing with colonial legacies in 2023 (Uslu 2023). There is also a focus on sharing and making this heritage and colonial archives digitally available. In addition, this movable and intangible heritage is shown, researched and questioned in museums and by communities. For example, to what extent do colonial imagery and language use have an impact on current cultural practices of groups?

In February 2025, the Colonial Collections Commission for the fifth time advice on the restitution of colonial heritage. After four previous advices in 2023 and 2024 on the restitution of valuable cultural heritage to Sri Lanka and Indonesia and to the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo nation from Texas in the United States, this time it concerns the restitution of 113 'Benin Bronzes' to Nigeria. Minister Bruins has decided to restitute these objects, which were stolen in 1897. In September 2024, the minister had also decided to return 288 objects from the national collection to Indonesia. Minister Bruins spoke at the time about the material restoration of rights of objects that should never have been in the Netherlands. The committee is currently working on advices on requests from Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia.

In recent years, various heritage institutions and museums have also taken a critical look at their role and responsibility in managing collections with unknown or dubious origin. This led to the establishment of consortia and collaborations between various heritage institutions in the field of provenance and restitution. In addition, Dutch museums, such as the Museum Volkenkunde, have decided to return objects themselves.

In 2024, the advice also appeared Dealing with shared resources of the colonial past Raad voor Cultuur, on restoration and restitution in relation to colonial archives. After extensive consultation with administrators and experts in Suriname, Indonesia and the Caribbean islands, the Council advises to acknowledge the historical injustice done to the former colonies, to repair it where possible and to prevent new injustice in the future. This is more than restitution: it is about unlocking and making these archives accessible, digitally or otherwise, in mutual cooperation. The Caribbean part of the Kingdom in particular must be supported in this to manage its own colonial archives (Raad voor Cultuur 2024).

Diversity, equity and inclusion: where are we now?

What exactly diversity entails in the cultural field is changeable and time-bound. Boekman Extra #46: diversity in cultural notes shows how differently policymakers have shaped the terminology and legitimation of the concept of diversity in cultural notes in recent decades (Van der Leden 2024a). This also applies to the heritage sector.

In line with the shaping of a 'new' cultural citizenship, heritage institutions strive for polyphony and inclusion. During the International Council of Museums (ICOM) conference in 2022, a new museum definition was adopted by the international museum community after a lengthy process with an overwhelming majority (92 percent), in which inclusivity and diversity are core values. The Dutch translation was created in 2023 in collaboration with ICOM Belgium-Flanders, Museum Association and FARO – Flemish support center for cultural heritage:

"A museum is a permanent, non-profit institution, in the service of society, dedicated to the research, collection, preservation, interpretation and exhibition of tangible and intangible heritage. Museums are public, accessible and inclusive, and promote diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with community participation. Museums offer a variety of experiences for the purpose of education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge exchange. "

Where the sector stands today is still difficult to answer. There are several reasons for this. First of all, there is a lack of indicators and data to measure diversity and inclusion - and the data that do exist often concern personal data that can be used with difficulty due to privacy legislation. Secondly, diversity and inclusion are broad concepts that are interpreted in different ways. It is not only about cultural background, but also about age, gender equality, people with a physical and/or functional disability, sexual orientation or socio-economic status. Finally, there is still no clarity or consensus across the sector about what exactly they want to measure, why and how (read more about this on our theme page Diversity, equity and inclusion).

However, various initiatives are taking place in the heritage sector in the field of diversity and inclusion. For example, the Museum Association and the CBS will be conducting their annual Museana request ask museums in the Netherlands about diversity and inclusion, for example with regard to diversity within the board. Imagine IC focuses on living heritage and current cultural practices. The core of their work as a “museum performance of the neighborhood” is to bring people together, to gather them and to let them meet each other.

During the conference on the future of superdiverse cities, the Cultural Currency Conference in November 2024, the advice presented the previous year during the conference by the Dutch Unesco Commission to then State Secretary Uslu under the title 'On(ver)replaceable: The innovative power of culture' was built upon. This advice encourages the development of policy that does justice to the diversity and variety of cultural expressions in the Netherlands, including theCulture. The Dutch UNESCO Commission advises to value, stimulate and use the rich diversity of heritage practices in the Netherlands more effectively. In particular, bicultural youth and communities lack representation in traditional cultural institutions and funds, which means they are not reached properly and lack recognition within the system. In this context, it is interesting that hip-hop culture was included in the KIEN Network of Intangible Heritage Netherlands at the beginning of 2025. Boekman #142 in 2025 is specially dedicated to theCulture.

Intangible heritage and the growing interest in it offer, in a broader sense, an excellent opportunity for the inclusion of a diversity of cultural expressions and groups. Intangible heritage can function as a reflection of society and can help to pass on the culture that shapes us today to future generations. In this way, all kinds of diverse communities feed the inventory of KIEN and therefore it contains a range of cultural holidays and traditions. At the same time, it remains a challenge to actually translate the polyphony within society and the various heritage practices into the intangible heritage field and the inventory.

In this context, the Netherlands is also working with the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. Each of the six islands is working on drawing up its own inventory of intangible heritage (Dijkgraaf 2024). Bonaire started this in 2022 and has now included some 30 forms of intangible heritage (Unesco Working Group Bonaire 2024). In 2023, the six islands and the Netherlands also decided in mutual consultation to jointly nominate Tambú/Barí for inclusion in the International Representative List of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity of Unesco. Tambú is a musical tradition with associated dance, song and celebration. There are communities on Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and in the Netherlands. Curaçao is the driving force behind the nomination process (Gräper 2024a).

Digital strategy and sustainable storage

In the Netherlands, museums and heritage institutions have made great strides in digitizing and making heritage collections accessible online in recent years (Blaker et al. 2024). However, it remains a challenge to connect these separate initiatives, to preserve this digital content sustainably and to make the material accessible to users in a user-friendly manner.

Since its foundation in 2015, the Digital Heritage Network (NDE) has been committed to this. The network is “a partnership of organisations and individuals, such as archives, libraries and museums, trade associations, software suppliers, researchers, programmers, trainers and consultants, historical societies and local heritage communities throughout the Kingdom.” At the end of 2024, the network presented the National Strategy for Digital Heritage 2025-2028, which was created in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The focus remains on striving for digitally connected heritage. The goals for the coming four years are to work (1) towards a data space for the entire Kingdom, including the Caribbean part; (2) towards broad usability of heritage information by focusing on general web standards and data quality; (3) towards a sustainable approach from source to public application and (4) to do this from a dynamic heritage concept (NDE, OCW 2024).