Heritage

Domain

The Heritage domain in the Culture Monitor comprises four disciplines: movable, immovable, intangible and (born) digital heritage. While data on the first two categories have been collected for quite some time, this is not the case for intangible and digital heritage. This page pays extra attention to the last two categories mentioned and the interaction between heritage and society.

Written by

Maartje Goedhart and Mutaleni Nadimi

Latest update April 3, 2024
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Summary

Heritage is all about the community. Change is underway with the focus shifting from experts defining what cultural heritage is to community involvement. This change is reflected in the Faro Convention, initiatives aimed at diversity and inclusion, and the growing interest in intangible heritage, among others. Discussions on restitution and decisions on returning art and artefacts to their original place, as well as a multi-faceted approach to broadening the definition of culture, have also been important developments over the past year.

Domain Heritage

Table of contents

Introduction and key figures

Heritage covers many objects and activities in cultural life, cutting across other domains such as the visual arts, performing arts and games. Heritage reflects how we view our environment, and this is expressed, for example, in an art object, dance performance, museum collection or festival. The Heritage Act therefore defines cultural heritage as follows: 'tangible and intangible resources inherited from the past, created over time by humans or arising from the interaction between humans and the environment, which people, independent of ownership, identify as a reflection and expression of constantly evolving values, beliefs, knowledge and traditions, and which provide them and future generations with a frame of reference' (Bussemaker 2015). As such, heritage and its understanding are constantly changing and subject to the way we design our society.

However, a monitor requires demarcation. After all, to measure you need an indication of what you are going to measure. This leads us to the following definitions:

  • Movable heritage: tangible heritage that is transportable, such as archives in physical form or sculptures and paintings in a museum. It also includes mobile heritage, such as a steam train or other means of transport from the past (Rijksoverheid z.j.).
  • Immovable heritage: tangible and site-specific heritage, such as historic buildings, monuments and monumental city and village sites.
  • Intangible heritage: cultural expressions that are not tangible and give communities, groups or individuals a sense of identity. This heritage is dynamic and is continually reshaped in conjunction with social change and interaction, living from generation to generation (KIEN z.j.). Think of crafts (miller's craft, chair weaving), performing arts (singing shanties, tambú) or festivities and social practices (Summer Carnival Rotterdam, Pride Amsterdam, King's Day).
  • Digital heritage: digitised heritage (heritage material that is not digital in origin, but of which a digital reproduction has been made), born digital (heritage without analogue equivalent) and digital heritage information (descriptions of heritage objects, also called metadata) (Grooten et al. 2008). Examples include games, digital texts, photographs and videos, or digital designs required in the creation of objects, for example.

We are well aware that the four categories are interconnected, and not so easily separated, such as rituals or crafts associated with certain objects, or parades in historic city centres. And so, digitisation and digitalisation play a major role in both the archiving and creation of contemporary art.

Monuments and city and village sites

The visualisation below offers insight into the many national monuments and monumental city and village sites in the Netherlands. The tabs above the figure can be used to switch between the different graphs.

Source: Heritage Monitor / National Cultural Heritage Agency

The National Cultural Heritage Agency (Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, RCE) has been collecting data on the state of heritage for years and presents these facts and figures on built and archaeological monuments, museums and collections and historic landscape in its Heritage Monitor. In 2023, the Netherlands has 61.729 national monuments, including mills, castles, churches and landscaped greenery, such as parks and gardens of country estates. However, by far the largest proportion of national monuments are houses (31.543), followed by farms and mills (9.898).

Dealing with cultural heritage in our living environment is regulated in the Environment Act. This involves matters like environmental permits for national monuments, the appointment of a monument committee, and considering cultural heritage in environmental planning. On January 1, 2024, the Environment Act came into force, which includes the spatial protection of cultural heritage. This law requires a new approach from municipalities with various spatial instruments. Municipalities have until 2030 to finalise environmental plans. The Environment Act includes spatial planning and regulations for heritage conservation in the living environment. This requires different considerations by municipalities: balancing urban development (such as housing) against heritage conservation and integration. Such an integration can provide a thoughtful approach, preserving heritage in future housing projects, for a culturally rich and sustainable living environment.

Museums

The data below have provisional status in the CBS data base.

€ x 1.000.000

Source: CBS

Most large museums (with a turnover of 3.2 million euros and more) are located in South and North Holland (26 and 22 per cent of the total in 2022, respectively), and more than half of all museums are history museums. But heritage is more than just tangible culture. The Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage (Kenniscentrum Immaterieel Erfgoed Nederland, KIEN) - which maps the different forms of intangible heritage and secures it for the future - reports on 210 different forms of heritage in their 2023 inventory. Of these, the largest category is 'Festivities, rituals and social practices', which includes, for example, King's Day, various flower parades or the 'kopro beki' tradition.

Intangible heritage and participation in heritage

The data below, on the various forms of intangible heritage in the ‘Inventory of Intangible Heritage Netherlands’ add up to a higher total than stated in the text. This is because one item in the inventory can fall under multiple categories.

n
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Source: Netherlands Intangible Heritage Knowledge Center and Boekman Foundation/OCW/CBS

Trends and developments

Restitution of cultural heirlooms from the colonial past

In 2022, Indonesia and Sri Lanka officially requested the return of valuable cultural artefacts stolen during the colonial period. After careful investigation and close cooperation, a special committee recommended the return of several objects, including statues, a sword, treasures and an art collection, to these countries. This decision symbolises an effort to right historical wrongs and marks a turning point in dealing with colonial legacies, as also appointed by then state secretary Uslu.

This decision has also led to the return of other stolen cultural items by museums such as the Museum of Ethnology and the Rijksmuseum. Recent discussions on public history, diversity of opinion, restitution of stolen art and the role of governments and communities are now featured prominently at symposia. The talks highlight the value of museums and activists in sharing stories that are often overlooked, and they also encourage dialogue on fair access to cultural heritage. This leads museums to rethink their role and responsibilities in managing collections of unknown origin. As a result, it has led to the creation of consortia and collaborations between different heritage institutions on provenance and restitution.

Cultural identity: why is heritage important?

The question of what heritage is and why it is important is closely related to the question of who determines what heritage is. In January 2024, the Netherlands signed the Faro Convention. The Faro Convention places people and society at the centre, as well as their relationship with heritage. 6 million euros are available for its implementation in the Netherlands. This treaty emphasises a perspective on heritage in which people and their relationship with heritage are centralWith this as a starting point, it is important that people also have access to heritage and can participatein it. In this sense, cultural professionals, practitioners and creators also form heritage communities with their own needs, those involved in making or practising as well as those who manage (such as archivists, conservators or curators).

Heritage is important for awareness of our past and gives meaning to society today and our future. According to the Council for Culture (Raad voor Cultuur): 'any discussion on the value of culture will have to take into account the one characteristic that sets culture apart from everything else. Which is the aesthetic value of the arts and the intrinsic value of heritage. No other part of our society - sport, economics, science, religion - makes such an explicit appeal to this aesthetic and intrinsic value. In heritage, an object or act creates a personal connection between people and (their own or another's) history, traditions and stories' (Raad voor Cultuur 2023, 5).

On March 25, 2024, the Council for Culture (Raad voor Cultuur) presented the advice 'Dealing with shared sources of the colonial past' to State Secretary Gräper-van Koolwijk (Culture and Media). The advice stresses the importance of recognising shared cultural and/or moral ownership of colonial archives and documentary collections. The Netherlands is advised to enter into an equal dialogue with countries involved, so that these sources are traceable, usable, interpretable and visible worldwide.

During the conference on the future of superdiverse cities, the Cultural Currency Conference (November 2023), the Dutch Unesco Commission presented advice to then-Secretary of State Gunay Uslu entitled 'Irreplaceable: The innovative power of culture'. This advice urges the development of policies that do justice to the diversity and valuable variety of cultural expressions in the Netherlands, including 'the Culture' . The Dutch Unesco Commission recommends that the rich diversity of cultural expressions in the Netherlands be more appreciated, stimulated and utilised more effectively. Certain forms of cultural expression and creativity are marginalised or ignored. This can lead to limited support, less access to cultural institutions and visibility, causing creators to experience inequality. Specifically, bicultural youth and communities lack representation in traditional cultural institutions and funds, so they are not adequately reached and lack recognition within the system.

Diversity, equity and inclusion: where are we now?

In line with shaping a 'new' cultural citizenship, heritage institutions are striving for multi-voiced and inclusive diversity. At the International Council of Museums (ICOM) conference in 2022, after a lengthy process with a huge majority vote (92%), a new museum definition was adopted by the international museum community, in which inclusiveness and diversity are core values. The Dutch translation was created in 2023 in cooperation with ICOM Belgium-Flanders, Museumvereniging and FARO - Flemish support centre for cultural heritage: 'A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society, aimed at researching, collecting, preserving, interpreting and exhibiting 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.'

We also see an anchoring of multi-vocality in policy across the cultural sector. In 2019, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science launched the Diversity and Inclusion Code together with the VSB Fund and the six National Culture Funds. However, this code and the Culture Governance Code and Fair Practice Code are not a permanent part of the assessment of BIS (Culturele basisinfrastructuur) grant applications, as expected beforehand. The demand for change is also evident in the sector. Where the sector stands today is still difficult to answer. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, there is a lack of indicators and data to measure diversity and inclusion - and the data that exist mostly concern personal data that can be (more) difficult to use due to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). Second, diversity and inclusion are broad concepts that are interpreted differently. It includes not only cultural background, but also age, gender equality, persons with physical and/or functional disabilities, LGBTQIA+ communities and socio-economic status, among others. Finally, there is still no sector-wide clarity or consensus on what exactly we want to measure, why and how (read more about this on our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion theme page).

However, several initiatives on diversity and inclusion are taking place in the heritage sector. Imagine IC focuses on living heritage and contemporary cultural practices. The core of their work as a 'museum performance of the neighbourhood' is to bring people together, gather and let them meet. There will also be a new museum in Amsterdam about Surinamese history and culture and the complex relationship between the Netherlands and Suriname. Theatres and theatre companies are also joining forces (see Theatre domain page). There are also numerous initiatives to make the book sector more diverse (see Literature domain page) and efforts are also being made in the Dutch film sector (see Audiovisual domain page).

Intangible heritage and the growing interest in it provide an ideal space for diversity and inclusion within heritage. For example, KIEN's inventory is nurtured from within the community and therefore contains a diversity of holidays and traditions. To serve as a reflection of Dutch society and pass on the culture that shapes us today to future generations, diversity and inclusion is a necessity within heritage. Currently, five Dutch entries are on the UNESCO International Representative List of Intangible Heritage: the miller's craft (since 2017), corso culture and falconry (both since 2021), and the Rotterdam Summer Carnival and the technique of Grassland Irrigation (both since 2023).

The Rotterdam Summer Carnival was nominated for the international UNESCO list back in 2020, having already been on the Dutch list of intangible heritage. UNESCO recognises that the Summer Carnival has its origins in carnival traditions from the Caribbean part of the kingdom, Cape Verde, Suriname and Spain. Various groups from different backgrounds prepare for a year, creating costumes together, building floats and rehearsing for the parade. This joint effort contributes to the recognition of the Summer Carnival as part of the 'intangible cultural heritage of humanity'.

Digital strategy and sustainable storage

Although the Netherlands has invested heavily in digitising heritage collections and making them accessible in recent years, the recent growth in the number of digital initiatives once again raises the issue of sustainable storage of this digital content. The lockdown in the early 2020s forced the cultural sector to accelerate digitisation. However, this did not lead to a complete restructuring of the sector (Hylland, 2022). Digitisation is currently mainly about converting physical cultural elements into digital forms, such as archiving museum exhibits or performances to make them accessible online. Often, digitisation serves as a first step towards broader digitalisation efforts.

Digital accessibility is additionally about how to preserve art and heritage. The way in which something is made accessible can affect the authenticity of a work. It is good to be alert to ways of preservation that do not alter the functionalities or appearance of the work.

Digital access to museums

Part of the permanent collection accessible to the public via the internet, 2015 and 2022.

%

Museum figures 2022

In 2022, 68 per cent of the permanent museum collection was accessible to the public via the internet, a significant increase from 23 per cent in 2015 (Blaker et al. 2023). About a fifth of Dutch people viewed visual art online in 2020 (VTO 2021, read more about this on Culture and Participation). These indicators are now also included in the Heritage Monitor (Digitisation and National Digital Heritage Network). Additionally, almost 40 per cent of Dutch people have looked up information on old customs, crafts or traditions, historical buildings, objects or events, or local and regional history via the internet.

Moreover, previous research shows that as many as 80 per cent of the Dutch use digital heritage (Mulder et al. 2019). This number is expected to increase due to intensified efforts from institutions. The Innovation Labs programme (2021-2022) aimed to boost new resilience and digital innovation in the cultural and creative sector. Besides providing funding for project implementation, the programme also provided funds for the creation of a knowledge and community programme. In it, the selected projects were encouraged to learn from each other and work together.

Digital strategy is part of the BIS (Culturele basisinfrastructuur) for the first time. DEN supports organisations to make their digital transformation manageable for the period 2025-2028. The digital transformation has effects on creators, institutions, products and audiences. This is why networks and partnerships are more important than ever: sharing each other's expertise when it comes to archiving, documenting and accessing. Several organisations are already actively working together to support cultural institutions in the field of digital heritage preservation.

Collaboration is crucial due to limited resources and other challenges. This is also evident from the TNO 2023 report 'Exploration of digital transformation and digital interactive spaces in the cultural sector', which finds that various stakeholders, from cultural institutions to the tech industry, need to be involved in developing scalable concepts. The broad baseline exploration shows that it is 'crucial for the future resilience of the Dutch cultural sector to continue working on in-depth underpinnings for shared interactive digital spaces where the full breadth and diversity of the cultural sector can find, engage and captivate existing and especially new audiences.'

What else do we want to know about the Heritage domain?

It is important to follow the pursuit of multivocality and inclusion. There is a lot of relevant literature on the Caribbean part of the Dutch Kingdom, for instance the anthology on Antillean Heritage by Gert Oostindie and Alex van Stipriaan or Boekman 128: Culture in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. KIEN is also working in collaboration with the Caribbean islands on three websites for intangible heritage, enabling the islands to maintain their own heritage files with inventories. Bonaire's website has been online since March 2022. The question arises of how we can include such data and information in the monitor and in what form is that desirable? Finally, this report still lacks data on diversity and inclusion in subcategories such as archaeology, landscape and built heritage. In the next 2023 update, we intend to pay more attention to this. Data for intangible heritage is still limited. There are plenty of qualitative examples, but a lack of structural data makes it difficult to gain quantitative insight into intangible heritage. An attempt is made for practitioners and visitors in the Leisure Omnibus (Vrijetijd Omnibus, VTO), but it remains limited.

Data on digital heritage are also not always accessible or available. Which indicators should one use, for instance to measure digital consumption (visits/visitors)? And how do these relate to physical consumption, such as a visit to a museum? Research is underway into digital heritage indicators, currently conducted by the NDE, the continuation of which will fall to the RCE. It is important to follow up on these developments with the Culture Monitor.

Want to know more about the Heritage domain?

View more data about the Heritage domain in the Dashboard of the Culture Monitor. 

More literature about the Heritage domain can be found in the Knowledge base of the Boekman Foundation.

Previous editions of the text on this domain page can be found here:
2021
2022

Sources

Blaker, N., Veldkamp, ​​J., Beijersbergen, A., Booij, HM and Niessen, K. (2023) Museum figures 2022. Amsterdam: Museum Foundation, Museum Association.

Broek, A. van den and Y. Gieles (2018) Cultural life: 10 cultural domains viewed from 14 core themes. The Hague: Social and Cultural Planning Office.

Bussemaker, M. (2015) Bundling and adapting rules in the field of cultural heritage (Heritage Act). House of Representatives 34109, no. 3.

DEN (2017) ENUMERATE / The Digital Facts 2016-2017. The Hague: DEN Knowledge Institute for Digital Culture.

DEN (n.d.) Focus model: Successful digital transformation requires an integrated approach. On: www.den.nl.

Engelshoven, IK van (2019) Principles of cultural policy 2021-2024. The Hague: Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

Engelshoven, IK van (2021) About the value of cultural heritage for society. The Hague: Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

Grooten, J. (et al.) (ed.) (2008) ABC-DE, dictionary for digital heritage. The Hague: DEN.

Hylland, OM (2022) Tales of temporary disruption: Digital adaptations in the first 100 days of the cultural Covid lockdown. In: Poetics (Amst). 2022 Feb;90:101602.

Joode, E. de (2020) Museums want to continue to attract stay-at-home visitors with video tours and podcasts. On: www.nos.nl.

Huut, T. van (2022) Ideological sting seems to be out: museums vote on definition. On: www.nrc.nl, August 17, 2022

ICOM (n.d.) Museum definition. On: www.icom.museum.

KIEN (n.d.) What is intangible heritage?. On: www.immaterialerfgoed.nl

Mulder, J., B. van Mil, S. Compagner and L. Wolters (2019) Research the current state of digital accessibility and use of Dutch heritage. The Hague: KwinkGroep.

OCW (2017) Heritage Balance 2017. The Hague: Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

OCW (2021) State of the Dutch Digital Heritage 2021: 1-measurement following the Intensification Program 2019-2021. Utrecht: Dialogic commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

Raad voor Cultuur (2023) Work program 2023-2024. The Hague: Raad voor Cultuur.

National government (zj) Take care of movable heritage. On: www.rijksoverheid.nl.

Small, Z. (2019) A new definition of “museum'' sparks international debate. On: www.hyperallergic.com.

TNO (2023) Exploring digital transformation and one digital interactive space in the cultural sector. Final report TNO 2023 R10852.

UNESCO (n.d.) File: Intangible heritage. On: www.unesco.nl.

UNESCO (n.d.) Irreplaceable. The innovative power of the Culture. On: www.unesco.nl.

Uslu, G. (2022a) Presentation of advice 'Irreplaceable and Indispensable' from the Committee for the Collection of the Netherlands. The Hague: Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

Uslu, G. (2022b) Multi-year letter – The power of creativity. The Hague: Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. 

Uslu, G. (2023) Letter to Parliament on the return of cultural property to Indonesia and Sri Lanka | Parliamentary piece. The Hague: Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

Visser, J. and L. Kuiper (joint) (2021) Museum figures 2020. Amsterdam: Museum Foundation, Museum Association.

Visser, J. and L. Kuiper (joint) (2022) Museum figures 2021. Amsterdam: Museum Foundation, Museum Association.

Justification text and image

Editorial note: An earlier version of this page was written by Shomara Roosblad.

Discussion partners: In 2021 we spoke to various people to collect information for the development of this domain page.

Graphics and design: Summer Carnival Rotterdam / Photography: Ugur Arpaci (via Unsplash).

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