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Museums in heritage buildings

Outlining the interface between two fields of expertise of the RCE: monument conservation and museum support.

The general picture of Dutch museums is one of institutions located in the historic city centre and housed in old buildings. Sometimes those buildings have the status of national monument. The question is: how strong is the connection between museums and national monuments really?

Tssiispakhus Wommels

't Tsiispakhús Dairy Museum in Wommels, housed in a former cheese warehouse.

Sometimes the building is the most important object in the collection. However due to the museum function, administrators impose many demands concerning climate, security and receiving visitors.

Custodianship

When the building is a national monument, there is a constant quest for a balance between the valuable and protected architectural elements and the function of the building as a museum. This requires creativity. This project aimed to answer question of how many museums have the custodianship of a special building as well as the custodianship of a collection.