Dutch Cultural Heritage: Art and History

About

This course studies the cultural heritage of the Low Countries from a critical perspective. Monumental buildings, museum collections and cultural landscapes in the Netherlands and Belgium give us a selective historical understanding of both countries.

Heritage is what a social context wants to preserve in the present for enacting certain futures; also in the Netherlands and Belgium certain pasts have been preserved, and others have been deliberately forgotten. In this course, we study the mechanics and politics of heritage-making by zooming in on the Low Countries.

We learn about both countries' carefully constructed historical landscapes and explore the politics and tensions behind them. Students learn and engage with a series of heritage and art collections and learn about Dutch and Belgian culture and politics and how heritage played a role in making society and citizens. Since many collections and monuments have been made in the 19th and 20th centuries students learn about the cultural history of that period as well.

The course importantly also zooms in on more contemporary debates about heritage preservation: we look at the contested memory of fascism, slavery and colonialism. In the course, three excursions are planned across the Low Countries.

Course leader

Dr. Gertjan Plets

Target group

The programme is open to students from all discipline. The course will focus on the humanities and social sciences.

Course aim

This course introduces participants to the history of the Netherlands and Dutch art.

Fee info