A Network for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage
Ralph BODENSTEIN | Felicia MEYNERSEN
(German Archaeological Institute, Berlin, Germany)
Keywords: post-conflict recovery, capacity building, Syria, Iraq
Abstract:
The Archaeological Heritage Network (ArcHerNet) is a network of German cultural heritage institutions that aims at pooling their wide range of expertise in the protection and conservation of heritage, and at building a platform for collaboration and exchange on national and international levels. ArcHerNet was officially founded in April 2016, is supported by the German Foreign Office, and coordinated at the German Archaeological Institute. The experts’ network brings together 18 founding members, including universities, museums, research institutions, professional organisations, academic foundations, the federal associations of Germany’s state departments for archaeology and heritage conservation, and the national committees of international heritage organisations. ArcHerNet makes their competences better accessible internationally, and creates synergies, international co-production and collaborative solutions that are needed to rise up to the growing challenges in the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide.
By combining innovative research, sustainable education, and practical work with measures to boost economic potential and thereby foster stability in host and partner countries, ArcHerNet will also generate greater acceptance of cultural relations and education policy in the long term.
In response to the ongoing crisis in Syria and neighboring countries in the region, the first joint project of the ArcHerNet is “Stunde Null – A Future after the Crisis”.