Yesterday, Wednesday, representatives of various museums and institutions met with interested parties at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin to discuss the topic "Rio, Notre-Dame - what's next? Cultural Property Protection as a Global Task", moderated by the Federal Foreign Office. Prof. Alexander Kellner, Director of the Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, gave an emotional and forward-looking lecture on the fire, its consequences, the challenges of reconstruction and the lessons we can draw from it for the global protection of cultural assets.
"Germany is committed to its global heritage, also through the 660 million euros made available to the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin for the preservation and development of the global collection," said Johannes Vogel, Director General of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. "We are the place that brings together the various actors and stakeholders and we are proud to work with so many exciting partners.
Sensitivity to the value of cultural heritage, to what constitutes our identity, our history and our future, often develops only after a catastrophe. The fire at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro and the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral are only the most recent major losses at cultural institutions that have catastrophic consequences for cultural memory - and not just for the nations affected. In view of the massive damage that can be caused by fires, earthquakes, storms and floods even in peacetime, precautionary contingency planning measures for the preservation of cultural heritage are of paramount importance.
What can we do? All those present last night agreed on the need to form coalitions and to work collectively internationally. Nation-state thinking must be overcome. Sharing Heritage means joint responsibility and negotiation at eye level with everyone involved. Museums must preserve their originals, because there is something exciting, something new to discover even when you look at them repeatedly.
Kellner stressed that only through the international community can the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, which was destroyed on September 2, 2018, be rebuilt. "A society that does not value and support its museums has died, at least in part, culturally," said Kellner. It is about building the building, protecting the collections, making research on the objects possible again, setting up an education centre and increasing international cooperation. The international community can help through letters of support and contacts to companies and foundations.
"It is important for society not only to invest in highways as infrastructure, but also in culture and lively cultural life. To this end, we need to open up museums, as the Berlin Museum of Natural History is doing in an exemplary manner," emphasizes Dr. Andreas Görgen of the Federal Foreign Office.