Lecture: International Programme for Maritime Heritage of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands

A festival boat made to look like the Kanrin Maru rests on top of Cape Saraki in Kikonai (Hokkaido), where the vessel wrecked in 1871. Each year in May, the shipwreck event is commemorated on Cape Saraki during the Tulip Festival (photo: Kikonai Municipality).

Lecture: International Programme for Maritime Heritage of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands

Leon Derksen presented the International Programme for Maritime Heritage and the ‘Search for the Kanrin Maru Shipwreck’ in Hokkaido (Japan) as a case study.

On Friday 29 March, the symposium ‘Maritiem tableau: Vier resultaten van nieuw maritiem-historisch onderzoek in Nederland’ ('Maritime tableau: Four results of new maritime historical research in the Netherlands') took place at the Maritime Museum of Rotterdam. It was the seventh in a series of symposia organised within the subprojects Maritiem Portal and NMGN, and it involved the Huygens ING, the Maritieme Koepel, the Maritiem Portal and the editor-in-chief of NMGN. Leon Derksen of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) gave a presentation on the main lines of the International Programme for Maritime Heritage of the RCE. And he presented the ‘Search for the Kanrin Maru Shipwreck’ in Hokkaido (Japan) as a case study.


A diver probing the seabed in search of shipwreck material (photo: Masahiro Takahashi, ARIUA).  

 

Sharing information on shared cultural heritage

The lecture informed the attendees about sustainable conservation of shipwreck remains of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the Dutch West India Company (WIC), and the Dutch Admiralty and Navy inside and outside Dutch borders, which are managed by the RCE's International Programme for Maritime Heritage. The programme also engages in collaborative projects with countries such as Japan that are considered a priority country within the framework of the RCE's Shared Cultural Heritage Programme. In 2017 and 2018, the RCE and Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology launched a collaborative search for the shipwreck of the Kanrin Maru, using this opportunity to exchange knowledge and build capacity in the field of maritime heritage management. The Kanrin Maru was a warship built in the Netherlands for Japan that wrecked in 1871 in Hokkaido, Japan.

With around 70 visitors, the seventh edition of the symposium was well attended. During the symposium, three other presenters gave an insight into recent results in the field of maritime historical research

Did you find this information useful?
0