Wim Hupperetz (1966) is currently director at Centre Ceramique and gthe Maastricht Museum , the Natural History Museum in Maastricht and part time professor on Museums, Heritage, and Digital Curation at the University of Amsterdam. He studied Ancient History and Provincial Roman Archaeology at Radboud University; in 2004 he defended his PhD thesis on a multidisciplinary research on The memory of a street at Tilburg University. He was curator in the Limburgs Museum for 16 years. He worked at the Netherlands Institute for Heritage as programme manager Heritage of Cultural Landscape and Urban Environment. In 2009 he became director of the Allard Pierson Museum, the archaeological museum of the University of Amsterdam. In 2017 he also became director of the Special Collections of the Library of the University of Amsterdam. He publishes on heritage studies, design, Roman archaeology, medieval castles, medieval/early modern pottery and material culture, museology and heritage studies.
Professor by Special Appointment of the History of Dutch Culture, in particular the study of objects, in the Faculty of Humanities at the VU University (Amsterdam). The chair was established in 1990 on behalf of the Royal Antiquarian Society (Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap, KOG).
Phone: +31 6 57930680
Address: Oude Turfmarkt 127
1012 GC Amsterdam
Professor by Special Appointment of the History of Dutch Culture, in particular the study of objects, in the Faculty of Humanities at the VU University (Amsterdam). The chair was established in 1990 on behalf of the Royal Antiquarian Society (Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap, KOG).
Phone: +31 6 57930680
Address: Oude Turfmarkt 127
1012 GC Amsterdam
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collaboration project called ‘CEMEC’ (Connecting Early Medieval
European Collections), which took place between 2015 and 2019. It is
aimed at our colleagues working in the field of cultural heritage:
museum management and museum specialists, university specialists
(interested in) collaborating with museums, and people in technical and
creative companies with museums among their regular customers.
The lessons we would like to share with you relate to inter-institutional
and international collaboration, the organisation of travelling exhibitions,
the development and user evaluations of digital applications, and last but
not least: business-model innovation in museums. All those issues are
central to the current operation of museums and to their future.
Er moet meer aandacht komen voor de biografie en herkomst van museale collecties vanwege het feit dat deze bepalend zijn voor de betekenis en impact. Daarvoor moet meer aandacht worden geschonken aan de biografie van objecten en verzamelaars en kan er een beter begrip ontstaan van de complexiteit van waarden die juist verbonden is aan museale objecten. Daarnaast is het voor musea van belang om de impact van nieuwe technologie zoals ‘The Internet of Things’ op de positie van de curator/conservator te onderzoeken.
Rol van de curator verandert
Dit zijn de twee belangrijkste uitdagingen die Hupperetz in zijn betoog benoemt. De eerste is sterk verbonden met de actuele gebeurtenissen in Nederland zoals het naast elkaar bestaan van verschillende waardesystemen, die bijvoorbeeld tot uiting komt in de zwartepieten discussie. Hupperetz: “In feite is dit een overgang tussen de uitgangspunten van onze moderne samenleving en het postmoderne gedachtegoed, waarbij begrippen als ‘’waarheid’’ en ‘’werkelijkheid’’ geproblematiseerd worden en dat leidt tot veel onzekerheid en frustratie.” De andere uitdaging is verbonden met technologie zoals The Internet of Things, waarbij de rol van de curator onherroepelijk zal veranderen. Hupperetz: “Als museale collecties onderdeel worden van dat internet der dingen, dan wordt het selecteren en beoordelen overgenomen door de zoeksystemen die achter Amazon, Google en Facebook zitten en krijgen we een heel andere dynamiek.”
Vertaling post-moderniteit naar museale praktijk
Hupperetz bouwt voort op de ideeën van zijn voorganger Ad de Jong, die zich in 2009 al afvroeg wanneer de volgende kentering in het museale domein zou komen. Hupperetz: “Naar mijn mening zitten we nog steeds middenin die kentering tussen modernisme en postmodernisme. De reflectie op de aloude moderniteit is cruciaal maar ook problematisch als het gaat om de vertaling naar de museale praktijk.” De leerstoel betreft in het bijzonder de studie der voorwerpen vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap (KOG). In zijn onderzoek wil Wim Hupperetz duidelijk maken dat voorwerpen het voertuig zijn van ons collectief geheugen en als dynamisch erfgoed is de betekenis daarvan altijd in beweging. Hupperetz: “Het is simpelweg met de tijd meegaan. Dat klinkt eenvoudig, maar het betekent dat we ons open moeten stellen voor verandering, dat we nieuwsgierig zijn naar de ander, gevoelig zijn voor de biografie en diversiteit die besloten ligt in mensen en voorwerpen om ons heen. En dat is wat ik bedoel met het museum als medium van het geheugen.”
The differing value systems of modernism and postmodernism exist alongside each other to a significant extent, but also regularly collide. How do we deal with this: do we want to go back to the past, do we cleave to what we have, or do we go with the times? I hope to have clarified that we constantly create our own past by whatever means, that we link that past to places and objects, and that this is inevitably and irrevocably bound up with collective memory. I have used Caesar’s clay seal as example. It reveals the different types of historical awareness and the difference in evaluation. That awareness is significant because it may be an ordering principle for museums.
This chair concerns the study of objects and I have aimed to clarify that objects are the vehicle for our collective memory. Their meaning in terms of dynamic heritage is always in motion. I spoke about ‘going with the times’. That sounds so simple, but it means that we open ourselves to change, that we are curious about the other, sensitive to the biography and diversity locked up in the people and objects around us. We then arrive once more at the many-voiced and layered nature of our own identity.
Our amnesia is irrevocable, and the things we do gather up or preserve seems arbitrary. When the temple archive in Edfu burnt down hundreds of documents were lost. The clay seals that remained and were preserved after the fire in my view symbolise the balance that we should strive for in heritage management. Here the three stations of past, present and future form a simple guideline.
In the first place, the clay seal is an historical source, unlocking as an object different perspectives on Julius Caesar. At the same time it is important that we try to link this clay seal with the here and now. Just last year the seal was exhibited for the first time during the MuseumCamp at the Allard Pierson Museum. A publication is currently being prepared, and in the near future everyone will soon be able to make a 3D-print of it.
This object will thereby provide inspiration for new generations, and new layers of meaning will grow. What is important is that we have to allow ourselves a reservoir. It took more than a century before the relevance and meaning of this clay seal were perceived. But here we confront another paradox: that of the digital storage of our recollections. The more we store digitally, the more vulnerable and evanescent our digital memory turns out to be.
At the end of this lecture, I am afraid I have to confuse you a little. The clay seal with Caesar’s likeness has been the leitmotiv in my argument. But we do not know what Caesar really looked like by any means. Yes, we have coins depicting Caesar, but they are not uniform. And the likeness of sculpted portraits is still debated. Nevertheless, there is an image of Caesar in our collective memory, and so also in this museum object. In any event, this clay seal impression participates in our perception. And that is what I mean by the museum as medium of memory.
This book wants to show readers a different image of Rome, an image characterised first and foremost by the diversity of the Roman world. We can only understand that diversity if we study the Roman world as a whole – not split into east and west or into provinces – and in the context of world history. We will do so by looking into seven themes that together offer a comprehensive overview in which dynamics and change are the central concepts. In order to shed light on the local aspect, we will focus on three regions which are Roman in their very own and unmistakeable ways: the Italian peninsula, Egypt, and the Low Countries.
The Roman Empire has many faces. Some of the more important ones will be singled out here, creating a kaleidoscopic image of a changing world and a new image of the Roman Empire that will help to set rusty views in motion again.
Through exhibitions, blogs, videos, and publications, we were able to realize a new approach to the communication of Etruscan tombs and collections in exhibitions in the Netherlands and Belgium. At the end of the project, the final resulting applications will be installed for permanentuse in the Vatican Museums, Villa Giulia (Rome, IT) and Museum Formello (Veio, IT). Furthermore, this project proved that it is possible to enable and support cultural heritage institutions to create, run and exchange digital 3D reconstructions."
Summary [PhD thesis 2004 published by Matrijs (2004)
This research project is aimed at telling the story of the residents of a street located in an historical city centre. For this purpose, the history of the occupants of the houses in the Visserstraat, located in the city of Breda, has been studied. What have been the changes that the Visserstraat has been through in a spatial-fysical matter, in a social-economical matter or in the sense of the housing culture since the establishment of its first residents in the twelfth century, through to the commencement of the twenty-first century? These research questions are to be addressed in this dissertation.
The conducted study did not only yield interesting results with respect to the content of the findings – these will be elaborated upon in chapter seven – but it also led to a methodological quest aimed at answering four main questions. First of all, research efforts were aimed at establishing the size and span of the memory of one specific street, the Visserstraat in Breda. Two aspects can be distinguished for this purpose: the social-cultural proceedings and the spatial-fysical objects. Of both aspects sources are provided that can be used as the fundaments of a memory. In turn that memory can give rise to specific recollections that are closely related to historical notions. Three sorts of historical notions can be specified, which can be linked to three different time-levels, as described by Braudel. In the description of the history of residence in this street I will use this specification for providing structure. This study thus also provides insights into the availability of different sources. Because of the current academic tradition the possibilities of combining research results provided by distinct disciplines remains under utilized.
While establishing the size and span of the memory, the possibilities for gathering information on the micro-level of houses and street facts were also assessed. Following a micro-historical approach, the street and two construction blocks were studied in detail. Limiting the scope of research is an analytical principle that has a special added value if data are collected from different disciplines. Archaeological findings and historical data regarding construction then allow a much more precise dating as well as a more precise meaning. Naturally, these sources regarding the micro-level of houses and streets were not available for all periods. For this reason, the developments in the twelfth and thirteenth century are described at a city-level.
In second place, this study has tried to explore the boundaries of an integrated approach. This refers to the fact that data have been gathered and interpreted from the scope of various disciplines, ultimately yielding to combined results that show the social-economical, living-culture and urban development. It is even one more step to arrive at an interdisciplinary approach which allows the combination of results beforehand. For the ordering of the different disciplines and ways of study a distinction was made between three approaches, namely an object-oriented approach, a society-oriented approach which emphasizes the human being, and an ethnological approach. The distinction between the first two will be evident; the difference between the first two and the last approach lies in the fact that the ethnological approach relates the found data to the current state, thus placing a greater emphasis on their contextual meaning. Besides, it is not likely to state that these approaches could be used independently, as ethnological studies are often based on studies of materials, or on the results of social-economical studies. Conversely, ethnological concepts and interpretations are often tested using the ‘hard data’ of the other two disciplines.
Thirdly, the long-term perspective was studied, as the gathered data refer to eight-hundred years of history. For ordering the data the classification as event-, conjectural- and structural aspects was restored. In the Chapters two trough six, different objects and events are described. Each chapter refers to a time-span of two-hundred years, allowing the surface of the most important conjunctures. These are described in Chapter seven using an integrated approach where possible. In the cultural-historical analysis the structural elements of the studied area were brought to light. With respect to the spatial-physical matters, the parcellation, the structure of the construction blocks and the body of the houses were used as structural elements. With respect to the social-cultural aspects, the usage of the residences is the structural element, which can change of meaning depending on the conjectural state.
The fourth question refers to the possibilities of implementation of the cultural-historical analysis for cultural urban planning of the historical city centres. With respect to this implementation, a gap can be stated between the work of the historians and the specialists from urban development. This gap is the result of a lack of attention for:
- the social-cultural perspective of the inhabitants on the part of the urban development specialists
- the built environment by the historians
The memory of a street and the cultural-historical analysis can be used to aid the enduring debate regarding tradition and modernization, as it is conducted within the sector of the preservation of monuments and historic buildings and Urban Development, especially with respect to historical city centres. The tasks at the crossroads of these two disciplines, are currently being delegated to the discipline of Cultural Urban Planning. It is important to provide this relatively new discipline with a new content which ensures the conduction of studies from a truly integrated and multidisciplinary perspective.
Belongs to PhD thesis The memory of a street, eighthundred years living in the Visserstraat, Breda.
Belongs to teh PhD thesis by Wim Hupperetz
The cesspit was discovered during the restoration of a Breda house called 'De Drye Mooren', 'The Three Moors'. During the 17th century an inn was kept in the house, which was owned by the Breda Reformed Church and its 'Table of the Holy Ghost' (poor relief) from 1626 to 1703. In the church wardens accounts repairs and extensions to the building are mentioned. In the year 1663 the house was extended backwards. The outer wall of this extention closed the cesspit. That fact provides a datum ante quem. From the same accounts it appears that the pit was cleaned regularly, the last time before 1663 being after October lOth, 1661, the datum post quem. Apart from a small number of objects left behind by the cleaners, the vast majority of the objects must have been dumped between late 1661 and sometime during 1663.
As it is very likely that ceramic objects of an inn generally have a shorter lifespan than those from an ordinary household, many of the objects found were not much older than 1660. The numerous remains of the extremely fragile clay pipes is another corroboration of this dating. Of the 85 pipe bowls 49 bear marks, many of them of known local pipemakers.
The differentiation in pottery types found in the cesspit is rather typical for an inn: 50 out of 137 ceramic items were plates of one kind or another, 84 drinking glasses were counted (not published here), but only 11 pipkins. The number of stoneware jugs is not very large (13) which suggests that pewter jugs were used more frequently; an inventory of 1678 bears out this suggestion. In percentages: 70% of the pottery was used on the table, only 14% in the kitchen.
Wim Hupperetz
The region of the Limburg Meuse valley (Middenlimburgse Maasdal) was during the conquest excursions of Ceasar part of the civitas of the Eburones, which was led by the kings Ambiorix and Catuvulcus. A civitas was divided into pagi (Ambivariti?) who had a fairly autonomous political and religious position. The agricultural economy of the Eburones was vulnarable to internal warfare; the creation of reinforced settlements, stock shaping and the mobilisation of valuable resources was a way to limit this vulnarability
Reinforced settlements are not known from the Limburg Meuse valley. Both the settlement pattern as the burial ritual were uniformal which suggests an egalitarian social structure.
Due to the conquest raids of Caesar the Eburonian territory was depopulated and newcomers established themselves during the reign of Augustus in the valley of Rhine and Meuse.
According to the second century situation a mayor part of the Limbug Meuse Valley was part of the territory of the Cugerni or Ciberni and the Baetasii. This region was inhabited by German newcomers but there must have been some rest groups of Eburonians living there.
Furthermore was the Limburg Meuse valley (especially the surroundings of Tongeren) inhabited by immigrants from the Southern regions (the territory of the Treveri?) who were starting villa-farms.
From Augusteian time until the beginning of the second century the civitas organisation was established, strongly directed by the central government. The introduction of the Roman civitas model probably took place in the middle of the first century.
One of the causes of the poor interaction between traders (import goods) and the domestic consumers will have been the lack of a monetary economy. Whereas soldiers (Venlo and Ophoven?) more were more Romanized and had money and contacts, currency money in the domestic settlements played a marginal role.
A thorough adaptation of the agricultural system was still not the case in the first century. Probably the internal war sheathing and the fact that large parts of the male population had to serve in the Roman army had an important impact on the domestic economy.
The administrative and economic developments called undoubtedly large capacitances within the domestic society. It is however still unclear if the Batavian revolt can be considered primarily as a consequence of these capacitances.
Although the military presence at the Rhine border was increased directly after the Batavian revolt, the province Germania Inferior got gradually a more civil character; between 83-90 this province was transformed to a formal (border) province and in 98/99 the Colonia Ulpia Traiana were founded. This city formed the administrative and economic centre of the civitas Traianensium, to which the largest part of the Limburg Meuse valley belonged. Within the rural society in this area two socio-political entities can be distinguished.
The small group of villa-owners and soldiers were the most Romanized part of the population, and can be considered as the local elite. A number of persons and families from this group will have taken part in the governing board of the civitas. The strong Romanization becomes clear - among other things - from the fact that this elite was formed by Roman citizen who fulfilled administrative functions, had Roman names, who dedicated in the local sanctuaries and depicted themselves on wall paintings such as in the villa of Maasbracht.
Furthermore a large group of the domestic population can be distinguished. This group was organized within the pagus. The close link between the inhabitants of the pagus Catualinus and a villa owner and driver of the Colonia Ulpia Traiana, indicate that the pagani in this way had possibilities to enter directly to the levels of decision-making of the civitas government. It seems that this large group was dependent on the local elite. Within this group of native rural populations - on the basis of the settlement model - an overall bipartition can be made.
The inhabitants of the vici seem to take a different place beside the inhabitants of native agrarian settlements. Because of the economic position of the vici (local market function) the Romanizing influence was stronger. The quantitative comparison of the grave finds in the Limburg Meuse valley is suggesting a difference; the average number of given pieces pottery by grave lies in the vici three times as high as in the native agrarian settlements. It is possible that these vici were controlled by a number of magistri. The native agrarian settlements stood at the basis of the settlement hierarchy within the civitas Traianensium and were characterized by agrarian production on a small scale; these settlements were probably limited incorporated in the Roman market economy. In the local cult places - which functioned at the same level as native agrarian settlements - the smaller degree of Romanization is reflected. The introduction of the villae and the vici can be considered as a direct consequence of the economic changes. The villae rusticae produced for a central market and replaced the small scale farming partly. The vici played a role as local market and show the presence of specialized craftsmen as smiths and potters. Currency money seems to have played an important role in vici, in contrast to the native agrarian settlements where it fulfilled a marginal role. In the terra sigillata trade the Rhine played an important role as a supply route. Possibly the distribution of terra sigillata was centrally organized from certain points within the civitas (head places?). The import multiplied by five in the period 115-135 AD. in the middle of the second century terra sigillata was available in most of the settlements. Distribution of ordinary earthenware (mortars, goblets from Tongeren) and tiles was organized via the Meuse and seems to be organized in contrast to the terra sigillata trade, which was organized central. As from the end of the second century a decline of habitation of the Limburg Meuse valley is visible (grave fields). The exact causes (economic/ecological causes, raids?) are unclear; the disadvantageous impact of this development does not seem have touched the villa-system substantial. The most of the villae were abandoned during the Frankish raids around 275, which also marked the end of the villa economy in the Limburg Meuse valley. At the end of the third century a period of recovery and reorganizations followed under Diocletian. The administrative reorganization caused - among other things - that the civitas Traianensium became part of the province Germania Secunda; furthermore the taxes were regularly levied and had to be paid in kind. As a result of the new defense (depth) strategy along the Meuse some settlements were reinforced (Cuijk, Maastricht, Heel?, Stokkem?). The new Frankish raids from c. 340 resulted in 351/2 the end of the Colonia Ulpia Traiana and this caused also the end of the civitas Traianensium. The Roman governing board lost control of the Rhine area more and more during the middle of the fourth century and approximately 370 the province Germania Secunda was not functioning anymore. The areas of the Batavi and the Traianenses were opened for Frankish immigrants. The nature and the function of the new settlements in the Limburg Meuse valley are unclear. At the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century there is increased activity at the border areas again; in 402 the Roman troops were called back to Italy and there came an end at 450 years Roman presence in northern Gaul. Probably the Limburg Meuse valley was depopulated in 402 in the same way as it was depopulated after Caesar left in 51 BCE. It would last up to the sixth century before the occupation increased in the Limburg Meuse valley as a result of Merovingian newcomers.
Papers and articles
mummy portraits from Roman Egypt, which have
have become scattered across hundreds of museum
and private collections. Most of the portraits
were painted on wood and placed in the place of the
face on the mummy. About 5%
of these portraits were painted on textiles,
usually canvas. The Allard Pierson owns six
Roman-Egyptian mummy portraits,
including one on linen. About that portrait is
this article.
collaboration project called ‘CEMEC’ (Connecting Early Medieval
European Collections), which took place between 2015 and 2019. It is
aimed at our colleagues working in the field of cultural heritage:
museum management and museum specialists, university specialists
(interested in) collaborating with museums, and people in technical and
creative companies with museums among their regular customers.
The lessons we would like to share with you relate to inter-institutional
and international collaboration, the organisation of travelling exhibitions,
the development and user evaluations of digital applications, and last but
not least: business-model innovation in museums. All those issues are
central to the current operation of museums and to their future.
Er moet meer aandacht komen voor de biografie en herkomst van museale collecties vanwege het feit dat deze bepalend zijn voor de betekenis en impact. Daarvoor moet meer aandacht worden geschonken aan de biografie van objecten en verzamelaars en kan er een beter begrip ontstaan van de complexiteit van waarden die juist verbonden is aan museale objecten. Daarnaast is het voor musea van belang om de impact van nieuwe technologie zoals ‘The Internet of Things’ op de positie van de curator/conservator te onderzoeken.
Rol van de curator verandert
Dit zijn de twee belangrijkste uitdagingen die Hupperetz in zijn betoog benoemt. De eerste is sterk verbonden met de actuele gebeurtenissen in Nederland zoals het naast elkaar bestaan van verschillende waardesystemen, die bijvoorbeeld tot uiting komt in de zwartepieten discussie. Hupperetz: “In feite is dit een overgang tussen de uitgangspunten van onze moderne samenleving en het postmoderne gedachtegoed, waarbij begrippen als ‘’waarheid’’ en ‘’werkelijkheid’’ geproblematiseerd worden en dat leidt tot veel onzekerheid en frustratie.” De andere uitdaging is verbonden met technologie zoals The Internet of Things, waarbij de rol van de curator onherroepelijk zal veranderen. Hupperetz: “Als museale collecties onderdeel worden van dat internet der dingen, dan wordt het selecteren en beoordelen overgenomen door de zoeksystemen die achter Amazon, Google en Facebook zitten en krijgen we een heel andere dynamiek.”
Vertaling post-moderniteit naar museale praktijk
Hupperetz bouwt voort op de ideeën van zijn voorganger Ad de Jong, die zich in 2009 al afvroeg wanneer de volgende kentering in het museale domein zou komen. Hupperetz: “Naar mijn mening zitten we nog steeds middenin die kentering tussen modernisme en postmodernisme. De reflectie op de aloude moderniteit is cruciaal maar ook problematisch als het gaat om de vertaling naar de museale praktijk.” De leerstoel betreft in het bijzonder de studie der voorwerpen vanwege het Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap (KOG). In zijn onderzoek wil Wim Hupperetz duidelijk maken dat voorwerpen het voertuig zijn van ons collectief geheugen en als dynamisch erfgoed is de betekenis daarvan altijd in beweging. Hupperetz: “Het is simpelweg met de tijd meegaan. Dat klinkt eenvoudig, maar het betekent dat we ons open moeten stellen voor verandering, dat we nieuwsgierig zijn naar de ander, gevoelig zijn voor de biografie en diversiteit die besloten ligt in mensen en voorwerpen om ons heen. En dat is wat ik bedoel met het museum als medium van het geheugen.”
The differing value systems of modernism and postmodernism exist alongside each other to a significant extent, but also regularly collide. How do we deal with this: do we want to go back to the past, do we cleave to what we have, or do we go with the times? I hope to have clarified that we constantly create our own past by whatever means, that we link that past to places and objects, and that this is inevitably and irrevocably bound up with collective memory. I have used Caesar’s clay seal as example. It reveals the different types of historical awareness and the difference in evaluation. That awareness is significant because it may be an ordering principle for museums.
This chair concerns the study of objects and I have aimed to clarify that objects are the vehicle for our collective memory. Their meaning in terms of dynamic heritage is always in motion. I spoke about ‘going with the times’. That sounds so simple, but it means that we open ourselves to change, that we are curious about the other, sensitive to the biography and diversity locked up in the people and objects around us. We then arrive once more at the many-voiced and layered nature of our own identity.
Our amnesia is irrevocable, and the things we do gather up or preserve seems arbitrary. When the temple archive in Edfu burnt down hundreds of documents were lost. The clay seals that remained and were preserved after the fire in my view symbolise the balance that we should strive for in heritage management. Here the three stations of past, present and future form a simple guideline.
In the first place, the clay seal is an historical source, unlocking as an object different perspectives on Julius Caesar. At the same time it is important that we try to link this clay seal with the here and now. Just last year the seal was exhibited for the first time during the MuseumCamp at the Allard Pierson Museum. A publication is currently being prepared, and in the near future everyone will soon be able to make a 3D-print of it.
This object will thereby provide inspiration for new generations, and new layers of meaning will grow. What is important is that we have to allow ourselves a reservoir. It took more than a century before the relevance and meaning of this clay seal were perceived. But here we confront another paradox: that of the digital storage of our recollections. The more we store digitally, the more vulnerable and evanescent our digital memory turns out to be.
At the end of this lecture, I am afraid I have to confuse you a little. The clay seal with Caesar’s likeness has been the leitmotiv in my argument. But we do not know what Caesar really looked like by any means. Yes, we have coins depicting Caesar, but they are not uniform. And the likeness of sculpted portraits is still debated. Nevertheless, there is an image of Caesar in our collective memory, and so also in this museum object. In any event, this clay seal impression participates in our perception. And that is what I mean by the museum as medium of memory.
This book wants to show readers a different image of Rome, an image characterised first and foremost by the diversity of the Roman world. We can only understand that diversity if we study the Roman world as a whole – not split into east and west or into provinces – and in the context of world history. We will do so by looking into seven themes that together offer a comprehensive overview in which dynamics and change are the central concepts. In order to shed light on the local aspect, we will focus on three regions which are Roman in their very own and unmistakeable ways: the Italian peninsula, Egypt, and the Low Countries.
The Roman Empire has many faces. Some of the more important ones will be singled out here, creating a kaleidoscopic image of a changing world and a new image of the Roman Empire that will help to set rusty views in motion again.
Through exhibitions, blogs, videos, and publications, we were able to realize a new approach to the communication of Etruscan tombs and collections in exhibitions in the Netherlands and Belgium. At the end of the project, the final resulting applications will be installed for permanentuse in the Vatican Museums, Villa Giulia (Rome, IT) and Museum Formello (Veio, IT). Furthermore, this project proved that it is possible to enable and support cultural heritage institutions to create, run and exchange digital 3D reconstructions."
Summary [PhD thesis 2004 published by Matrijs (2004)
This research project is aimed at telling the story of the residents of a street located in an historical city centre. For this purpose, the history of the occupants of the houses in the Visserstraat, located in the city of Breda, has been studied. What have been the changes that the Visserstraat has been through in a spatial-fysical matter, in a social-economical matter or in the sense of the housing culture since the establishment of its first residents in the twelfth century, through to the commencement of the twenty-first century? These research questions are to be addressed in this dissertation.
The conducted study did not only yield interesting results with respect to the content of the findings – these will be elaborated upon in chapter seven – but it also led to a methodological quest aimed at answering four main questions. First of all, research efforts were aimed at establishing the size and span of the memory of one specific street, the Visserstraat in Breda. Two aspects can be distinguished for this purpose: the social-cultural proceedings and the spatial-fysical objects. Of both aspects sources are provided that can be used as the fundaments of a memory. In turn that memory can give rise to specific recollections that are closely related to historical notions. Three sorts of historical notions can be specified, which can be linked to three different time-levels, as described by Braudel. In the description of the history of residence in this street I will use this specification for providing structure. This study thus also provides insights into the availability of different sources. Because of the current academic tradition the possibilities of combining research results provided by distinct disciplines remains under utilized.
While establishing the size and span of the memory, the possibilities for gathering information on the micro-level of houses and street facts were also assessed. Following a micro-historical approach, the street and two construction blocks were studied in detail. Limiting the scope of research is an analytical principle that has a special added value if data are collected from different disciplines. Archaeological findings and historical data regarding construction then allow a much more precise dating as well as a more precise meaning. Naturally, these sources regarding the micro-level of houses and streets were not available for all periods. For this reason, the developments in the twelfth and thirteenth century are described at a city-level.
In second place, this study has tried to explore the boundaries of an integrated approach. This refers to the fact that data have been gathered and interpreted from the scope of various disciplines, ultimately yielding to combined results that show the social-economical, living-culture and urban development. It is even one more step to arrive at an interdisciplinary approach which allows the combination of results beforehand. For the ordering of the different disciplines and ways of study a distinction was made between three approaches, namely an object-oriented approach, a society-oriented approach which emphasizes the human being, and an ethnological approach. The distinction between the first two will be evident; the difference between the first two and the last approach lies in the fact that the ethnological approach relates the found data to the current state, thus placing a greater emphasis on their contextual meaning. Besides, it is not likely to state that these approaches could be used independently, as ethnological studies are often based on studies of materials, or on the results of social-economical studies. Conversely, ethnological concepts and interpretations are often tested using the ‘hard data’ of the other two disciplines.
Thirdly, the long-term perspective was studied, as the gathered data refer to eight-hundred years of history. For ordering the data the classification as event-, conjectural- and structural aspects was restored. In the Chapters two trough six, different objects and events are described. Each chapter refers to a time-span of two-hundred years, allowing the surface of the most important conjunctures. These are described in Chapter seven using an integrated approach where possible. In the cultural-historical analysis the structural elements of the studied area were brought to light. With respect to the spatial-physical matters, the parcellation, the structure of the construction blocks and the body of the houses were used as structural elements. With respect to the social-cultural aspects, the usage of the residences is the structural element, which can change of meaning depending on the conjectural state.
The fourth question refers to the possibilities of implementation of the cultural-historical analysis for cultural urban planning of the historical city centres. With respect to this implementation, a gap can be stated between the work of the historians and the specialists from urban development. This gap is the result of a lack of attention for:
- the social-cultural perspective of the inhabitants on the part of the urban development specialists
- the built environment by the historians
The memory of a street and the cultural-historical analysis can be used to aid the enduring debate regarding tradition and modernization, as it is conducted within the sector of the preservation of monuments and historic buildings and Urban Development, especially with respect to historical city centres. The tasks at the crossroads of these two disciplines, are currently being delegated to the discipline of Cultural Urban Planning. It is important to provide this relatively new discipline with a new content which ensures the conduction of studies from a truly integrated and multidisciplinary perspective.
Belongs to PhD thesis The memory of a street, eighthundred years living in the Visserstraat, Breda.
Belongs to teh PhD thesis by Wim Hupperetz
The cesspit was discovered during the restoration of a Breda house called 'De Drye Mooren', 'The Three Moors'. During the 17th century an inn was kept in the house, which was owned by the Breda Reformed Church and its 'Table of the Holy Ghost' (poor relief) from 1626 to 1703. In the church wardens accounts repairs and extensions to the building are mentioned. In the year 1663 the house was extended backwards. The outer wall of this extention closed the cesspit. That fact provides a datum ante quem. From the same accounts it appears that the pit was cleaned regularly, the last time before 1663 being after October lOth, 1661, the datum post quem. Apart from a small number of objects left behind by the cleaners, the vast majority of the objects must have been dumped between late 1661 and sometime during 1663.
As it is very likely that ceramic objects of an inn generally have a shorter lifespan than those from an ordinary household, many of the objects found were not much older than 1660. The numerous remains of the extremely fragile clay pipes is another corroboration of this dating. Of the 85 pipe bowls 49 bear marks, many of them of known local pipemakers.
The differentiation in pottery types found in the cesspit is rather typical for an inn: 50 out of 137 ceramic items were plates of one kind or another, 84 drinking glasses were counted (not published here), but only 11 pipkins. The number of stoneware jugs is not very large (13) which suggests that pewter jugs were used more frequently; an inventory of 1678 bears out this suggestion. In percentages: 70% of the pottery was used on the table, only 14% in the kitchen.
Wim Hupperetz
The region of the Limburg Meuse valley (Middenlimburgse Maasdal) was during the conquest excursions of Ceasar part of the civitas of the Eburones, which was led by the kings Ambiorix and Catuvulcus. A civitas was divided into pagi (Ambivariti?) who had a fairly autonomous political and religious position. The agricultural economy of the Eburones was vulnarable to internal warfare; the creation of reinforced settlements, stock shaping and the mobilisation of valuable resources was a way to limit this vulnarability
Reinforced settlements are not known from the Limburg Meuse valley. Both the settlement pattern as the burial ritual were uniformal which suggests an egalitarian social structure.
Due to the conquest raids of Caesar the Eburonian territory was depopulated and newcomers established themselves during the reign of Augustus in the valley of Rhine and Meuse.
According to the second century situation a mayor part of the Limbug Meuse Valley was part of the territory of the Cugerni or Ciberni and the Baetasii. This region was inhabited by German newcomers but there must have been some rest groups of Eburonians living there.
Furthermore was the Limburg Meuse valley (especially the surroundings of Tongeren) inhabited by immigrants from the Southern regions (the territory of the Treveri?) who were starting villa-farms.
From Augusteian time until the beginning of the second century the civitas organisation was established, strongly directed by the central government. The introduction of the Roman civitas model probably took place in the middle of the first century.
One of the causes of the poor interaction between traders (import goods) and the domestic consumers will have been the lack of a monetary economy. Whereas soldiers (Venlo and Ophoven?) more were more Romanized and had money and contacts, currency money in the domestic settlements played a marginal role.
A thorough adaptation of the agricultural system was still not the case in the first century. Probably the internal war sheathing and the fact that large parts of the male population had to serve in the Roman army had an important impact on the domestic economy.
The administrative and economic developments called undoubtedly large capacitances within the domestic society. It is however still unclear if the Batavian revolt can be considered primarily as a consequence of these capacitances.
Although the military presence at the Rhine border was increased directly after the Batavian revolt, the province Germania Inferior got gradually a more civil character; between 83-90 this province was transformed to a formal (border) province and in 98/99 the Colonia Ulpia Traiana were founded. This city formed the administrative and economic centre of the civitas Traianensium, to which the largest part of the Limburg Meuse valley belonged. Within the rural society in this area two socio-political entities can be distinguished.
The small group of villa-owners and soldiers were the most Romanized part of the population, and can be considered as the local elite. A number of persons and families from this group will have taken part in the governing board of the civitas. The strong Romanization becomes clear - among other things - from the fact that this elite was formed by Roman citizen who fulfilled administrative functions, had Roman names, who dedicated in the local sanctuaries and depicted themselves on wall paintings such as in the villa of Maasbracht.
Furthermore a large group of the domestic population can be distinguished. This group was organized within the pagus. The close link between the inhabitants of the pagus Catualinus and a villa owner and driver of the Colonia Ulpia Traiana, indicate that the pagani in this way had possibilities to enter directly to the levels of decision-making of the civitas government. It seems that this large group was dependent on the local elite. Within this group of native rural populations - on the basis of the settlement model - an overall bipartition can be made.
The inhabitants of the vici seem to take a different place beside the inhabitants of native agrarian settlements. Because of the economic position of the vici (local market function) the Romanizing influence was stronger. The quantitative comparison of the grave finds in the Limburg Meuse valley is suggesting a difference; the average number of given pieces pottery by grave lies in the vici three times as high as in the native agrarian settlements. It is possible that these vici were controlled by a number of magistri. The native agrarian settlements stood at the basis of the settlement hierarchy within the civitas Traianensium and were characterized by agrarian production on a small scale; these settlements were probably limited incorporated in the Roman market economy. In the local cult places - which functioned at the same level as native agrarian settlements - the smaller degree of Romanization is reflected. The introduction of the villae and the vici can be considered as a direct consequence of the economic changes. The villae rusticae produced for a central market and replaced the small scale farming partly. The vici played a role as local market and show the presence of specialized craftsmen as smiths and potters. Currency money seems to have played an important role in vici, in contrast to the native agrarian settlements where it fulfilled a marginal role. In the terra sigillata trade the Rhine played an important role as a supply route. Possibly the distribution of terra sigillata was centrally organized from certain points within the civitas (head places?). The import multiplied by five in the period 115-135 AD. in the middle of the second century terra sigillata was available in most of the settlements. Distribution of ordinary earthenware (mortars, goblets from Tongeren) and tiles was organized via the Meuse and seems to be organized in contrast to the terra sigillata trade, which was organized central. As from the end of the second century a decline of habitation of the Limburg Meuse valley is visible (grave fields). The exact causes (economic/ecological causes, raids?) are unclear; the disadvantageous impact of this development does not seem have touched the villa-system substantial. The most of the villae were abandoned during the Frankish raids around 275, which also marked the end of the villa economy in the Limburg Meuse valley. At the end of the third century a period of recovery and reorganizations followed under Diocletian. The administrative reorganization caused - among other things - that the civitas Traianensium became part of the province Germania Secunda; furthermore the taxes were regularly levied and had to be paid in kind. As a result of the new defense (depth) strategy along the Meuse some settlements were reinforced (Cuijk, Maastricht, Heel?, Stokkem?). The new Frankish raids from c. 340 resulted in 351/2 the end of the Colonia Ulpia Traiana and this caused also the end of the civitas Traianensium. The Roman governing board lost control of the Rhine area more and more during the middle of the fourth century and approximately 370 the province Germania Secunda was not functioning anymore. The areas of the Batavi and the Traianenses were opened for Frankish immigrants. The nature and the function of the new settlements in the Limburg Meuse valley are unclear. At the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century there is increased activity at the border areas again; in 402 the Roman troops were called back to Italy and there came an end at 450 years Roman presence in northern Gaul. Probably the Limburg Meuse valley was depopulated in 402 in the same way as it was depopulated after Caesar left in 51 BCE. It would last up to the sixth century before the occupation increased in the Limburg Meuse valley as a result of Merovingian newcomers.
mummy portraits from Roman Egypt, which have
have become scattered across hundreds of museum
and private collections. Most of the portraits
were painted on wood and placed in the place of the
face on the mummy. About 5%
of these portraits were painted on textiles,
usually canvas. The Allard Pierson owns six
Roman-Egyptian mummy portraits,
including one on linen. About that portrait is
this article.
The fin de siècle was a period of incis ive change: urbanisation, the rise of mass consump tion and advertising, industrialisation, the class struggle, the women’s movement, the large-scale distribution of print. Artists and designers went in search of new forms; the new art, art nouveau, became popular throughout Europe as it was distributed through magazines and posters, but also through the world expositions which presented the latest applied art for the modern bourgeoisie to embellish their lives with.
Goddesses of Art Nouveau sheds new light on an extraordinary era and on the question as to how the image of woman was used in paintings, spectacular jewellery, the Rolls-Royce mascot, advertising posters and book covers, made by women and men. The book also contains a selection of the most striking art-nouveau objects from the collections of the Allard Pierson in Amsterdam, the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, and the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum Braunschweig.
with our own time. If we want to discuss the presentation
of the Early Middle Ages in museums, we will
have to take a closer look at the concept of that period:
what do we mean by ‘Early Middle Ages’? And we will
soon find ourselves in the nineteenth century. The concept
of ‘Middle Ages’ is, to a great extent, a nineteenthcentury
invention, a construct one cannot disconnect
from the rise of the Western European nation states.
At the time many European countries were looking
for originality and authenticity, and this movement was
strengthened by searching history for the beginnings
of the nation. As a consequence nineteenth-century
Western Europe saw the beginning of a large-scale
study of the medieval past, which was associated with
concepts such as community, identity and authenticity.
period of transformation when cultural exchange was
reflected in the development of different regional cultures
in Europe from Ireland to the Mediterranean, from
the Baltic to Greece and Spain. The overarching themes
of connectivity and diversity give shape to individual
elements such as the heritage of the ancient Roman Empire,
the effects of travel and the impact of war, the representation
of identity and the connection of knowledge
and faith as Jewish, Christian and Muslim groups coexisted,
reflecting the cohesive nature of Europe in the
Early Middle Ages.
On account of the model of the helmet and the Iberian inscription the helmet must date form the middle of the first century BC. That means that it could have been worn by one of Caesar's legionaries.
We also know mother goddesses from Italy, but is unclear whether these Italian Matres were identified with the Germanic Matronae. Since the latter ones wear Ubian attire, they appear to belong to native religion. We cannot exclude, however, that Romanised Ubians adopted a Gallic tradition and adapted it to their own custom. The Ubian terracottas were manufactured near Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (present-day Cologne, Germany) and principally occur in the west of the Low Countries. Furthermore it is not improbable that ‘Roman’ terracottas of e.g. Diana, Fortuna, Minerva or Venus in fact represent native deities. It is remarkable that most terracottas depict goddesses, while statuettes of male deities were usually made of bronze.
As long as the museum has existed (eighty years in 2014), staff have tried to make Mediterranean Antiquity accessible to scholars and lay persons alike. The purpose of the objects was, and is, to provide insight into Western civilisation in past and present. The new display of the Roman collection brings out—perhaps more than the old one did—the connection between the objects on display and related research.
As the arts and sciences are never finished, so a museum’s collection is never complete. Fortunately the Allard Pierson Museum collections are still growing. Sometimes the objects in the collection reflect the director’s or curators’ predilections and interests. We see this in the collection of Roman glass, for instance, to which several remarkable pieces have been added following an exhibition on the subject in 2001. In the Roman department as in the entire museum, the collection owes its existence to private initiative. Donations have always left their mark on the collection.
An archaeological museum collection is the result of a long and continuing selection process which is the main factor in the collection’s significance. Our view on the objects is changed by new archaeological research, new techniques for visualisation and presentation, and increased insight into the ‘biography’ of the collections. Static, semipermanent or permanent displays of archaeology collections have little room to reveal those dynamics; for this reason, the Allard Pierson Museum has decided on a new concept geared toward dynamic presentation. A flexible modular showcase system will offer more possibilities to change the objects on display and to integrate new insights and technologies. Apart from that, the biggest challenge is in museum practice, in which curators are now spending more time and attention on continuous implementation of the renewal. That’s the key to success for a dynamic presentation of the Roman collection at the Allard Pierson Museum.
On the grounds of the Latin inscription it is plausible that this silver skyphos was made in Italy, probably in Campania. Its early date and finding place indicate a military connection; the inscription could point to a gift to or from an army commander in the emperor’s circle. The finding place also proves that luxury goods were traded over long distances. It remains unclear if this cup was lost by accident, deposited as a sacrifice, or hidden as a treasure.
This bronze helmet is almost semispherical, with a protruding neck guard at the back. The knob on top has been lost. The helmet’s finding place is unknown, but the patina indicates that it was not found in a river and may have been a burial gift.
The inscription in Iberian script and the name indicate that legionary Bekon was from one of the Spanish provinces. We know that Julius Caesar as governor of Hispania Ulterior (southern Spain) put together a legion there (the Tenth) in 61 BC. It was to be one of the legions he used to conquer Gaul and Britain. Caesar disbanded the Tenth in 45 BC; the veterans were given land and farms in the south of France and Spain.
On account of the model and the Iberian inscription, the helmet must date from the middle of the first century BC; that means that it could have been worn by one of Caesar’s legionaries.
The miniature mask was a burial gift, perhaps a souvenir for the deceased. This and similar terracottas illustrate the easy adaptation to Roman theatre culture on the one hand, and the endurance of strong local characteristics on the other.
Scholars have long assumed that in the province of Germania Inferior there was a clear-cut contrast between native and ‘Roman’ ways and cultural values. This cliché view, however, has taken a beating over the last years, because we have increasingly taken dynamics and reciprocal influence into consideration. The new approach does more justice to what Rome’s religious and cultural imperialism meant for local communities.
Local identities were under high pressure and were changing continuously—which is why mutual influence probably occurred between these identities and the values that from the central authority of the Roman Empire seeped through to the countryside of a border province on the Rhine.
The site of Edfu, south of Luxor and Karnak, was sacred to the falcon god Horus. Its temple, one of the best preserved sanctuaries of ancient Egypt, was built between 237 and 57 BC. The hoard of originally about 800 sealings may have been deposited after a conflagration burnt the documents to which they were attached.
They form the largest set of preserved clay seal impressions from Hellenistic Egypt. And yet, both halves have thus far not been studied and compared systematically. The Toronto half was published in two preliminary articles over a century ago; some of the Amsterdam examples have been published sporadically since the mid-1990s.
Two examples of Hellenistic clay seal impressions from Edfu: on the left the famous last queen of Egypt Cleopatra VII; and the right Julius Caesar, the Roman conqueror and dictator, who maintained a relationship with Cleopatra. (APM inv.nos. 8177-056 and 134.)
Over half of the sealings depict male or female heads or busts, the majority of which represent royal portraits from the second half of the Hellenistic period (that is, ca. 185-25 BC). This fact alone makes the Edfu sealings very important, as there are few securely identifiable portraits of the kings or queens of the Ptolemaic dynasty of the time.
Recent research has now established that all kings from Ptolemy VI through Ptolemy XII, and several of the queens from Cleopatra I through Cleopatra VII, can be recognized among the hoard. Additionally, seal impressions can be attributed to Alexander the Great, Ptolemy I and even Julius Caesar. This research project, The Edfu Connection, was made possible through generous support of the Mondriaan Fund and the Getty Research Institute.