February 17 till 19 a delegation from Heritage Malta visited Utrecht. Pierre Bonello (senior executive exhibitions and design) and Kenneth Gambin (head curator) were provided with a full, but interesting programme to get acquainted with Utrecht and some cultural organisations. Because the Malta Museum of Fine Arts (part of Heritage Malta) is already cooperation partner with Utrecht they could also refresh some contacts.
An important field of cooperation is found with the Catharijne Convent -National Museum for Religious Art- and Centraal Museum, the city museum of Utrecht. Pierre and Kenneth enjoyed the tours through the museum and visits to the depots. With Marc de Beyer, replacing Guus van den Hout, Renger de Bruin, Liesbeth Helmus and Errol van de Werdt they discussed the various possibilities. For example: a shared exhibition about the Knights of St John, who lived in the convent of the Catharijne Convent.
Because Heritage Malta is also responsible for several archaeological sites and pays a lot of attention to education and visitor centres it was logical to introduce them to the Initiative Domplein 2013 (making the Roma history visible, e.g. with a visitors centre underground) and the colleagues of dep. Archaeology and Monuments. Utrecht has several Roma sites in Leidsche Rijn where education is an important task. Discussing challenges faced at the Dom square Pierre and Kenneth could give advice Paul Baltus and Herre Wynia after the example of the underground Hypogeum. The enthusiasm was really inspiring and will surely lead to exchanges. Erik Graafstal, one of the city archaeologists, already shared educational programmes with the Maltese colleagues.
Off course there was time to meet Floris de Gelder, alderman for Culture. He was happy with the good contacts with Malta and embraced the ideas in which the various museums could cooperate. Off course these projects are an asset to the ambition to become Cultural Capital of Europe. The process was subject of the visit to Het Gebouw [The Building], were an exhibition on the ambition is placed. Inhabitants of Utrecht and people involved in culture participate in workshops to define the cultural 'soul' of the City. For Pierre and Kenneth this visit was also very inspiring. After three intensive days we said so long, but all participated in the programme of the visit are convinced that a follow up won't take long.
