International Congress of Maritime Museums, 2024
Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust attends the International Congress of Maritime Museums, 2024
From 15-20th September Richard Morsley, our CEO and Helen Brown, our Collections and Documentation Officer were privileged to attend the biennial International Congress of Maritime Museums (ICMM).
The ICMM aims to bring together maritime museums and individuals from around the world. Over the course of the week over 200 delegates from 70 museums across 6 continents gathered to share project updates, discuss challenges and opportunities facing the maritime heritage sector.
This year it was hosted in the Netherlands and Belgium by four excellent museums.
The week began in Rotterdam at the Maritiem Museum with a full programme of speakers focusing on various themes surrounding celebrating, conserving and interpreting our shared maritime history.
Image credit: Mirjam Lems
Monday 16th: The Blue Ocean and Marine Environment– including discussions around climate change, fundraising, innovation, sustainability and the future role of maritime museums.
Tuesday 17th: Museum Ships and Maritime Heritage- the day began with a fascinating keynote speech from Natascha Brown at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in which she highlighted the role the IMO plays in maritime heritage today whilst looking to the future and caring for the worldโs oceans.
As part of a breakout session on Rethinking our Maritime Heritage Richard presented a paper on The Historic Dockyard Chatham: 40 Years of Regeneration. His presentation highlighted the Trustโs enduring legacy of โpreservation through re-useโ and how it is facing the challenges of the future.
On Wednesday 18th delegates left Rotterdam and visited the Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen -a living history museum situated on the edge of the Ijsselmeer. This fascinating museum immerses you in the realities of life as it was 100 years ago on the Isle of Urk. With a boat ride to the entrance of the museum, and various to tours to choose from, the experience gave delegates the opportunity to explore the site and learn about subjects such as: the importance of dyke building to the Low Countries, everyday life for the women and children of the fishing communities and maritime craft skills such as knitting fishing nets. The visitor experience staff delivered fantastic tours.
Thursday 19th: hosted by the Het Scheepvaartmuseum in Amsterdam delegates attended a full day of presentations exploring the theme of People and the Sea. Keynote speaker Professor Wayne Modest spoke about the importance of the role of museums in decolonisation and creating the correct conditions for all to flourish in the museum environment.
Thought-provoking sessions on Maritime Women, Embracing Diversity, Conversations with Collections and the Blue Museum ran throughout the day with the opportunity to explore the museum in the afternoon.
Helen was particularly interested in seeing the items from the collection relating to the Dutch raid on the Medway in 1667. The painting below is a wonderful period depiction of the raid (from the Dutch perspective!)
Oil Painting: Raid on the Medway, 1667 by Willem Schellinks, circa 1667. Het Scheepvaartmuseum collection
Friday 20th: The final day of the conference for CHDT included a keynote speech by Medea Sรณgor Ekne from the International Council of Museums (ICOM) covering the idea of The Maritime Museum as Activist? This was followed by two very powerful and moving presentations by museum representatives from Ukraine. The Central Naval Maritime Museum of Ukraine had to relocate its collections in 2014 when Russia annexed the Crimea. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 most of their staff are now serving on the front lines. In the midst of the war there is an urgent need to record and preserve what they can of the countryโs maritime heritage-a need the ICMM community will assist with in the coming year. It was humbling and inspiring to hear them speak about their continued passion for their work in the midst of so much tragedy.
The day concluded with a closing ceremony and dinner within the museumโs grand courtyard.
On the Saturday around 60 delegates visited the MAS museum in Antwerp.
The week in the Low Countries was an incredible opportunity to focus on key themes within the maritime heritage sector such as peopleโs relationship with, and work in connection to, the sea. A topic CHDTโs collections are rich with- what a rich and diverse history we have at our fingertips! Having met many new colleagues and heard about so many exciting projects the week has already had an intrinsic positive impact. There was much to absorb and take inspiration from.
Image credit: Twycer
