Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PALAMUSTO (Research and Training for the Palace Museum of Tomorrow)
Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2023-09-30
We investigate the court residence or palace as a European phenomenon of cultural exchange. We want to meet the challenges which make a proper understanding of the palace difficult and ultimately endanger its survival. Chief among these are the fragmented knowledge on court residences on the one hand, and the Disneyfied image of the fairy-tale palace current in the touristic sector on the other. Our new history of the court residence will help to redefine its relevance as cultural heritage for present-day Europe. Our training program will bring forth specialists who have the proper academic training in this complex subject matter and who are capable of assuming an active role in the professional world of the palace-museum.
The basis for this new history will be laid by charting key aspects of material culture and architectural expression linked with the court residence across the standard boundaries of court studies (dynasties, nation states born in the 19th and 20th centuries, religious divides). Combining many different disciplines, we study material objects in the palace’s interior (such as porcelain and wall hangings), technical systems (such as water conduits) and specific courtly spaces (such as throne rooms). Each of these objects, infrastructures, or spaces played a significant role in the strategies of courtly representation: they were used by princes and their courtiers to differentiate themselves from other courts. Moreover, they can be used to map routes of exchange between courts, to study gender issues, and to analyze interaction with non-European cultures.
Our timeframe of 1400-1750 covers the last heyday of the palace as the centre of government, before the emergence of modern capital cities and the consolidation of the 19th-century parliamentary monarchies.
The basis for this new history will be laid by charting key aspects of material culture and architectural expression linked with the court residence across the standard boundaries of court studies (dynasties, nation states born in the 19th and 20th centuries, religious divides). Combining many different disciplines, we study material objects in the palace’s interior (such as porcelain and wall hangings), technical systems (such as water conduits) and specific courtly spaces (such as throne rooms). Each of these objects, infrastructures, or spaces played a significant role in the strategies of courtly representation: they were used by princes and their courtiers to differentiate themselves from other courts. Moreover, they can be used to map routes of exchange between courts, to study gender issues, and to analyze interaction with non-European cultures.
Our timeframe of 1400-1750 covers the last heyday of the palace as the centre of government, before the emergence of modern capital cities and the consolidation of the 19th-century parliamentary monarchies.
Work on the ten interconnected research subjects or building blocks for the new history of the European court residence started in the early months of 2020. At the same time, the ten early stage researchers enrolled in the doctoral schools of the universities in the consortium, three of them even going for a dual doctorate. To that end, each defined a doctoral thesis within the research area allotted to them.
Regular presentations to the team followed at six to eight months’ intervals up to the end of 2022, leading to a more precise focus of each research theme and establishing scope, choice of case-studies, approaches and methods; developing conclusions, and contextualizing the research results. When an opportunity presented itself, provisional results were presented at (online) study days, seminars or symposia. Together with the PALAMUSTO website blog, this has increased interest in the network throughout the multidisciplinary academic community engaged with court studies and/or with the digital humanities. The fellows' first (academic) secondment, completed at the end of 2021, broadened their research experience and supported their individual research in court studies and/or in heritage studies. The fellows’ second (professional) secondment, accomplished in the Spring of 2022, brought them into contact with another sector, thus strengthening their work experience and chances of employment.
The COMMON DIGITAL PLATFORM is based on GIS (Geographical Information System). Throughout, the fellows have explored new ways of using this geospatial mapping tool, together with other useful digital methods (network analysis, digital modelling). Multiple new connections have thus been showing up in their trials, opening up the world of courts even further, with great potential for future research. By the beginning of 2022, the first, complete integration of all ten subjects into a multi-layered representation of courtly Europe 1400-1750 had been attempted. This platform can accommodate other research on the courtly residence in Europe and beyond, such as that on landscape.
The COVID-19 related pandemic forced the consortium to change the format of the network-wide training. Each module had been originally been conceived as a “Week” spent in a particular country, organized by that country’s members in the consortium. These were split into two parts, online and on-site. Part I comprised a series of pre-recorded lectures, live seminars with discussions and presentations by the researchers, and round tables with professionals, which were organized online. Part I was scheduled as planned in the original schedule for all Weeks. Part II comprised the actual site visits, some of which had to be delayed; by the end of 2022, however, all had been caught up with. The pre-recorded lectures could count on the interest from a growing community of associated researchers, with whom material was shared. Hopefully, this will eventually lead to a MOOC for a broader audience, if some issues can be resolved.
Regular presentations to the team followed at six to eight months’ intervals up to the end of 2022, leading to a more precise focus of each research theme and establishing scope, choice of case-studies, approaches and methods; developing conclusions, and contextualizing the research results. When an opportunity presented itself, provisional results were presented at (online) study days, seminars or symposia. Together with the PALAMUSTO website blog, this has increased interest in the network throughout the multidisciplinary academic community engaged with court studies and/or with the digital humanities. The fellows' first (academic) secondment, completed at the end of 2021, broadened their research experience and supported their individual research in court studies and/or in heritage studies. The fellows’ second (professional) secondment, accomplished in the Spring of 2022, brought them into contact with another sector, thus strengthening their work experience and chances of employment.
The COMMON DIGITAL PLATFORM is based on GIS (Geographical Information System). Throughout, the fellows have explored new ways of using this geospatial mapping tool, together with other useful digital methods (network analysis, digital modelling). Multiple new connections have thus been showing up in their trials, opening up the world of courts even further, with great potential for future research. By the beginning of 2022, the first, complete integration of all ten subjects into a multi-layered representation of courtly Europe 1400-1750 had been attempted. This platform can accommodate other research on the courtly residence in Europe and beyond, such as that on landscape.
The COVID-19 related pandemic forced the consortium to change the format of the network-wide training. Each module had been originally been conceived as a “Week” spent in a particular country, organized by that country’s members in the consortium. These were split into two parts, online and on-site. Part I comprised a series of pre-recorded lectures, live seminars with discussions and presentations by the researchers, and round tables with professionals, which were organized online. Part I was scheduled as planned in the original schedule for all Weeks. Part II comprised the actual site visits, some of which had to be delayed; by the end of 2022, however, all had been caught up with. The pre-recorded lectures could count on the interest from a growing community of associated researchers, with whom material was shared. Hopefully, this will eventually lead to a MOOC for a broader audience, if some issues can be resolved.
The consortium’s NEW HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN COURT RESIDENCE is thematic rather than encyclopaedic, fusing ten seemingly separate material, functional and representational aspects of the court residence into a complex picture. Such a history has never been attempted before. New patterns of diffusion have now emerged, fostered by the intensive collaboration and exchange of data and knowledge between the ten fellows. The first, published mapping patterns and networks have thus attracted significant interest from research groups across Europe, leading to a broader exchange of knowledge beyond the consortium. The common approach developed within the programme can accommodate other research on the courtly residence in Europe and beyond, such as that on landscape. Moreover, PALAMUSTO’s fellows have been taught to see the wider implications and the potential for future research of their work.
The research fellows’ acquired knowledge of the digital humanities, coupled with the advanced research training, the skills and the professional experience they are gaining in the academic and the professional sectors, have increased their value in the CULTURAL HERITAGE market significantly. At the end of the training programme, their experience makes them stand out among their peers. Some fellows are already crossing into the professional sector of heritage conservation. During the training weeks, the research fellows and their supervisors have interacted intensively with conservators of palace-museums and other actors from the heritage field, as well as with public and private stakeholders such as owners and local communities. Bottom-up, the PALAMUSTO programme has had a beneficial impact on the ground; as a result, several palace-museums have expressed the wish to continue working with the consortium in one way or another.
The palace museum is an integral part of the European cultural heritage, included into the EU’s strategies for the future as a corner stone of European identity. The socio-economic value of heritage and the socio-economic impact of the heritage sector, recognized in many of the EU’s programmes, actions and resolutions, constitute the framework for PALAMUSTO’s societal impact in the long term. PALAMUSTO’s fellows are being trained to play an effective role in supporting the EU’s commitment to safeguarding Europe's cultural heritage. In the short term, PALAMUSTO contributes to the dissemination of good practices in the conservation of the European palace-museum by making available a policy draft paper on its website, as a way of contributing to the challenges palace museums deal with.
The research fellows’ acquired knowledge of the digital humanities, coupled with the advanced research training, the skills and the professional experience they are gaining in the academic and the professional sectors, have increased their value in the CULTURAL HERITAGE market significantly. At the end of the training programme, their experience makes them stand out among their peers. Some fellows are already crossing into the professional sector of heritage conservation. During the training weeks, the research fellows and their supervisors have interacted intensively with conservators of palace-museums and other actors from the heritage field, as well as with public and private stakeholders such as owners and local communities. Bottom-up, the PALAMUSTO programme has had a beneficial impact on the ground; as a result, several palace-museums have expressed the wish to continue working with the consortium in one way or another.
The palace museum is an integral part of the European cultural heritage, included into the EU’s strategies for the future as a corner stone of European identity. The socio-economic value of heritage and the socio-economic impact of the heritage sector, recognized in many of the EU’s programmes, actions and resolutions, constitute the framework for PALAMUSTO’s societal impact in the long term. PALAMUSTO’s fellows are being trained to play an effective role in supporting the EU’s commitment to safeguarding Europe's cultural heritage. In the short term, PALAMUSTO contributes to the dissemination of good practices in the conservation of the European palace-museum by making available a policy draft paper on its website, as a way of contributing to the challenges palace museums deal with.