Parzinger: a first step and a great opportunity

News from 07/13/2020

The SPK president comments on the recommendations of the Scientific Board presented today. The goal is to "strengthen the potential for development and not to damage ... the special aura, but to enhance [it]."

SPK President Hermann Parzinger
© SPK/ photothek.net / Felix Zahn

On July 13, 2020, the German Council of Science and Humanities presented the results of its evaluation to the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation). The Foundation's president, Hermann Parzinger, remarked: “I would like to thank the Scientific Board for its comprehensive analysis, its critically perceptive discussions, and its recommendation for a far-reaching reform. I am convinced that with this evaluation we have taken the right step, which will enable the great collections and excellent knowledge that are united under the umbrella of the Foundation to unfold their potential even better in the future. I would like to thank Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters, who is also the chairwoman of the Foundation Board and who had the courage to tackle the reform of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz with all its possible consequences and to place everything under close scrutiny. My thanks are also due to the members of our staff, who assisted the evaluation process with great openness and energy. I am convinced that the key to further development lies in greater autonomy and responsibility for the individual institutions and in flatter hierarchies. Yet there are still many questions of great importance to be clarified. I am sure that the results now available to us are a good starting point for an objective and constructive discussion in the public realm, in the media and, last but not least, in the political arena. Ultimately, the goals are to create a future structure in order to strengthen the potential for development, and not to damage the national and international reputation and the special aura, but to enhance them."

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