Four SPK projects receive KEK funding
News from 07/21/2026
"Dagar Diaries", key sources on the Kingdom of Westphalia, previously secret records of a North Indian musical tradition, photographs from Sarajevo and 200,000 theatre programmes – four restoration projects at SPK institutions are part of the KEK funding programme ‘Preserving Written Cultural Heritage’.
Four projects run by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation are to receive funding under the ‘Preserving Written Cultural Heritage’ programme run by the Co-ordinating Office for the Preservation of Written Cultural Heritage (KEK), thereby highlighting the breadth of written cultural heritage held by the institutions of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the complex challenges involved in its preservation.
Marion Ackermann, President of the SPK, commented: “The collections, archives and libraries of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation preserve unique originals that form part of our cultural memory. Preserving them whilst making them accessible to researchers and the public is one of our most important tasks. The establishment of the KEK just over ten years ago was a great boon for all institutions involved in the preservation of cultural heritage in Germany.”
An overview of the projects
- Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation’s Secret State Archive: Conservation of the ‘V. HA Kingdom of Westphalia’ collection. These handwritten documents from the early 19th century are key sources on the Kingdom of Westphalia, which existed from 1807 to 1813.
- Ethnological Museum / Museum of Asian Art: Restoration of the ‘Dagar Diaries’. These manuscripts from one of North India’s most prominent musical families contain valuable information on the Dhrupad tradition – one of the oldest genres of North Indian classical music – and on its previously secret vocal techniques and exercises.
- Museum of European Cultures: Conservation of a wooden box containing 25 photographs from the International Congress of Archaeology and Anthropology held in Sarajevo in 1894. The photographs document excursions undertaken by the congress participants – including Rudolf Virchow – as well as encounters with the local population.
- Berlin State Library: Restoration of the collection of historical theatre programmes. The collection comprises more than 200,000 theatre programmes dating from the late 18th to the early 20th century and is one of the most important sources for the history of theatre, music and performance.