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New centre for provenance research and investigation established
Press release from 11/15/2007
On 1 January 2008, the newly founded Office for Provenance Research at the Institute for Museum Research of the National Museums in Berlin will begin its work. Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation: "This step has been necessary for a long time. I am delighted that the federal government is providing the funds for this and thus making a decisive contribution to coming to terms with our past. Smaller institutions in particular will benefit from this. The fact that the centre is based at the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation confirms the Foundation's previous work in this area."
Approximately 1 million euros in funding is available annually, the majority of which is for decentralised data collection. Prof. Dr Bernhard Graf, Director of the Institute for Museum Research at the National Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage, will head the centre. It will be supported by an advisory board consisting of independent specialists and institutionally appointed experts.
The centre is initially planning a Germany-wide survey of all current projects, research and research deficits. It will then initiate, coordinate and carry out provenance research projects. The networking of individual projects is important here, especially with regard to overarching aspects. Provenance research will be based on existing databases such as the LostArt database of the Coordination Centre for the Loss of Cultural Property in Magdeburg and the relevant museum archives and research libraries. Not least for this reason, the centre will be located close to the Central Archive of the National Museums on the Museum Island, most of whose holdings survived the Second World War and whose fundamental tasks have already included provenance research. In addition, it is planned to set up a database to support provenance researchers and document the results. The centre will provide financial support and specialist advice to museums that encounter current problems but do not have their own capacities. Finally, its tasks will also include establishing contacts with national and international academic institutions and funding organisations, finding contacts for legal issues and encouraging and intensifying basic research.
Until now, provenance research in many German museums has only been carried out on request when examining restitution claims due to a shortage of resources. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation has had a clear practice of dealing with such cases since 1999. It restitutes collection objects if, in particular, a persecution-related loss without compensation can be established, regardless of whether it is a mandatory consequence of a legal regulation. In addition, it not only responds to restitution applications, but has also actively begun to examine its holdings in both the museums and the State Library for cultural property formerly owned by Jews. The new Provenance Research Centre will also make this easier for other museums, libraries and archives.
