The Organisation - the centre
The Centre for International Heritage Activities was established in 2006. With a small team of permanent staff a network of international heritage experts and project-coordinators is maintained from the offices at the Steenstraat in Leiden. The centre is managed by Robert Parthesius.
The centre is organised as a foundation (non-profit organisation) with a board of trustees.
Board of trustees:
Staff
 Robert Parthesius  (director)
Dr. Robert Parthesius, Maritime Historian (University of Amsterdam), curator Amsterdam Historical Museum, currently Director of CIE, Leiden.
Since the late 1980’s Parthesius has been concerned with the interface between history and archaeology. Until 1995 he coordinated the research for the reconstruction project on the VOC-ship Batavia in Lelystad. This work formed the basis for a fruitful cooperation with the Western Australian Maritime Museum. In 1997 he organized the exhibition: ‘From Hartog to the Vlamingh’ covering the Dutch explorations of Australia. He has been involved in various maritime archaeological projects including the Galle Harbour project in Sri Lanka from 1992 until its completion 1999. From 1998 to 2006 Parthesius acted as curator for the Amsterdam Historical Museum. Convinced of the importance of public awareness for both historical-archaeological research and cultural heritage he organized several international exhibitions on the European-Asian maritime relations in the 17 th and 18 th centuries, and authored various publications on the logistical aspects of the Dutch shipping in Asia. Since 1999 he has coordinated the cooperation between the Netherlands and Sri Lanka in the field of Mutual Heritage. This cooperation resulted in the establishment of a Mutual Heritage Centre (MHC) in Sri Lanka 2000. From this centre various Sri Lankan-Dutch cultural heritage projects have been carried out.
His ambition to establish infrastructure for maritime archaeology in Asia materialized in the Avondster project in the Bay of Galle he initiated and ran from 1998. This has been followed by the successful establishment in 2001 of the Maritime Archaeological Unit, Sri Lanka.
His PhD thesis ‘Dutch ships in Tropical waters’ on the logistical maritime aspects of the European expansion to Asia in the 17 th Century, was published in 2008.In 2005 Parthesius took the initiative to establish the Centre for International Heritage Activities (CIE), working as director since this time.
Geerte Wachter
Geerte Wachter is currently deputy director of CIE. She also works as a policy officer for Museum and Heritage Policies at Province of Utrecht. Previously she worked as a Senior Programme Coordinator for the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development in the Netherlands. She studied Philosophy at the Universities of Nijmegen and Amsterdam. Before joining the Prince Claus Fund she was a publisher at Van Gennep Publishers, a literary and non fiction publishing house in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
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Anouk Fienieg
Anouk Fienieg holds a MA in Cultural Heritage and a MA in History, both from the University of Amsterdam. Anouk is the project coordinator at the CIE. She coordinates the programmes in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan and contributes to the organisation of the CIE heritage days. She advises on project development for international heritage activities. Anouk graduated cum laude on the Dutch Mutual Cultural Heritage policy. As part of her masters in Cultural Heritage she worked as a trainee at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, where she collaborated on a museum project in Indonesia and assisted in the organization of an international project meeting. For the museum project she wrote the report 'The History of Sintang. A collection of books, articles and manuscripts' published in 2007.
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Hanna Leijen
Hanna Leijen holds a MA in Cultural Heritage from the University of Amsterdam and a MA in History from the University of Utrecht. In Utrecht she completed a study on the social patterns of early Christian grave tablets. In Amsterdam she graduated cum laude on an article on the development of the Roman border in the Netherlands (limes) as a cultural heritage site.
For the CIE she coordinates the Afghanistan Culture and Development programme for the National Museum in Kabul and the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace in Kholm. Besides this she has organized heritage days for the heritage fields of Indonesia, Suriname and South-Africa. Other priority countries for the Netherlands are on the agenda. |
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Annemarie Willems
Annemarie Willems holds a MA in Cultural Heritage from the University of Utrecht. Her Masters thesis was titled 'A hyper real National Historical Museum', researching the role of hyper reality within the National Historical Museum.
For the CIE she is mostly engaged in the heritage fields of Suriname and Brazil. For these countries she orgnanised heritage days in the Netherlands and abroad. |
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Fleur Cools
‘The dynamics of cultural heritage and international cooperation is all about the exchange of ideas and opinions.’
Fleur Cools studied Philosophy and Science of Dynamics (Wetenschapsdynamica) at the University of Amsterdam and graduated in 2006 with a BA in Cultural Studies (Algemene Cultuurwetenschappen). Currently she is writing her Master Thesis for Heritage Studies at the University of Amsterdam on ‘Heritage Discourses on the Dutch Antillean islands Sint Eustatius and Saba.’ Her research interests and expertise lay in the heritage field of the Dutch Antilles, cultural landscapes, spatial planning and monument care. She has an interdisciplinary approach.
For the CIE she organized, amongst others, the Lecture Series ‘Dutch Manhattan 1609 – 2009’ at the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam to celebrate the Henry Hudson Year. In 2008 she organized in cooperation with the National Restoration Fund the ‘Expert meeting: a shared history – a shared today: monument care in development on the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba’.
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Bill Jeffery
From 2001, Bill has been employed as a contract maritime archaeologist with the Federated States of Micronesia Historic Preservation Office and has initiated projects in Chuuk, Yap and Pohnpei. Beginning in 2006, he has co-led Earthwatch volunteers in a project to record the natural and cultural values and health of Chuuk Lagoon’s submerged WWII sites. From 1981 to 2001, Bill worked as the Principal Maritime Officer with Heritage South Australia, Department of Environment and Heritage where he implemented a Maritime Heritage Program. His work in maritime archaeology has included sites in other parts of Micronesia (in Guam) as well as in New Zealand, China, Finland, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong. In 1990 in China, Bill assisted with the maritime archaeology training of a number of Chinese archaeologists. In Hong Kong, his work involves the implementation of Marine Archaeology Investigations (MAI) which are required by Hong Kong law and since 2001, Bill has implemented 15 MAI. He has written over 60 articles and a number of reports on maritime archaeology, sites and issues. In March 2008, he successfully completed his PhD thesis on the Chuuk Lagoon submerged WWII sites, from James Cook University (JCU) in Queensland, Australia. He teaches part time at JCU and has conducted maritime archaeology field schools with JCU and the University of Guam, in addition to being the primary lecturer in the UNESCO sponsored ’Train the Trainers’ field school in Galle in Sri Lanka in 2006. As follow-up of this programme he has been involved in the development of other Maritime Archaeological Project of the Centre for International Heritage Activities.
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Trainees
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Freek van Kessel
Freek van Kessel holds a BA degree in Cultural Heritage from the Reinwardt Academy in Amsterdam. He wrote his BA thesis on the changes in function and meaning of botanical gardens throughout history.
At this moment he is following the Museology master's degree program at the Reinwardt Academy. For the CIE Freek is currently working on the upcoming ANCODS traveling exhibition in Australia.
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Koosje Spitz
Koosje Spitz holds a BA in History from the university of Groningen and partially at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. She wrote her bachelor thesis on the theory of the art historian Erwin Panofsky on the proto-Renaissance and legacy of the twelfth century Abbot Suger. Currently, she is completing her MA in World Heritage Studies at the UNESCO chair for Heritage Studies at the Brandenburg Technical University in Cottbus, Germany. She is writing her master thesis on co-ownership as a possible instrument to bridge the gap between the current international calls for a more collaborative approach in the protection and transfer of mutual heritage in cultural heritage law and national practices. At the CIE she will working on the GCE Online Database project.
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Related Experts
Linn Borghuis
Linn Borghuis holds a BA in Cultural Heritage from the Reinwardt Academie in Amsterdam. In June 2008 she graduated on her BA thesis titled 'Digitalization in countries of development', in which Dutch cultural policies in line with cultural heritage institutions and the difficulties in digitalization are evaluated.
For the CIE Linn is currently working on the repatriation of the ANCODS collection to Australia. In collaboration with Trilce Navarrete she also works on the research: "Digital collecions and Information Management System imperatives, an economic perspective. A research on the costs and use of Information Management Systems in the management of digital collections housed in not-affluent museums". |
Alexandra van Dijk - van der Moolen
Alexandra holds a MA in Roman Archaeology from the VU University Amsterdam.
She started working as a field archaeologist and Head of Documentation for Leiden University. She worked as a Manager Business Development for 7 years, at The Archaeological Service Centre. Since 2006 she’s part of an NGO (Common Ground) on international knowledge exchange regarding (archaeological) cultural heritage abroad. The team is currently working on a project for a large archaeological site in Morocco, Lixus.
From 2006 until recently Alexandra worked for KIT Royal Tropical Institute as a Coordinator Business Development.
In 2007 Alexandra has started consultancy services in international heritage management, archaeology and business development (www.heritageInternational.nl).
Anne Feenstra
Anne Feenstra is a Dutch architect living and working in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is owner of AFIR Architects and related to Kabul University. Anne is the local representative of CIE in Afghanistan and works with his team on the renovation of the National Museum and manages the renovation of the Bagh-e-Jahan nama Palace in Khulm.
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Martine Gosselink
Martine Gosselink holds a MA in Art History from the University of Amsterdam. She started her career as cultural enterpriser. Martine runs a cultural organization together with 3 partners called De Nieuwe Collectie (The New Collection). Her daily occupation consists of making concepts of, and putting together exhibitions. Making concepts of films and texts for films, multimedia and publications is also part of her work.Occasionally, her projects are self-initiated (www.atlasofmutualheritage.nl), but usually Martine works for museums, embassies and ministries in the Netherlands as well as in other countries. A recent example is: the exhibition ‘New Amsterdam. Island at the Center of the World’ which will be held in New York in 2009, commissioned by the National Archives of the Netherlands.
Since February 2009 Martine is also Head of the History department of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.Martine is connected to the CIE as museum expert. She wrote an advice report on the establishment of a new Maritime museum in Galle, Sri Lanka, wherein planning, contents, routing and organizational structure was studied and advised. She takes part in other CIE projects such as the refurbishment of the National Museum in Afghanistan.
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Niranyana Jayamary
Niranyana Jayamary is a passionate photographer that specializes in capturing social involvement. With her portrait photo’s, photo reports, documentaries, and photo projects she wants to contribute to the documentation of the development of people, cultures and rituals in a changing world. Nirayana has made some photos for CIE, but is principally active as an external adviser.
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Eva Koppen
Eva Koppen holds a MA in Museum Studies, a MA in History and a BA in Art History, all from the University of Amsterdam. She graduated cum laude on a combined thesis on Dutch writers’ houses as lieux de memoire. At the moment she is completing her BA Slavonic Languages and Cultures.Both in the Netherlands and Russia she worked on various exhibitions about Russian history, art and culture. Eva runs her own organization ProMu for research, advice and project management for museums and cultural heritage. She works for the Netherlands Institute Saint Petersburg (NIP) as project coordinator for exhibitions of Dutch art in Russia. For the CIE Eva works on the organization of two Heritage Days Russia and different heritage projects in Russia.
Menno Leenstra
Menno Leenstra holds a MA in Physics from the University of Groningen. During and after his studies, he worked as a sailing instructor until recent. From 1985, he took part in the project of the building of the replica of the return ship Batavia, specializing in the research of ships’ rigging. Since 1997, he is a researcher in archives and literature for projects, which are connected to 17th century shipping, for example the ships Duyfken, Avondster, 7 Provintien. His expertise on this knowledge and capabilities (e.g. paleography) are essential inputs for the CIE.
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Trilce Navarrete
Trilce Navarrete Hernández holds a MA in Cultural Economics from the Erasmus University Rotterdam and an MA in Museum Management from the University of Oregon.
Trilce is currently a PhD researcher and lecturer at the Cultural Information Science program, at the University of Amsterdam where she investigates the evolution of systems to access cultural heritage in the Netherlands.She further collaborates with CIE as researcher and coordinator of projects that revolve around digital heritage collections.
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Dr. K.D. Paranavitana
Professor Dr. K.D. Paranavitana is currently employed at the Department of Humanities of the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka in Mihintale. He published an extensive amount of books and articles on the Dutch presence in Sri Lanka. His Ph. D. thesis (1994) is titled ‘The archives of the Dutch East India Company administration in Ceylon 1640 – 1796’. He is also engaged in consultancy and scriptwriting for documentary films on World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka. He has gained experience in leadership in academic and administrative matters and experience in administration of academic and other institutions, research groups and professional societies on a. o. archives, and conservation and preservation of cultural and heritage sites. He has worked a total of 26 years in higher management positions at the National Archives of Sri Lanka. In the course of his professional career Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Kingdom of the Netherlands appointed him as a Knight of the order of Oranje-Nassau in 2002. In addition to this he received several special academic and professional awards.
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Christine van der Pijl - Ketel
Christine van der Pijl-Ketel holds a BA in Japanese from the University of Leiden and a MA in Art History and Archeology of East Asia form the University of Amsterdam.At the moment she is an independent scholar, who undertakes research on Chinese export porcelain for the Dutch market. In the past years she has been researching the export porcelain bound for Portugal and the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century, and in 2003 worked on a project, based in Galle in Sri Lanka, documenting the ceramics found in the VOC ship the Avondster. Christine published articles on the subject of ceramics and gives many lectures.
Christine is connected to the Centre for International Heritage Activities as a free lance advice-consultant. She is also involved in setting up the documentation and archive area of the CIE. This will be part of the research department of the CIE and become an important part of the website.
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Miranda Vos
Until the mid-eighties Miranda Vos was an entrepreneur running the children’s store Little Nemo in Amsterdam. In the early 1990s she entered the world of television working at IDTV on the production of programmes such as Le Fort Boyard (France), Lingo, Triviant and Connaisseur. In 1997 Miranda moved on to John de Mol Productions to set up and maintain the intranet. Outside of work she has a passion for good food and cooking, an interest she shares professionally by giving cooking lessons. From 2002 until mid-2007 Miranda was involved in the Avondster Project. She was involved in the logistics, finances and the general back-up on location in Sri Lanka. Her current role at the Centre for International Heritage Activities is the design and building of the website, dtp and graphical support.
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