On 10–11 November 2022, the Estonian Maritime Museum will hold the conference ‘Popularisation of Maritime Heritage’ in cooperation with Vrak – The Museum of Wrecks, a Swedish museum of maritime archaeology. Call for presentations is opened until 9 September 2022.
‘We want to arouse more interest in maritime culture by researching and preserving maritime heritage – everything that is created by human activity at and by sea – and by attractively presenting the results of research and the collected heritage objects to the public,’ explained Hele Kiimann, Head of Research at the Estonian Maritime Museum. ‘In the case of a museum, this can only be achieved in cooperation with the education system and the community. With the upcoming conference, together with Vrak – The Museum of Wrecks in Stockholm, we will try to answer the question as to which practices have produced the desired result and what more can be done,’ added Kiimann.
The conference will be held for the third time as a continuation of the previous annual conferences of the Estonian Maritime Museum, the focus of which has been maritime heritage. On the first day of the conference, scientific presentations will be held, and on the second day, there will be a workshop with a focus on creating educational programmes. The conference will be held in English. Those interested can attend the conference free of charge both in Tallinn and online.
In addition to academic institutions, experts from the public, private, and third sector are also invited to make presentations to address the situation, share experiences, and offer solutions on the following topics:
- creation and development of permanent exhibitions introducing maritime heritage (with a focus on maritime archaeology in particular);
- preparation and implementation of educational programmes in museums and other memory institutions (primarily for presenting maritime heritage);
- initiation and implementation of community projects in museums and other memory institutions (primarily for promoting maritime heritage);
- cooperation and integration of museums, the education system, and communities (primarily in the maritime field);
- carrying out practical training in museums and other memory institutions (primarily in the maritime field);
- technologies for presenting cultural heritage (preferably in the maritime field);
- methodology for popularising cultural heritage (primarily in the field of maritime culture).
Those interested in speaking at the conference are invited to send an abstract of the presentation (up to half an A4 page) to merearheologia@meremuuseum.ee by 9 September 2022 at the latest. The length of the presentation is 20 minutes plus additional time for discussion. You can also participate online via Zoom.
Photos: Hele Kiimann, Head of Research at the Estonian Maritime Museum (Estonian Maritime Museum/Kristi Sits); the Lootsi shipwreck, the wreck of the medieval ship discovered in Tallinn on March 2022 (Estonian Maritime Museum/Aron Urb).
