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H2020Doctoral network2019–2023

PALAMUSTO · Research and Training for the Palace Museum of Tomorrow

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2019-10-01 → 2023-09-30
EU contribution
€2,479,854
Participants
8
Scheme
MSCA-ITN

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Research and Training for the Palace Museum of Tomorrow

We investigate the court residence or palace as a European phenomenon of cultural exchange. We want to meet the challenges which make a proper understanding of the palace difficult and ultimately endanger its survival. Chief among these are the fragmented knowledge on court residences on the one hand, and the Disneyfied image of the fairy-tale palace current in the touristic sector on the other. Our new history of the court residence will help to redefine its relevance as cultural heritage for present-day Europe. Our training program will bring forth specialists who have the proper academic training in this complex subject matter and who are capable of assuming an active role in the professional world of the palace-museum. The basis for this new history will be laid by charting key aspects of material culture and architectural expression linked with the court residence across the standard boundaries of court studies (dynasties, nation states born in the 19th and 20th centuries, religious divides). Combining many different disciplines, we study material objects in the palace’s interior (such as porcelain and wall hangings), technical systems (such as water conduits) and specific courtly spaces (such as throne rooms). Each of these objects, infrastructures, or spaces played a significant role in the strategies of courtly representation: they were used by princes and their courtiers to differentiate themselves from other courts. Moreover, they can be used to map routes of exchange between courts, to study gender issues, and to analyze interaction with non-European cultures. Our timeframe of 1400-1750 covers the last heyday of the palace as the centre of government, before the emergence of modern capital cities and the consolidation of the 19th-century parliamentary monarchies.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

PALAMUSTO ETN, a network of leading European universities, heritage institutions and palace-museums, investigates the court residence or palace as a phenomenon of cultural exchange, not only in the past but also today and in the future. A new history of the palace is indeed needed in order to define its relevance for present-day Europe. The palace’s status as heritage, as prime touristic attraction and as part of the experience economy offers a continuous challenge to society in a global context, considering that the heritage industry is gradually replacing many traditional sectors of European economy. PALAMUSTO ETN offers multidisciplinary, trans-sectoral training to early career researchers who will become the first exponents of a new professional profile capable of meeting these challenges. Training through individual research on the palace, shored up by specific methodology modules, will run parallel with teaching the palace as heritage in all its complexity. PALAMUSTO researchers will learn to conserve, curate and manage the palace-museum on-site, interacting with professionals. They will learn to explain the palace’s societal relevance to all stakeholders and audiences engaged with this heritage.Together the PALAMUSTO researchers will establish a new history of the palace, based on the insight they gain in the material culture and architecture of the courts which constitute the case-studies of their doctoral research. They will map the patterns of diffusion of specified movable objects with representational value in the world of European courts, paying special attention to location and display; some of these define the palace as functional machine. In parallel, they will map specific representational architectural spaces of the palace, their functioning, placing, and routing to/from. The overlay of patterns of diffusion, realized through digital means based on a GIS platform, is expected to generate a new understanding of the court residence.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · LeuvenCoordinatorBelgium
  • LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN · PlaneggGermany
  • MINISTERIE VAN ONDERWIJS, CULTUUR EN WETENSCHAP · Den HaagNetherlands
  • PARQUES DE SINTRA - MONTE DA LUA SA · SintraPortugal
  • STAATLICHE SCHLOESSER UND GAERTEN BADEN-WUERTTEMBERG · BruchsalGermany
  • UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA · LisboaPortugal
  • UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT · UtrechtNetherlands
  • UNIWERSYTET WARSZAWSKI · WarszawaPoland

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union