This year, De Ceuvel is part of Open Monumentendag! On Saturday 9 September, you can take free guided tours of De Ceuvel from 10 to 5. What is happening on our site and what makes us so special? Read more about the 2023 theme and keep an eye on our channels for more information about this special day.

THEME 2023
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which we are celebrating by linking the theme ‘Living Heritage’ to Open Monument Day. We can define intangible heritage – or living heritage – as the cultural customs, traditions and craft skills that people have inherited from home, which they have made their own and which they in turn want to pass on. This intangible heritage – unlike the bricks of a monument – is constantly changing and evolving with the times and from practitioner to practitioner.

These crafts, traditions and customs are often already unconsciously present in the monuments, but this year we will make them even more visible during Open Monument Day. Consider, for instance, the craft of the miller. The miller cannot do his job without a well-functioning mill. But vice versa, the mill is also just a soulless building without the miller and his work.

So this year’s monuments are bursting at the seams with vibrancy. Surprising links between monuments and living heritage are being sought out. From iron smiths to the Anansi storytelling tradition, from Gregorian singing to brass bands, from poffertjes to Indian rice table; (living) heritage connects us all.

De Ceuvel