The Heritage Factory: A new depot for the history of Bruges and its surroundings
Today, we opened our brand-new, state-of-the-art storage facility, the Heritage Factory. This heritage depot is a long-awaited solution to the historic need for a centralized storage space for Musea Brugge, the intermunicipal heritage service Raakvlak, the Bruges Costume Workshop, and regional collections from Bruges and its surroundings. The new building will ensure that these ever-growing collections can be preserved in optimal conditions for future generations.
Over the past year, Stad Brugge, with support from the Province of West Flanders, has transformed an old factory just outside Bruges city centre into a cutting-edge heritage depot.
Historic need for storage space
Musea Brugge manages a collection of more than 75,000 objects, of which only around 10% are on permanent display. Proper depot management is therefore essential for the museum’s operations. At present, Musea Brugge’s collections are spread across several historic buildings in the city centre. Raakvlak’s archaeological collection is also housed in a historic property. While these buildings have been adapted to meet conservation needs in recent decades, they were never designed for storing art or archaeological objects. The depots are difficult to access, heavily compartmentalized, and it is impossible to control the climate to the standards required by the collections.
The Heritage Factory, a state-of-the-art heritage depot
With the Heritage Factory, Stad Brugge has found an integrated solution to the storage needs of various regional collections. The former factory has been completely transformed into a state-of-the-art heritage depot. The building was specifically converted and equipped to study and preserve heritage for future generations, in the best possible conditions.
Bruges’ historical treasure house: Space for four collections
The Heritage Factory has a total surface area of 7,355 m2. The majority of this is storage space, where the Raakvlaak archaeological collection and the Bruges Costume Workshop (including costumes from the Procession of the Holy Blood and the Golden Tree Pageant) and later also regional collections will find a new home. Musea Brugge’s largest sub-collections – the applied arts (artisanal and aesthetically functional objects such as furniture, textiles, ceramics…) and the ethnographic collection – will also move there. Musea Brugge’s most vulnerable collections (paintings and works on paper) will be transferred in 2025 to depots at the new BRUSK exhibition hall.
In addition to storage facilities, the building also houses Raakvlak’s offices and other support spaces such as a photo studio, quarantine space and a conservation workshop.
All told, more than 50,000 museum objects, 10,000 boxes of archaeological finds from Bruges and its surrounding areas, and over 4,000 costumes will move to the new, state-of-the-art depot. Each object has specific requirements in terms of size, sensitivity and materials, and the Heritage Factory provides a tailored and optimal storage space for them all. The collections that will have a place in the depot contain objects that each in their own way tell stories about the Bruges region and, by extension, Flanders, from prehistory to recent history. The depot will preserve the history of Bruges and serves as a historical treasure chamber of immense heritage value for the city and the region.
Huge strides in collection management
With the new depots and workspaces in the Heritage Factory, Musea Brugge and Raakvlak are not just taking a step forward, but are making huge strides in their collection management and preventive conservation. The facilities of the Heritage Factory catapult the preservation and management of the collections to an international level.
The new Heritage Factory not only meets the needs of the collection objects far better, but the building also makes the collections more accessible. By bringing the different collections and the support facilities under one roof, it becomes easier to compare items side by side, the risks of transport are reduced to a minimum and objects can be treated on site. Research and preservation are finally raised to the next level, ensuring that Bruges’ movable, immovable and intangible heritage is safeguarded for future generations.
A major relocation
For the moment, the Heritage Factory remains empty, but that will soon change. Many transports from the old depots are being organized during the summer months.
You cannot simply load 50,000 heritage objects, 10,000 boxes of archaeological finds and more than 4,000 costumes into a moving van. Since the summer of 2020, the Musea Brugge and Raakvlak teams have been preparing the move into the new depot building.
We are starting with collections made from inorganic materials, such as stone, glass, metal, plaster, and ceramics. These collections do not require preventive or curative treatment against for example harmful insects. In other words, these objects can immediately be placed on the right shelves. After that, the organic collections will follow, which first need to go through the treatment room.
The opening of the Heritage Factory is the official starting signal for the relocation of Musea Brugge and Raakvlak. The first step has been taken, now the real work begins!
