From Sugar Palaces to Colonial Fortresses: discussing the heritage of Dutch Brazil
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 09/06/2019

The Mauritshuis Museum stands nowadays as testament of the political presence of Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, governor of the Dutch Colony in Brazil. From 1630 to 1654, the colony became a source of wealth through the production of sugarcane and its possible implications in the slave trade. Today, the Mauritshuis houses part of the Royal Collection Masterpieces of seventeenth-century Dutch Gold Age, and it is one of the most visited museums of the Netherlands. Recently, the institution came under fire after removing a bust of Nassau from its foyer, being accused of trying to “erase” history and distancing itself from its colonial past. In Brazil, Nassau’s legacy is also expressed in architecture, such as the Fort of Itamaracá, an important touristic historical attraction. This presentation intends to discuss how monuments of Dutch Brazilian colonial history can be studied regarding their symbolic power both in Brazil and the Netherlands in the contemporaneity.

Full Title: From Sugar Palaces to Colonial Fortresses: discussing the heritage of Dutch Brazil in the contemporaneity

Carolina Monteiro (Leiden University), Leandro Cascon (Leiden University) and Mariana Françozo (Leiden University)

TAG Deva 2018
Session: Opening Pandora’s Box: Europe and its Colonial Ruins