Culture and Development
Museums, schools, heritage teams and communities using culture to strengthen institutions, learning and public life.
Enter programme ↗CIE living legacy
Programmes that built the network.
A structured route through CIE’s foundational work—from Avondster and field training to international databases, museums, collections and community programmes.
Three programme families
A clearer map of CIE’s early work
The archive is organised by programme approach first. Country projects, field schools and publications sit underneath these three routes.
Maritime & Underwater Cultural Heritage
Research, training, collections, museums and regional cooperation across connected maritime landscapes.
Enter MUCH programme ↗Mutual & Shared Cultural Heritage
Country inventories, Heritage Days and Cultural Heritage Connections—alongside critical debate about what “shared” means.
Enter programme ↗Project and collection routes
Go directly to a legacy story
Concise pages give context without duplicating the full annual reports or former website.
The Avondster Project
Research, training, conservation and the institutional foundations for maritime archaeology in Galle.
Open project ↗Field schools & training
A joined-up route through Galle, Hong Kong, Robben Island, Guam, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Mozambique and wider learning programmes.
Browse collection ↗ANCODS collection return
Documentation, digital access, presentation and the physical reunification of old Dutch shipwreck collections.
Open project ↗Galle museum & Maritime Archaeology Unit
The living institutional route from the Avondster programme into research, collections and public interpretation.
Open legacy story ↗Afghanistan Culture and Development
Museum rehabilitation, Kholm, education and locally led heritage practice.
Open programme ↗Cultural Heritage Connections
A pioneering database and network for projects, organisations and expertise across borders.
Open platform story ↗A connected history
From fieldwork to shared infrastructure
The programme families overlap: practical projects generated teams, publications, institutions and international knowledge networks.
1998–07
Avondster and Galle
Excavation becomes a vehicle for Sri Lankan professional capacity, a Maritime Archaeology Unit, museum practice and CIE’s first major publications.
2008
First annual report
International field programmes, Heritage Days and Cultural Heritage Connections establish the shape of CIE’s network.
2010
Training across regions
Fieldschools and surveys in South Africa, Guam and Tanzania connect practical skills with long-term management.
2011
Public platforms
Cultural Heritage Connections launches publicly while exhibitions, conferences and education programmes widen participation.
2012
Learning and exchange
Heritage Days, museum education and regional workshops translate project experience into reusable knowledge.
2013
Research and reflection
Evaluation of the network and the Afghanistan programme makes sustainability, ownership and inclusive narratives explicit.
2014+
Methods continue in new forms
Culture and Development, MUCH and network-building practices flow into HeritageLab, Heritage EduHub and Global Ocean Heritage.
Legacy publications
Reports that preserve the work.
The collection ranges from the two-volume Avondster record to programme reflections, museum documentation and later work on maritime and underwater cultural heritage.
Browse early publications ↗Primary sources
Annual reports 2008–2014
Open the reports used to reconstruct this part of CIE’s history.