Heritage Week 2026
University of Bonn, 8 – 12 June
Photo: Hanna Bölck, 2026.
Launched in 2025, Heritage Week connects and showcases heritage research at the University of Bonn while opening it to innovative interdisciplinary exchange.
This year’s theme, Heritage Ecologies: Restitution, Repair, and Renewal, foregrounds relational approaches to heritage. It addresses pressing questions such as the legacies of war and looting and considers forms of redress, including reparation and restitution, alongside landscapes as heritage, the role of the sacred, and the future of archives.
A special highlight is the New Paths lecture by Shumon Hussain, which introduces the concept of “Deep Time Heritage” and explores how extended temporalities can reshape heritage research through interdisciplinary perspectives.
The 2026 edition is funded by the TRA Present Pasts and organized by a wide network of partners, fostering new transregional connections, particularly with colleagues from the University of Cologne.
Click on the button to register and explore fresh perspectives on heritage and opportunities for networking and collaboration.
Heritage Week 2026 is jointly organised by the Global Heritage Lab (GHL)-Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) Present Pasts, the Department of Anthropology of the Americas, the BASA Museum, the Department of Empirical Cultural Studies and Cultural Anthropology, the Department of Art History, the Center for Development Research (ZEF), the Bonn Center for Reconciliation Research (ZFV), and the Center for Historical Peace Research (ZHF).
More information and the detailed programme will be posted on this page soon.
Public Events
Monday, 8 June 2026
Entschädigung als Leitfaktor von Friedens- und Versöhnungsprozessen: Erscheinungsformen – Normen – Praktiken
9:00-13:00 ∙ Public Presentations in German (in person)
Venue: Center for Historical Peace Studies, Brühler Str. 7, 53119 Bonn
Registration for in-person attendance here.
Tuesday, 9 June 2026
Ecologies of Restitution: Relational and More-than-Human Approaches to Repair
15:15-16:00 ∙ Networking coffee break with colleagues from the University of Cologne (in person)
16:00-17:30 ∙ Public Roundtable (in person)
Venue: Global Heritage Lab, Poststr. 26, 1st Floor, 53111 Bonn
Registration for in-person attendance here.
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
Balancing the Center and the Local: Inka Landscapes of Power and Heritage in Cochabamba, Bolivia
14:00-17:00 ∙ Roundtable and guided tour through the exhibition Landscapes in transformation: the Cochabamba Valley beyond the Inkas (in person)
Venue: BASA Museum, Oxfordstr. 15, 53111 Bonn
Registration for in-person attendance here.
Thursday, 11 June 2026
Sacred Ecologies: The Kara Ritual of the Konso – Enacting Memory, Traditions and Power through the Generations
13:30-15:00 ∙ Public Lecture (hybrid)
15:00-15:30 ∙ Photo Exhibition opening and networking break (in person)
Cultural Heritage under Dictatorship
15:30-17:00 ∙ Panel Discussion (hybrid)
17:00-18:00 ∙ Photo Exhibition opening Iranian Cultural Heritage: Fantasies and Speculative Digital Art Activism (in person)
Center for Development Research, Genscherallee 3, 53113 Bonn
Venue: Center for Development Research (ZEF), Conference Room, Ground Floor, Genscherallee 3, 53113 Bonn
Registration for in-person attendance here.
Friday, 12 June 2026
Kontext des Atlas der deutschen Volkskunde (AdV)
9:00-12:15 ∙ Public Presentations in German (in person)
NEW PATHS: Deep Time Heritage: Signifance, Politics and Uses
15:00-17:00 ∙ Lecture and discussion with Dr. Shumon T. Hussain, University of Cologne, with reception (hybrid)
Venue: Global Heritage Lab, Seminar Room, 1st Floor
Poststr. 26, 53111 Bonn
Registration for in-person attendance here.
Heritage Week 2026 is jointly organised by the Global Heritage Lab (GHL)-Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) Present Pasts, the Department of Anthropology of the Americas, the BASA Museum, the Department of Empirical Cultural Studies and Cultural Anthropology, the Department of Art History, the Center for Development Research (ZEF), the Bonn Center for Reconciliation Research (ZFV), and the Center for Historical Peace Research (ZHF).
