Amsterdam
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Dutch Institutions abroad

UTRECHT

Stichting Kerkelijk Kunstbezit in Nederland / Bibliotheek en Documentatieafdeling

Foundation for Ecclesiastical Art & Artefacts in the Netherlands / Library, Documentation Department

Size 6,000 books, 15 current and 20 discontinued periodicals
Character and emphasis De Stichting Kerkelijk Kunstbezit in Nederland (SKKN) was founded in 1977 to stimulate the preservation of the objects of cultural heritage present in the Christian churches and monasteries in the Netherlands. It advises the ecclesiastical authorities of the various Christian communities on protection and maintenance, and compiles a central register of all such objects. These include paintings, sculpture, communion plate, reliquiaries, furniture, vestments and bibles, as well as fixed monuments, such as stained glass, altars, tombs, pulpits etc. The information gathered - to date over 100,000 objects have been catalogued in a database, most of which documented with photographs - is accessible for historical and art-historical reseach. The library reflects the task of the Institute: apart from general works on religious art and iconography and the ecclesiastical history of the various Christian denominations in the Netherlands it includes topography, histories and commemorative and guide books of individual churches and other ecclesiastical institutions, literature on related topics - such as devotional and funereal objects and customs - and monographic literature on artists and craftsmen active in the field.

Special collections

• Photographs, illustrating ca. 160,000 objects described in the central register
• Van Leersum Collection: ca. 25,000 postcards of churches in the Netherlands, their interiors and furnishings
• The personal archives (occasionally including drawings and designs) of some 20th century Dutch Roman Catholic artists
• 4,500 inventory reports

Catalogues Automated catalogue

Publications

• Jaarboek van de Stichting Kerkelijk Kunstbezit in Nederland (a collection of essays on a given theme; appears regularly)
• Kerkelijk kunstbezit in nieuwe tijden: Doelstelling en activiteiten van de Stichting Kerkelijk Kunstbezit in Nederland. Utrecht 1987
• Paul le Blanc. 'Stichting Kerkelijk Kunstbezit in Nederland'. Trajecta: Tijdschrift voor de geschiedenis van het katholieke leven in de Nederlanden 5 (1996) 78-79