"This Collection plays such an
important role in preserving
Heineken's long history for
future generations."
Discovery
Rotterdam resting against it; a mobile phone laying next to a framed
portrait of Alfred Heineken; a wonderful mix of the past and the present.
For a long time, the Heineken Historical Collection has remained behind
closed doors, away from the public eye. Piled up in crowded storage
rooms, the true richness and value of the collection was largely unknown.
In recent years, however, there has been a trend towards making the
collection more accessible to the public. G.A. Heineken's famous letter, for
example, can now be examined and studied by historians and the general
public alike, after a large selection of historical documents from the
Heineken Collection was officially handed over to the Amsterdam Municipal
Archive in May this year. Annesietske is pleased these valuable documents
can now be enjoyed by a wider audience.
"These documents have been entrusted to the Municipal Archive in
order to preserve the brewery's rich and fascinating history, while at the
same time making it more accessible. The documents are open for
research by historians or anybody else who is interested in Heineken. The
inventory is also accessible on the Municipal Archive website and
researchers can study the files in their reading rooms."
Photographs and films also make up a large part of the Heineken
Collection. Seeing another golden opportunity to exhibit some of these
images to a larger public audience, dozens of photographs were chosen for
display at the Epson Photo Festival in the Netherlands in June. Entitled
'Brouwerij Belicht' (Brewery in the Spotlight), the unique Heineken
exposition again brought to life (and light) a crucial period of Heineken's
early history - its first 100 years of operation.
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