Cultural heritage protection in the Nordic and Baltic regions will receive DKK 1 million (about €134,000) for 2027, under a funding decision announced by the Nordic Council of Ministers for Culture (Nordisk Ministerråd for Kultur) on 28 October.
The funding will support a new round of Hanaholmen Heritage, a programme coordinated by the Hanaholmen cultural centre in Finland. It addresses risks to collections, historic buildings and digital heritage from armed conflict, hybrid threats, cyberattacks and climate change.
Cultural heritage protection through joint exercises
The 2027 programme will include a major practical emergency preparedness exercise. Heritage specialists will work alongside security and emergency preparedness experts on different crisis scenarios. Protecting digitised cultural heritage will be another central theme.
A recurring Nordic-Baltic forum will also bring together former programme participants, public authorities and experts to maintain co-operation and exchange experience across borders.
The pilot produced recommendations for emergencies
The new funding follows a 2026 pilot involving participants from all the Nordic and Baltic countries. According to Hanaholmen’s programme overview, the training combined two online meetings with an on-site course on 11–13 May. A conference followed on 28 May.
The pilot’s published recommendations help explain what this preparation means in practice. Experts called for agreements on evacuating cultural heritage, procedures for temporary storage and cross-border assistance, and guidelines for managing digital backups.
They also proposed increasing digitisation and establishing a shared cloud-based service to store heritage material. These were expert recommendations, rather than measures confirmed as operational by the new funding announcement.
War and climate risks shape the programme
In announcing the continuation, the Nordic Council of Ministers pointed to the war in Ukraine and Europe’s deteriorating security situation as reasons to strengthen the protection of cultural heritage during crises.
The 2027 round will give the regional network another opportunity to practise working together, while the recurring forum is intended to sustain co-operation beyond individual training courses.
