Heritage Lab in the Netherlands

MARCH 2025

“Why would you focus on cultural heritage in the newest city in the Netherlands?”. That was the first question that the organisers of the Miretage Heritage Lab in the Netherlands, the Storytelling Centre Amsterdam and Moslim Archief, were asked when they began their work in Almere, the youngest city in the Netherlands.

Indeed, Almere is just over 60 years old, built on land reclaimed from the sea. Yet, from the very beginning, its young and diverse population has included a Muslim community. As the narrative of the city took shape, the stories shared by Muslims were always part of it. When you think about it, this is quite revolutionary for a city in Western Europe. When the organisers explained this to participants, the question mark quickly turned into an exclamation mark.

The Heritage Lab held its first session on a rainy evening in March 2025, during Ramadan. This means that an iftar had to be organised to allow people to connect with each other. It turned out to be a special gathering—not just because of the meal, but because sharing food always brings people together and many people showed up.

A second meeting of the Heritage Lab took place in April 2025, to deepen the stories that had already been collected in the first session. With the entire group gathered around a map of Almere, participants began identifying the key locations that had to be included in the future heritage trail. However, some stories were still missing as not all communities within the wider Muslim community in Almere were yet represented.

The next step of the Heritage Lab in the Netherlands will be to broaden the current scope and reach out to even more people, inviting them to share their stories too.