what does a…If you look at our job landscape, you will see special functions. A field service engineer, a lab technician or an assembly worker: we obviously need them badly, but for what and why? In this series, someone tells about his or her profession every week. Today: Karen Jeneson (55) is curator of the Thermenmuseum in Heerlen.
What is it like to work in a place like the Thermenmuseum?
,,Very special. In Germany and France you stumble upon Roman remains, but in the Netherlands they are much rarer. In our river area, wood, loam and reed were mainly available as building materials. Limestone is found in Limburg, which means that more has been preserved in that area. That I now work at a large public Roman bathhouse is a dream come true. That I have been able to take care of this for eleven years now!”
Have you always dreamed of doing something in this direction?
,,Yes. As a child we moved to a new neighborhood in Gouda where many old things came up because of the building. That digging in the ground to discover how people have lived in the past… I love it. I have always been interested in the Romans. I remember when I was ten I visited the amphitheater in Nîmes with my parents and was very impressed by it. That’s why I wanted to go to the Gymnasium. Not only to learn Latin, but also to learn about the culture of the ancient Romans.”
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For us it’s not about the pot, but about the person who made the pot
What do you need as a curator of the Thermenmuseum?
“As a curator in general you have to have a passion for what’s in your collection, be it paintings, statues or old objects. You have to want to know everything about it and take good care of it. Sometimes this means hitting the table with your fist when necessary to protect a piece. The most important talent you can have is understanding which stories can make visitors happy. A former teacher of mine used to say, “It’s not about the pot for us, it’s about the person who made the pot.” As a curator you have to be able to tell the human story in a beautiful way. That’s the best part of my job.”
How do you ensure that those stories can be told?
,,The collection in the Thermenmuseum originated in 1900. An important task is to manage the collection we already have. Just like in a modern museum with paintings, I make sure that all the pieces we have are numbered and in our registration system. You need to know where a piece was found and what the function of that place used to be. For example, was it a pottery studio and can you tell the public more about it? In addition, it is important that the objects are well maintained. Metal must be kept dry to prevent it from rusting and the more than 2,000-year-old bathhouse must be checked and maintained to ensure it is well preserved.”
Do you ever get a new item?
,,We have a closed collection, which means that no new things come in. We may, however, request documents on loan. That is why I keep a close eye on whether beautiful new finds are being made in the area, or whether another museum has an interesting piece that we could borrow.”
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Now people are very proud to live in the city with the best preserved Roman bathhouse in the country
What do you like least about your job?
,,There are few things I don’t like, I’m mostly short of time. It is a relatively small museum, so I have to do a lot myself. That is sometimes overwhelming. In addition, in my early days I found it difficult that people in the city seemed to have lost how special it is to live in a former Roman city. Residents were not aware of all the beauty that has been found or is still in the ground here. Then you literally hear someone say about a historic place: ‘Nicely fascinating, throw sand over it and put a new flat on it.’ I found that very difficult, but I see that this attitude has changed in the last ten years. Now, for example, people are very proud to live in the city with the best-preserved Roman bathhouse in the country. In other cities a lot has been excavated, but here you can still see traces of the ancient Roman period.”
Do you want to continue doing this until you retire?
“I can be brief about that: absolutely. There is no better place for a Roman curator and archaeologist to work.”
Cultural job
Do you prefer to spend the whole day working on art and culture? Then apply for a job in the cultural sector. There are various possibilities. For example, you can work as a program maker in the theatre, project leader in the archive or reservations officer in the museum. At National Vacancy Bank you will find relevant vacancies in your region†
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