Currently, many positions in provenance research at German museums are only financed through third-party funding. This also applies to professorships at universities. Parzinger stressed: “There is a lack of permanent positions.” In recent years, a great deal of expertise has been built up nationwide in the field: “This comprehensive knowledge of actors, archives and the art trade must not be lost again.”
Since the adoption of the Washington Declaration in 1998 on dealing with Nazi-looted art, the SPK says it has returned more than 350 works of art and around 2,300 books. Parzinger stressed: “This issue will keep us busy for a long time to come.” In provenance research, the SPK has “a relatively well-equipped team” of seven to eight people for both Nazi-looted art and colonial contexts.
Head of the Cultural Foundation since 2008
The 65-year-old has been at the head of the largest association of museums, libraries, archives and research institutes in Germany since 2008. He will retire at the end of May 2025. He will then be succeeded at the head of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation by the 59-year-old art expert Marion Ackermann. Ackermann is currently General Director of the Dresden State Art Collections.
