Mestreech ’92: het geheugenlandschap

Over dit project

Mestreech ’92: a memory scape is a project by Studio Europa Maastricht, carried out by Joep Leerssen and Peter Schrijen, based on interviews and archive material. The material was collated and edited in a Nodegoat database.

The Maastricht Treaty (1992) defines our lives as European citizens every day. It is also a piece of Maastricht’s past. To negotiate the treaty, European governments descended on the Limburg capital in late 1991, with officials and security guards, with TV crews and journalists from dozens of countries. The locals were treated to a piece of world history.

What has remained of those days in local memory? What do locals still have in mind when thinking back on them? This ‘memory scape’ is mapped through small, remembered incidents. You can walk through that landscape on the website Mestreech ’92: a memory scape (in Dutch).

This website was designed by Giliam Ganzevles. Thanks to the informants, to Bart Stol and to the staff of Studio Europa Maastricht. Joep Leerssen is associate professor of ‘Limburg and Europe’ at Maastricht University. Peter Schrijen is a former communication advisor of the Province of Limburg and also provided illustrative material as a photographer. As a centre of expertise, Studio Europa Maastricht gives substance to the European Heritage Label awarded by the European Commission to the Maastricht Treaty.

Mestreech ’92 came about partly thanks to the efforts of Maastricht University, the Province of Limburg, the Municipality of Maastricht and FASoS. If you would like to add your own memories to this memory landscape, please contact us.