Conference theme
The theme of the Fourth International Conference of Peace Museums is ‘From War Remembrance to Peace Education’. It thus deals with the core business of Peace Museums. Through exhibitions and educational activities, and inspired by the history of war and peace, peace museums aim to help build a ‘culture of peace’ in the here and now. 

This conference is taking place in Flanders , whose name - the world over - has become synonymous with the horrors of the First World War. The enormity of that war, and of the loss, suffering and devastation which it occasioned, is still today, eighty-five years after it came to an end, vividly brought home by countless reminders: war cemeteries, war monuments, war museums. In Flanders Fields, still today, war remembrance is imperative.

But nevertheless, the horror of war does not inhibit humans from waging new ones – even today. Negative motives are not the most appropriate to reach positive goals. The mission of peace museums in general and of this conference in particular is to spread hope instead of horror and to build on the strength of peace instead of the fear of violence.

One of the assets of peace museums is that they can reach out to and involve a broad general public, many of whom might not be involved in the peace movement per se. Peace museums are among the most apt institutions to educate for peace, to help build a ‘culture of peace’.

Design of the conference
The conference has two main pillars, i.e. a number of field trips under the heading ‘From Battlefield Tourism to Peace Tourism’, and three workshops with lectures and discussions:
· Living With Violence – Living After Violence: Post-Genocide Reconstruction of Society
· Remembrance and Identity: the Importance of War and Peace for National and Transnational Identities
· Peace Museums & Peace Education (1998-2003)
All three workshops involve museum approaches and all are relevant or ‘usable’ for peace museum purposes.

Previous conferences
The network of peace museums was founded in 1992 during the First International Conference of Peace Museums in Bradford (UK). The driving force behind both network and conference is
professor Peter van den Dungen from the Department of Peace Studies - University of Bradford .

In 1995, the second conference took place in Stadtschlaining
( European Peace University - Austria ) and in 1998 the third one in Osaka and Kyoto ( Japan ). The fourth conference (May 2003) was organized by IJzertoren, Museum of War , Peace and Flemish Emancipation (Diksmuide, Flanders-Belgium).

 

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