Page 128 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage
P. 128
V. Funding
Mary Rose – Income Sources 1983 - 2001
Visitor income 55%
‘Governmental’ grant-giving bodies 6%
‘Museum bodies’ 1%
Local Government 4%
Grants from Charitable Trusts 4%
Courts, Friends, Dinners, etc
6%
Companies 5%
Other 4%
Trading Company 8%
National Heritage Memorial Fund 7%
© Christopher Dobbs, Mary Rose Trust. Left: Overview of the income sources of the Mary Rose Trust between 1983 and 2001. Right: Overview of the income sources of the Mary Rose Trust
in 2008.
The Mary Rose Museum of Ports- mouth displays the 16th century Tudor navy warship Mary Rose, one of the main vessels of King Henri VIII fleet, as well as its historical context. Built in 1509 - 1510, it sunk in 1545 while leading a battle against a French fleet. Discovered in 1971, the wreck was recovered in 1982 and is now displayed in the museum.
The comparison between the sources of funding for the period 1983 - 2001 and for the year 2008 shows a significant change in the income sources. In 2008, one can observe a concentration on
3 principal funding sources: visitor income, charitable trusts and the National Heritage Memorial Fund. More specifically, the support obtained from charitable trusts rose from 4 to 21% and the sup- port obtained from the National Heritage Memorial Fund rose from 7 to 35 %.
Securing funding is a recurrent problem for underwater archaeological projects. It is a stumbling block over which naïvely planned
operations come to grief. The result may be major damage to the heritage affected, without this being offset by project results. In view of the fragile nature of underwater cultural heritage and its nature as a public resource, this
is indefensible. An adequate funding base should be assured in advance of any activity. No less than three Rules of the Annex address this issue.
Financial planning
Rule 17.
Except in cases of emergency to protect underwater cultural heri- tage, an adequate funding base shall be assured in advance of any activity, sufficient to complete all stages of the project design, including con- servation, documentation and cura- tion of recovered artefacts, and report preparation and dissemi- nation.
Although Rule 17 addresses funding, it is perhaps
even more about integral management and planning.
It refers to the project design described in Rule
10 and is particularly adamant about the fact that 127
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Funding