Robert Bevan's 'Monumental Lies and the Material Evidence of the Past'

It was a night to remember on Thursday 15 February, as the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre hosted journalist, author, and researcher Robert Bevan for its 7th Annual Lecture.

Centre Director Dr Dacia Viejo-Rose welcomed a capacity crowd of more than 100 guests from the Centre, University, and Cambridge at large who were treated to a provocative and engaging evening in which Robert lived up to his reputation as “one of the most compelling voices in the heritage world” (Tribune).

Eloquently introduced by Dr Erin O’Halloran and drawing on his 2022 book Monumental Lies: Culture Wars and the Truth about the Past, Bevan outlined the contemporary heritage debate about markers of history in today’s public space and the tensions arising from political contests in which the material past is revised, edited, or dismantled arguing for the continued importance of preserving these material remains as a record of shared histories.

Firmly positioned within the discipline of architecture – he is currently Architectural Critic for the London Evening Standard – Robert’s emphasis on materiality was enhanced by the post-keynote intervention of Clare College’s Professor Wendy Pullan, whose expertise as both a scholar of architecture and Director of the Centre for Urban Conflict Research at Cambridge fittingly complemented Bevan’s talk.

Questions of materiality, authenticity, and the intricacies of the built environment provided a fantastic jumping-off point for enthusiastic debate – not only in the fascinating Q & A session between Robert and our highly interdisciplinary audience but long into the evening!

We would like to extend our utmost gratitude to Robert Bevan for joining the Centre for the evening and providing such a fascinating lecture.

We would also like to thank Jesus College for their assistance in the administration of the event, as well as Ben Davenport and Dr. Alisa Santikarn for their hard work behind the scenes!

For those who missed the talk, a recording can be found below on the CHRC YouTube channel.