About Us
Our History
European Historic Houses, founded in 1985 by Mr Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, began as a small association bringing together national organisations to preserve privately owned historic houses. Its mission is to safeguard owners’ interests and promote collaboration. Despite challenges such as tax laws, cultural goods trafficking, and climate directives, we advocate for heritage protection. Now a broad European network, we empower our members and owners to address key cultural heritage issues actively.
EHH presidents:
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (The Netherlands) 1985 – 2001
Jean Guéroult (France) 2001 – 2002
Ghislain d’Ursel (Belgium) 2002 – 2010
Rodolphe de Looz-Corswarem (Belgium) 2010 – 2018
Alfonso Pallavicini 2018 – present
What we do
We are a network representing 27 associations of privately-owned historic houses across Europe. Based in the heart of Brussels’ EU district, our team is dedicated to advocate for Europe’s unique private cultural heritage.
Our mission is to preserve, protect, and share the extraordinary history, art, and architecture within these remarkable homes. Representing over 50,000 historic properties, we work closely with their owners, providing the resources and support needed to keep these landmarks thriving. These homes are symbols of European identity, and our goal is to ensure they are here for generations to come.
Through cross-border partnerships, policy advocacy, and awareness campaigns, we highlight the cultural value of privately-owned historic houses. Together, we are committed to preserving not just the buildings, but also the stories, traditions, and heritage they carry.
Represent
EHH represents interests of private owners of historic houses toward the EU institutions and defend the positions of the association on all EU topics relevant for private owners of historic houses.
Raise Awareness
EHH raises awareness about the economic, social, cultural and environmental value of private historic houses in Europe.
Support
EHH supports our members in finding relevant information, partnership opportunities and resources to preserve, manage, and promote their historic properties while fostering cultural heritage and sustainability.
Provide
EHH provides a platform of exchange and knowledge-sharing between national associations, owners and EHH network.
Board
Alfonso Pallavicini
Executive President
Italy
An experienced businessman and passionate about built cultural heritage, he was elected as the president of the European Historic Houses Association in 2018. He is a true European: he was born in Italy into a Hungarian-Italian family, lived in Austria and France, and currently lives in Belgium with his family. After a long career in Investment Banking, he left BNP Paribas as Head of Europe and then moved into private equity to Belgium and Luxembourg. He serves on several boards as non-executive director. Mr. Pallavicini does not only own a historic house but also has helped in restructuring and reviewing different private heritage houses’ business models.
Rodolphe de Looz-Corswarem
Honorary President
Belgium
He was the executive president of European Historic Houses from 2010 until 2018. With an extensive leadership experience on several multinational companies, he now acts as the honorary president of the association working with the rest of the board on the decision-making processes of the organisation and by being actively engaged with EHH’s activities.
Carlos Romero Duplá
Vice President
Spain
With extensive experience in politics having worked for 10 years as the Digital Transformation attaché at the Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU and now being the director of a public policy consultancy, Carlos was appointed Vice-President of the European Historic Houses in June 2024. He holds a bachelor’s in Administrative and European Law (UAM) and speaks Spanish, English, French fluently.
Nicoline Schaub
Vice President and NextGen Group Coordinator
Switzerland
Contact
Nicoline Schaub lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland. She holds a master’s degree in art history from the University of Zurich. After graduating, she was a press officer for a large music and art festival in Switzerland before setting up her own business as cultural manager, incl. Graphic design and PR. She is a member of the central board of Domus Antiqua Helvetica and as their former NextGen President, she was significantly involved in building a lively Swiss NextGen Group.
Wenceslas de Lobkowicz
Special Advisor to the President on EU matters
Belgium
A senior expert of European decision-making, Wenceslas de Lobkowicz has been appointed as Vice-President of the European Historic Houses in 2018. He has served over thirty-eight years in the European Commission in several directorate generals and units. Most lately, up until 2016, he worked in the Directorate General for Enlargement as Head of Unit of “Information and inter-institutional relations”. Currently, he is a lecturer of European Policy at the Sciences Po Paris and IEP of Lille. Mr de Lobkowicz has also great experience with historic houses, as he owns one in France.
Birthe Iuel
Denmark
Sébastien Clerc
France
Jens J. Jacobi
Germany
Isabella Collalto
Italy
Stefania Pignatelli
Italy
Dana Beldiman Karlsons
Latvia
Lukas Alioth
Switzerland
William Cartwright-Hignett
United Kingdom
Our Team in Brussels
Ewelina Oksiuta
Secretary General
Ewelina leads efforts to protect and promote Europe’s privately-owned historic houses since 2020. Holding a master’s degree in European Studies from the Free University of Brussels, she has developed a strong background in cultural heritage, project management, and international cooperation. Prior to her current role at EHH, Ewelina coordinated the members’ network and projects of an association dedicated to Second World War remembrance tourism. She also gained experience in communications and public relations while working at the Polish Embassy and the Polish Tourism Organisation in Brussels. Passionate about cultural heritage, Ewelina focuses on enhancing its visibility and sustainability through advocacy, EU-funded projects, and collaboration with diverse stakeholders.
Contact
Alba Calderón Castro
Communications and Project Manager
Alba rejoined European Historic Houses in August 2023 after her internship as a Cultural and Political Communications trainee from August 2022 to March 2023. She holds two bachelors’ degrees in French and English languages and literatures from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain and graduated from the universities of Göttingen and Palacky Olomouc with a joint master’s degree in European politics, Culture and Society (Euroculture). With a passion for languages, communication and cultural heritage, Alba is now in charge of the communications and EU projects that EHH is part of.
Contact
Martina Gueli
Communications and Project assistant
Martina joined EHH in June as a Communication and Project Assistant intern after completing her master’s in art history at Sapienza University in Rome. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Cultural Heritage. Martina has gained experience in the private cultural heritage sector, having worked in auction houses in both Rome and Brussels. She is passionate about the art market, research in the field of heritage studies, and is also interested in the applications of artificial intelligence in this sector.
Contact
Jobs
There are no current vacancies available at the moment. However, we do accept spontaneous applications for an internship all year long.
Internship
Role
We are looking for a motivated student or recent graduate to join our team in Brussels for at least 6 months (you need to be enrolled at the time of applying).
Description
The European Historic Houses is an umbrella association covering 27 national associations of privately-owned historic houses. Our main office is in Brussels, Belgium, within the EU quarter. We aim at raising awareness and advocating at a European level about private cultural heritage. The Association defends the preservation, conservation, and transmission of heritage houses and represents 50.000 of them throughout Europe. To do so, the association gathers policy and European project activities.
Application
Send us an email with your CV and Cover Letter to info@europeanhistorichouses.eu with the subject line “INTERNSHIP-YOUR NAME”.
Duration
6, 9 or 12 months
Commitment
Full-time
Starting date
to be discussed
Compensation
Erasmust grant (traineeships, graduate exchange) + Transport