Heritage without Borders: Redefining Cultural Values through the Built Heritage of SE Europe

Project Outline

Introduction

The South Eastern Region of Europe has undergone many political, social and cultural changes during the last 20years through war, revolution and political manoeuvring, resulting in a redefinition of boundaries, a redistribution of people and a need for clearer understanding between cultures at many levels of society.

Within each of the regions of this project the built heritage has played a distinctive role in helping to define the values of society. People attach value to buildings and to places. Buildings define local distinctiveness, and identity, they can engender local pride and can reflect the quality of life of society. Their architecture, design and use are an integral part of the cultural values of the society in which they exist. On the other hand, they possess also a pan European value, a joint heritage, to be used and enjoyed by all EU citizens.

Due to social and political changes many buildings throughout SE Europe are now in a state of severe neglect. Their former importance in helping to define the values of the society in which they were set are in danger of being lost.

The purpose of this project is to redefine the values attached to the Built Heritage to help promote cross-culture understanding, to develop guidelines to assist in the retention of the important built heritage, and to encourage the exchange of knowledge and expertise for mutual benefit in the region of SE Europe to incorporate Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania and Croatia.

General Theme

The project will seek to promote a cross-cultural and transnationalunderstanding of how the built heritage has contributed to the cultural development of society in the participant countries, and to develop that understanding as a means of identifying heritage at risk. Guidelines will be produced, which will enable each country to produce a register of Buildings at Risk which will be used to focus attention on the scale of the problem and to direct resources to assist in regeneration.

“heritage surgeries” will be established across the region to provide free advice to owners on built heritage restoration, and to use the restoration process as a catalyst for cross-border learning and dialogue. The project will involve NGO’s, specialist experts, universities and local authorities from each of the participant countries, thus developing not only cross-border cultural understanding but also a pool of expertise which can be made available throughout the region within and beyond the project period.

Aims

  • To promote a better cross-border understanding of the value of the built cultural heritage between countries
  • To raise awareness of the value of cultural heritage at an international level
  • To facilitate international co-operation and exchange of knowledge and expertise in order to identify and maintain a major cultural asset and as ameans of encouraging inter-cultural dialogue and promoting trans-national mobility within the cultural heritage sector.
  • To develop guidelines to help identify the extent of heritage at risk in each of the participant countries, to identify common themes which can be addressed at an international level.
  • To promote cultural understanding and partnership through the mechanism of regeneration through cultural heritage.
  • To provide a means for facilitating the long term sustainability of cultural heritage through education and awareness.

Practical Implications/ Actions

  • Preparation of aSituation Report for each country, which would define what constitutes cultural heritage. Buildings can be important not just for their architectural or historical quality but also for their “association” with people or events. They often provide a reference to a sense of place and help connect a community to the past, beyond adversity. It is essential to understand the background as to why buildings are important within a particular context in order to evaluate the cultural aspirations for their potential restoration. This will involve co-operation between professionals, and NGO’s, with input from international organizations such as ICOMOS, Europa Nostra.
  • Development of criteria for assessment of Heritage at Risk. Heritage can be at risk not only through physical neglect but also for reasons relating to ownership, absenteeism, political factors and many other components all of which combine to produce desolation and neglect. The Project will develop criteria which can be generally used throughout the SE European Region but which is also capable of being adapted to take account of the cultural situation relevant to each country. Preparation of the criteria will be developed through a working group comprising experts from each of the participant countries, and with specialist input from the UK based English Heritage.
  • Preparation of Guidelines based on the Heritage at Risk Criteria. The Guidelines will provide a basis for determining what constitutes risk, what level of action may be required to alleviate risk, what are the likely resource implications, and what opportunities may exist for improvement/regeneration.
  • Implementation of the Guidelines through a series of Pilot Projects; In Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro. The pilot projects will involve the preparation of a Register of Heritage at Risk in the nominated areas.(This is likely to be a region within each of the countries, and not the whole country). This will involve co-operation between local and international experts, students from architectural universities, international heritage associations (e.g. ICOMOS), local authorities and NGO’s. A nominated NGO within each country will lead this aspect under the guidance of the controlling group. It will involve a high level of cross-border co-operation between participants, sharing the full pool of expertise which will be established within the networks which will be established within the region.
  • The Provision of Heritage Surgeries. These will raise awareness on the importance of cultural heritage in each of the countries and will provide a free advice service in helping to identify problems and offer solutions on the restoration of buildings of cultural heritage importance. The surgeries will be staffed on a part-time basis, perhaps initially at least only two or three surgeries per month on selected dates. (hence the need for good dissemination/advertising).They will undertake a pro-active role in helping to persuade building owners identified on the Heritage at Risk Register to recognize the value of their heritage assets (personal value, local context value, business/economic value, tourism value), and will provide advice on potential funding sources and practical restoration issues.The Heritage Surgeries will be organised through the regional NGO’s and/or main Cultural Heritage bodies under the guidance of the main Co-organiser . They will embrace an input from Conservationists, Architects, Structural Engineers and Universities The role of these specialists would be to offer advice to owners on good practice, design and maintenance, availability of craftsmen (it would also involve setting up a local database of craftsmen and availability of traditional materials), and funding sources for restoration. The practical advice and training offered through the Surgeries would be partly based on the BHCT model from BanffyCastle , Bontida,and would involve:
  • Undertaking specialist training courses on historic building restoration using traditional materials and techniques. (initially perhaps 1 or 2 courses per month between April and October)
  • Training would involve a direct hands on approach led by local craftsmen in parallel with craftsmen from the UK and Hungary and from the BHCT Centre at BanffyCastle
  • An initial step would be to run several special courses at BanffyCastle for craftsmen from the various participant countries to prepare them for leadership of the training programmes through the surgeries.

This approach will also help educate the NGO's in practical conservation delivery in order ensure sustainability after the project period has ended.It will also facilitate extensive cross-border mobility of specialists and encourage international dialogue at a high professional level.

Long Term Sustainability.

The Project will establish a system for preparing a Register of Heritage Buildings at Risk in each of the participant countries and provide a mechanism for its continuous updating. The register is not an end in itself, it will provide a means of focusing attention on a problem which is common to the whole SE. European Region, and of helping to define priorities for intervention and for efficiently directing scarce resources. It will help define a management strategy for resource development and provide an effective means of monitoring progress.

The international co-operation required for the project will facilitate the provision of a network of expertise and an exchange of knowledge and understanding which will help foster cultural understanding in the region.

In parallel a network of expertise in practical restoration issues will be established through the Heritage Surgeries, through which the value of international cultural understanding will be promoted.

Dissemination of Information

This will form a major element of the Project in helping to promote understanding of the cultural values of the heritage of SE. Europe. Dissemination will include:

  • the publication of the findings of the Situation Report
  • Provision of a series of international conferences to raise awareness of the value of cultural heritage and to publicise the project
  • Publication of the Guidelines and Criteria for Heritage at Risk
  • Develop a web site of Heritage at Risk in SE. Europe

Implementation

The approach to implementation will be a “bottom-up”approach. This will be achieved by involving local NGO’s, Cultural Institutes, Universities at all levels of the project, from information gathering to organization of practical training and dissemination of information, under the guidance and experience of the principal co-ordinators. This will provide the widest possibility for intercultural exchange and understanding, and provide the greatest potential for extending the capacity of the NGO’s to continue to operate in this field beyond the project period.

Participants/Co-Organisers.

The Lead Organisor will be the The Transylvania Trust

Other groups who have already indicated that they would wish to participate as Co-Organisers are:

Cultural Heritage Without Borders

National Office for Cultural Heritage, Hungary

Other Potential Co-Organisers/ Partners

NGO’s in each country

Architectural Universities in each country

ICOMOS

Europa Nostra

British Council

Ministries of Culture

English Heritage

Costs

The overall cost is likely to be in the region of 300000Euro

Timescale

Revised to: Submit application October 2007

Start Date July 2008

Completion July 2010

Contact:

Transylvania Trust

Ms. CsillaHegedus