Cultural Heritage Volunteering exhibition

This travelling educational exhibition is organised by the European Heritage Volunteers international organisation, whose goal is to promote European cultural and natural heritage volunteering. The exhibition is part of the Rijeka 2020 – European Capital of Culture project.

The Cultural Heritage Volunteering exhibition comprises 18 large panels with descriptions of cultural volunteering projects across Europe in Croatia, Germany, Finland, Russia, Portugal, Spain, Albania, Armenia and Slovakia.

The European Heritage Volunteers organisation held an international planning workshop in Rijeka that was part of the “Tourism evaluation of representative industrial heritage monuments in Rijeka”. The programme included the organisation of new tourism routes, as well as activities that raise awareness of cultural heritage, especially industrial heritage. The main goal of the project was to tackle the challenge of the innovative interpretation of the ship Galeb and the Sugar Refinery Palace. Participants were asked to provide solutions that would inspire, intrigue and entertain visitors, as well as offer new modes of interpreting these spaces.

The European Heritage Volunteers organisation was involved in several cultural heritage projects in Germany, including the renovation of the historical parks and gardens of Classical Weimar, which has been a protected world heritage site since 1998. Classical Weimar consists of 12 separate buildings, such as the Weimar City Castle, the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, Goethe’s and Schiller’s residences etc. The historical parks and gardens of Weimar connect the historical buildings with the surrounding areas and constitute a key feature of the world heritage site. The European Heritage Volunteers project combines the practical aspects of the renovation and maintenance of the historical parks and gardens with training on the preservation of cultural heritage. Over the years, the project participants have renovated the network of historical paths in the south-western part of Belvedere Park using plans from the early 19th century.

In Slovakia, the European Heritage Volunteers organisation is working on the preservation of Tematín Castle in the Považský Inovec mountain range. The castle was built in the 13th century during the period of the Tatar invasions and today it is considered one of the least accessible castles in Slovakia. Since 2007, the castle has been maintained by the Tematín Castle Association, which explores and preserves the castle with the help of volunteers. So far, they have stabilised a few of the castle facilities, preventing their complete decay. They employ modern methods of construction and traditional methods of laying stones.

Dr. Bert Ludwig, Director of European Heritage Volunteers, will give a keynote speech on the activities of the organisation during the exhibition at the Kortil Gallery on 4 December 2019 at 7 p.m. The aim of the speech is to encourage volunteering in culture as part of the International Volunteer Day celebration.

The activities organised by European Heritage Volunteers are aimed at all interested citizens without prior experience, regardless of their age, and particularly at students and young professionals who want to contribute to the preservation of European cultural heritage by volunteering. Over the past two decades, they have organised more than 200 projects involving 2000 volunteers from 67 countries.

More information about European Heritage Volunteers is available at www.heritagevolunteers.eu/

The exhibition at the Kortil Gallery will be open to the public until 10 December 2019.