Cultural Corridors of South East Europe

Heritage: ESPRIT, 2007-2008

Heritage: ESPRIT, 2007-2008

The project Cultural Heritage: Education – Science – Preservation – Integrated in Tourism (Heritage: ESPRIT) is selected in a competition of the Ministry of Science and Culture (2006) and is realized in 2007 and 2008 by the partners: University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, National Academy of Art, Association for Cultural Tourism and Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS. It aims to create exchange, interaction and communication between different sectors, linked to the cultural heritage: science, education, preservation and cultural tourism, together with the active inclusion of the information technologies. The ambition is to create the missing communication between these sectors. Aiming this, in the frames of the project, an open scientific, educational and expert network is created. The partners in the network had signed a Memodandum for cooperation: University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, National Academy of Art, Association for Cultural Tourism, Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS, Insitute of Archeology and Museum at BAS, Institute of Folklore at BAS and Institute of Analyses and Assessment in Tourism. The network of partners is supported by: a summer school for young scientists and specialists; debates at a round table with exhibition; integration in a European network of scientific and educational centers for preservation of cultural heritage, in the spirit of the Regional Forums in South East Europe in Varna (2005) and Opatija (2006). The technological platform of the network – the Multimedia Heritage Laboratory is improved. A research was elaborated and a series of pilot informational products (digitalized monuments of culture, 3D models, a pilot territory for cultural tourism - Rhodopi Cultural Area) are developed. The resources of the participants in the project, including the potential of young scientists and students are turned to use. The project fulfills public dissemination of the pilot products through online geographic systems within the present website. By this means the results from the project could directly influence upon the tourist and educational sectors, with a role to the national image and the popularization of the Bulgarian cultural values as a part of the European heritage. The project is entirely open for future development – the researches for new forms of presentation and dissemination of the knowledge for heritage continue.