Zagreb hosts ‘Europa Nostra: Sharing Heritage – Sharing Values’ exhibition and debate
The exhibition ‘Europa Nostra: Sharing Heritage – Sharing Values’ was opened on 19 February at the Oris House of Architecture in Zagreb, Croatia. The exhibition presented a selected number of people and projects that have been awarded a Grand Prix of the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards from all over Europe. It also provided an insight into the range of activities of Europa Nostra.
The exhibition was opened by the Croatian Minister of Culture, Nina Obuljen Koržinek, and the President of Oris, Andrija Rusan. Special addresses were given by Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, Secretary General of Europa Nostra, and Conservator and Art Historian Ferdinand Meder, who has dedicated his entire career to the protection of Croatian cultural heritage and who received a Grand Prix in 2017.
Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović stressed how happy she was to be in Zagreb at the very beginning of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 and to be able to present, in her native language, Europa Nostra and the latest European policy developments in favour of cultural heritage, including the European Council Conclusions on education and culture, which were published on 14 December 2017. She also warmly encouraged the Croatian stakeholders to gather and form a powerful and efficient association of citizens which would represent Europa Nostra in Croatia.
The opening of the exhibition was followed by a discussion on ‘Sharing Heritage – Sharing Values’ with the participation of Nina Obuljen Koržinek, Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, Ferdinand Meder, Višnja Kisić, Secretary General of Europa Nostra Serbia, Goran Tomka, UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Management, and Tomislav Sola, Director of The Best in Heritage and Council member of Europa Nostra. Goraka Horjan, Chair of the Jury Education, Training and Awareness-Raising of the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards, moderated the event, which attracted more than 80 participants.
On this occasion, Višnja Kisić and Goran Tomka made the first public presentation of Europa Nostra’s Learning Kits on Fundraising, Awareness-Raising & Advocacy, and Citizen Engagement & Education for heritage civil society organisations, which were published in February 2018. These digital publications provide innovative and practical approaches to these topics, bringing together dozens of outstanding examples from 21 countries across Europe. The Learning Kits were produced with the support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
These events coincided with the meeting of the jury of category Education, Training and Awareness-Raising of the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards 2018. The jury is chaired by Goranka Horjan, CEO at Zagreb Ethnographic Museum (Croatia), and composed of Pavlos Chatzigrigoriou (Greece), Maka Dvalishvili (Georgia), Yonca Kösebay Erkan (Turkey) and Robert Young (UK).
