The main theme of the European Heritage Days 2001 “Children, youth and heritage”, proposed by the Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS and unanimously accepted by the Ministry of Culture and the other co-organizers, was selected because of its strategic importance for the formation of the right attitude to the cultural heritage, hence to the fate of this heritage. The extreme actuality of the theme was also recognized, a theme that was constantly present in numerous international forums of the Council of Europe, ICOMOS, UNESCO etc.

The main objective of the Days 2001 was to incorporate the children and the youth to the assets of the cultural heritage, to raise their knowledge, increase their willingness to participate in its preservation, to cultivate the feeling of belonging to the assets of the all-European heritage. The participants in the Days were municipalities from regions rich in monuments of culture and natural landmarks (especially interesting were the programs of the municipalities: Smolyan, Veliko Tarnovo, Sofia, Kotel, Shoumen, Vraza, Razgrad, Pleven, Montana, Lovetch, Gabrovo, Burgas), the regional inspectorates of the Ministry of Education and Science, schools and higher educational institutions, over 15 NGO and voluntary organizations, related to the heritage pedagogic.

Main events of the Days were:

1. Official opening by the Minister of Culture of the European Heritage Days 2001 (Sofia, 29 September) with the participation of representatives of the co-organizers.

2. Workshop dedicated to “Children, youth and heritage” (Sofia, 29 September) – with the assistance of the Council of Europe and the participation of its experts in the field of the heritage pedagogic. During the Workshop the participants shared the valuable experience gained in this field, lanced interesting ideas for future projects, established useful contacts for future cooperation. The main conclusions, intentions and decisions of the participants were presented in the final document of the Workshop (there is a detailed report available in the Ministry of Culture).

3. Participation of children from all over Bulgaria in the VI EPIM (International children photo-competition for monuments of culture) under the aegis of the Council of Europe.

4. National exhibition dedicated to “Children, youth and heritage”, revealing three different forms of study of the cultural and historical heritage by the young generation – by the lens, through creative interpretation and by scientific research:

* The awarded works of the VI International children photo-competition for monuments of culture and all photos, presented by the participants in the Bulgarian national phase of the competition;

* Drawings, depicting assets of the cultural and historical heritage, done by children from the Children’s Fine Arts School “Colorit”, Pleven;

* Posters of the awarded works of the First national historical competition for students from VIII to ХII grades for the prize of the Vice-president of Bulgaria dedicated to “Modernization, innovations, changes”.

5. Participation in the European Heritage Class in the 23 High School“F. J. Kurie”, Sofia

6. Participation in the European project “ Europe: from one street to another” (“L’Europe: d’une rue а l’autre / “Europe: from one street to another”)

7. Events included in the programs of the various participants; artistic happenings, games, lectures, competition for children’ drawings, art, architecture and ethnographic exhibitions, etc.

8. Happenings (exhibitions, lectures, specialized tours for children, etc.) of the national and local museums and free access to them during the Days, provided by the Ministry of Culture and the participating municipalities.

9. Media campaign “Children, youth and heritage”, held on national and local level – publications in the press, radio and TV broadcasting dedicated to the European Heritage days on current problems related to the monuments of culture, press conferences, interviews, radio-games on the topic, etc. A national press conference was held in the Euro-Bulgarian cultural center on 26 September 2001.