BACKGROUND

Responsible for the European Heritage Days in Bulgaria:Ministry of culture (under whose aegis the Days are held), Ministry of education and science, the Agency for youth and sport, the National Institute for monuments of culture, the Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS.

National co-ordinator: The Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS.

National theme: "The Heritage in the Information Society"

The topic for 2006 was selected because of its exceptional actuality, resulting from the decisions of the Regional Forum The cultural corridors of South East Europe (Varna, 20-21 May 2005). The Forum was held under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, the General Director of UNESCO and the General Secretary of the Council of Europe and with the participation of the heads of the states of the countries in the region. They accepted the Declaration of Varna, where special attention is drawn to the necessity to promote the cultural heritage of South East Europe through modern technologies.

Besides that 2006 was declared by the Ministry of education and science as year of electronic education. The popularisation and development of this education creates exceptional new opportunities for education in general, including pedagogy of the heritage as well.

In 2006 were developed and made accessible in the Internet two pioneer multimedia projects*:

* „Development and promotion of multimedia product „The children and the cultural heritage of South East Europe” (www.otkrivam.com). The product developed both in stationary as well as Internet version, gets the young generation acquainted with more than 500 monuments of culture in the countries of South east Europe. It was presented on a working meeting-seminar to pedagogues and leaders in the field of education and was highly estimated by them. The web site that started in March was honoured with a number of prestigious awards and is frequently visited.

* “Virtual cultural corridors in South East Europe” (www.seecorridors.eu) – promotional version in English of Web site, meant both for specialists and for common users. Detailed information is presented for the sites of the cultural heritage in South East Europe and the related to them events, as well as for the possible cultural routes in the region.

The site was developed in execution of the Varna Declaration and was presented for the first time by Prof. Todor Krestev on the Regional Forum this year (Opatija, Croatia, 1 June 2006)

Promotion of the EHD:

• A letter-invitation for participation in the EHD 2006 was sent, with information about the topic of the Days and the possible forms of participation in them.
• The National calendar of the EHD 2006 was announced in the Web site of the Days in Bulgaria
• The Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS printed and distributed poster of the EHD 2006
• The Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS distributed badges and banners of the EHD, as well as the brochures received by Europa Nostra.

Events

Following the already set tradition in Bulgaria, the institutions responsible for the EHD, organise series of national events, while on local level are organised a number of various programs of the various participants – municipalities, museums, schools, non-governmental organisations.

National events:

• Official opening ceremony of the European Heritage Days 2006 in Bulgaria. The ceremony was held in Silistra, which in 2006 celebrated with a number of various events the 1 900th anniversary of its foundation.
• Photo-exhibition „The heritage in the hands of the young: Summer archaeological seminars “Preserve the Bulgarian” 2006 – under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria with the kind assistance and hosted by the Central house of the architect in Sofia.
• Two exhibitions, organised with the assistance of the Croatian embassy: “Croatian Podmorie” and “Croatian monuments from the World Heritage List of UNESCO” and with the kind assistance of the Ministry of culture and the Archaeological museum.
• Exhibition of the prize-winners of the 11th International youth photo-competition for monuments of culture – with the kind assistance of the French cultural institute and the French ambassador in Bulgaria.
• Organisation of National Workshop dedicated to “The heritage in the information society” with representatives of the organisers of the Days, experts and partners, organised by the Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS and kindly hosted by the Municipality of Silistra.

In the workshop took part experts from the Bulgarian Academy of Science, the University for Architecture, Construction and Geodesy, the State Agency “Information technologies and communication”, the Union of Architects in Bulgaria, the company “Colour and pixel” Ltd (host of the sites “The children and the cultural heritage of South East Europe” and “Virtual cultural corridors in South East Europe”) and the Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS, as well as a number of teachers, museum staff and specialists in that field from Silistra. They outlined the existing conditions, necessities, possibilities and perspectives for the use of modern information technologies in the various spheres of activity, dedicated to the heritage: preservation; promotion; pedagogy of the heritage; stimulation and service of cultural tourism; development of networks of followers and partners in each of these fields.
* Implementation of special program of the Union of Architects in Bulgaria, stressing on the architectural heritage in Bulgaria – exhibitions, discussions, lectures.

Local events:

• Official opening ceremonies of the European Heritage Days 2006 in the participating municipalities with hoisting of the flag of the Days and special programs
• Providing of free access to all museums and galleries in the system of the Ministry of culture, as well as to the local museums in the municipalities-participants
• Organisation of mass media campaigns and press conferences related to the Days – various articles and information, radio and TV broadcasting programmes were dedicated to the heritage and the EHD.
• Organising of subject exhibitions – art, photo, ethnographical etc., – presenting various cultural and historical assets and their participation in contemporary life.
• Development and presentation in the Web sites of the cultural heritage in various regions of the country.
• Organising of seminars, discussions and other scientific events related to the topic “The heritage and the information society”
• Organising of tours along the cultural and eco-routes
• Research expeditions to archaeological and architectural reserves
• Education programmes – in the framework of schools, museums, the mass media
• Work on the European Project “From one street – to another”
• Heritage classes (research, documentation and interpretation of a specific monument of culture by a group of students, working on spot in the course of 7-10 days)
• Organising of children competitions dedicated to the “cultural heritage” and presentation of the awarded works of art.

The main contribution of the EHD 2006 in Bulgaria is as follows:

• The EHD 2006 became again reason for attracting the attention of large social circles to the assets of the cultural heritage and to the problems of its preservation, presentation, promotion ands use, to point out the importance of the heritage not only as cultural, historical and natural wealth, but also as resource for sustainable economic and social development and factor for bringing closer and better mutual understanding among the various communities.
• The importance of the modern information technologies was pointed out, as well as the perspectives for their use for the preservation, promotion and pedagogy of the heritage, for the stimulation and service of cultural tourism and the development of partner’s networks in each of these spheres.
• Co-operation and unity of the efforts of the public authorities and the voluntary organisations in the field of the preservation and reasonable use of the heritage was carried out.

Arch. Hristina Staneva
President of ICOMOS/Bulgaria
National Coordinator of EHD

Arch. Anastassia Konstantinova
Secretary of ICOMOS/Bulgaria
Executive National Coordinator of EHD

* The first project was financed by the British Council in Bulgaria, through the Fund for cultural and natural heritage of South East Europe, while the second one – by the Ministry of culture. Both projects were developed by the Association for cultural tourism, in partnership with the Multimedia laboratory or cultural heritage at the University for Architecture, Construction and Geodesy and with the Bulgarian National Committee of ICOMOS.