Heritage Hubs project wins
European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award 2021
Brussels / The Hague, 25 May 2021
The European Commission and Europa Nostra have just announced the 2021 winners of the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards, the EU prize for cultural heritage funded by the Creative Europe programme. This year, Europe’s top honour in the heritage field goes to 24 exemplary achievements from 18 European countries (for the full list see below). Among this year’s winners is the project Heritage Hubs, by Association of cultural heritage education in Finland, Centre for Urban Development in Serbia, Foundation San Millan de la Cogolla in Spain and Viteco E-learning in Italy, in the category Education, Training and Awareness-raising.
The announcement of the Award winners 2021 has just been made at a live online event co-hosted by Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, and Hermann Parzinger, Executive President of Europa Nostra.
The Award winners were selected by independent juries composed of heritage experts from across Europe, upon evaluation of candidatures submitted by organisations and individuals from 30 European countries.
As part of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, Heritage Hubs brought together young people aged 10 to 16-years-old from Finland, Serbia and Spain in a two-year programme to explore, present and share their own cultural heritage and interpret the heritage of other countries via exchange visits and an e-learning platform. The project was coordinated by the Association of Cultural Heritage Education in Finland (AHEF) in partnership with La Fundación San Millán de la Cogolla (FSMC) in Spain, Urban Development Centre (UDC) in Serbia and VITECO E-learning solutions in Italy.
The project received funding from the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, the Finnish National Agency for Education, the Serbian Ministry of Culture and Information and the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development.
In 2018-2019, Heritage Hubs school pilots were organised at 11 primary and secondary schools in Finland, Serbia and Spain. The pilots included teacher training and heritage workshops with pupils, in which pupils first engaged with their own cultural heritage and later experienced, interpreted and presented the cultural heritage of other countries, both online and during exchange visits. To ensure impact beyond the participating pilot schools, Heritage Hubs organised external events, training an impressive number of over 800 teachers in total.
The Jury was especially appreciative of the project’s methodology: “Heritage Hubs has provided a strong methodology on heritage education, implemented by many schools. Capacity building has been provided for the programme’s partners and many materials have been created, also in a digital format, to help aid creative interaction with the wider community. This includes a combination of virtual and real-life experiences of heritage with transmedia storytelling and multisensory activities. The educational approach is based on the concept of learning from heritage, with participants exchanging their own heritage with other participants, learning through other cultures and the exchange of experiences.”
The project evoked many cultural discoveries by pupils, teachers and local communities, as for instance when pupils from Grocka, Serbia, presented the Serbian Orthodox celebration “Slava” to their partners from Kirkkonummi, Finland. These pupils came to view their own heritage in a different light, thanks to the interpretation of “Slava” by the Finnish pupils, who conceived it in analogy to their own Lutheran (but originally Catholic) tradition of St. Lucia.
In addition to helping pupils overcome their pre-existing cultural prejudices, and increase respect for and curiosity towards their peers’ culture and heritage, the Heritage Hubs (HH) Manual was created, presenting the final format of HH heritage education methodology and practical ways of its application. All results were made available on HH Virtual Library and added to large European repositories, such as HISPANA and Europeana.
“The network they have built is strong and reaches several countries in Europe, also thanks to synergies with other European projects, such as the European Heritage Days and Europeana, which leads to a greater impact. There are also ideas for the future of the project, showing its sustainability,” the Jury stated.
Speaking at the online event, European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel said: “The winners of the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards 2021 are ambassadors of the beauty of heritage in Europe, whether it be traditions and know-how, breath-taking architecture or the way that heritage can unite communities and generations. I truly believe that the successful preservation of our tangible and intangible heritage depends on the commitment of the people behind it. With these awards, we therefore honour all those exceptional men and women, heritage professionals, architects, scientists and volunteers who bring our common heritage closer to our hearts. Their vision should be applauded.”
Europa Nostra’s Executive President Hermann Parzinger stated: “Each year, the winners of the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards exemplify the incomparable creativity and commitment of those who work to protect, valorise and pass on Europe’s precious inheritance to the next generation. This year’s laureates powerfully demonstrate how heritage offers solutions and paths to recovery in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, as we take action for the climate, mobilise for sustainable urban and rural development and tackle the many threats to our core European values. We applaud their outstanding achievements: may they serve as inspiration and encouragement for future action for so many heritage professionals and enthusiasts across Europe and beyond.”
Heritage supporters and enthusiasts from across the world are now encouraged to discover the winners and vote online to decide who will win this year’s Public Choice Award. The Public Choice Award winner will be announced during the European Heritage Awards Ceremony, which will take place in the autumn of this year. The Grand Prix laureates, each of whom will receive a monetary award of €10,000, will also be made public on this occasion.
2021 Award Winners
Category Conservation
Gare Maritime, Brussels, BELGIUM
Fredensborg Palace Garden, DENMARK
Vardzia Rock-Cut Complex, GEORGIA
Haus Am Horn, Weimar, GERMANY
Plaka Bridge, Epirus, GREECE
18 Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin, IRELAND
Wooden Church of Urși Village, Vâlcea County, ROMANIA
Besòs Water Tower, Barcelona, SPAIN
Mas de Burot, Els Ports Natural Park, SPAIN
Category Research
FIBRANET – FIBRes in ANcient European Textiles, DENMARK/GREECE
Control Shift – European Industrial Heritage Reuse in Review, GREECE/NETHERLANDS
ART-RISK – Artificial Intelligence Applied to Preventive Conservation, SPAIN
Category Dedicated Service to Heritage by Organisations & Individuals
Gjirokastra Foundation, ALBANIA
Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage, CYPRUS
Rita Bargna, ITALY
GEFAC – Group of Ethnography and Folklore of the Academy of Coimbra, PORTUGAL
Category Education, Training and Awareness-raising
Following in the Steps of Bulgarian Folklore, BULGARIA
Heritage Hubs, FINLAND/ITALY/SERBIA/SPAIN
The Invention of a Guilty Party, Trento, ITALY
Holidays! In the East and West – The School Church, Groningen, THE NETHERLANDS
European Solidarity Centre – Permanent Exhibition, Gdańsk, POLAND
Morón Artisan Lime, Morón de la Frontera, SPAIN
Archaeology at Home, UNITED KINGDOM
Morus Londinium: London’s Heritage through Trees, UNITED KINGDOM
CONTACTS
Europa Nostra
Audrey Hogan, Programmes Officer
ah@europanostra.org,
T. +31 70 302 40 52; M. +31 63 1 17 84 55
Joana Pinheiro, Communications Coordinator
jp@europanostra.org,
M. +31 6 34 36 59 85
European Commission
Susanne Conze, susanne.conze@ec.europa.eu
+32 2 2980236
Association for cultural heritage education in Finland
Kati Nurmi
info@kulttuuriperintokasvatus.fi
heritagehubs.eu
www.kulttuuriperintokasvatus.fi
Centar za urbani razvoj
Rade Milić
063 824 33 16
office@udc.rs
https://www.udc.rs
Aleksandra Nikolić, project coordinator in Serbia
064 230 76 56
sashnikolic@gmail.com
TO FIND OUT MORE
Press release in various languages
About each Award winner:
Information and jury’s comments
Videos (in high resolution)
Photos & e-banners (in high resolution)
Creative Europe website
Commissioner Gabriel’s website
Background
European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards
The European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards were launched by the European Commission in 2002 and have been run by Europa Nostra ever since. This Awards programme has the support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. The Awards highlight and disseminate heritage excellence and best practices, encourage the cross-border exchange of knowledge and connect heritage stakeholders in wider networks. The Awards bring major benefits to the winners, such as greater (inter)national exposure, follow-on funding and increased visitor numbers. In addition, the Awards programme fosters a greater care for our shared heritage amongst Europe’s citizens. The Awards are therefore a key tool to promote the multiple values of cultural and natural heritage for Europe’s society, economy and environment. For additional facts and figures about the Awards, please visit www.europeanheritageawards.eu/facts-figures.
In 2021, two ILUCIDARE Special Prizes will also be awarded from among the submitted applications to the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards. The shortlisted projects will be announced on 10 June and the winners will be unveiled in the autumn of this year. ILUCIDARE project is funded by Horizon 2020 with the aim of establishing an international network promoting heritage as a resource for innovation and international relations.
Europa Nostra
Europa Nostra is the European voice of civil society committed to safeguarding and promoting cultural and natural heritage. A pan-European federation of heritage NGOs, supported by a wide network of public bodies, private companies and individuals, it covers more than 40 countries. Founded in 1963, it is today recognised as the largest and the most representative heritage network in Europe. Europa Nostra campaigns to save Europe’s endangered monuments, sites and landscapes, in particular through the 7 Most Endangered Programme. Europa Nostra actively contributes to the definition and implementation of European strategies and policies related to heritage, through a participatory dialogue with European Institutions and the coordination of the European Heritage Alliance. Europa Nostra was the EU’s key civil society partner during the European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018. It also figures among the first official partners of the New European Bauhaus initiative recently launched by the European Commission.
Creative Europe
Creative Europe is the EU programme that supports the cultural and creative sectors, enabling them to increase their contribution to jobs and growth. With a budget of €2.4 billion for 2021-2027, it supports organisations in the fields of heritage, performing arts, fine arts, interdisciplinary arts, publishing, film, TV, music, and video games as well as tens of thousands of artists, cultural and audiovisual professionals.