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5th Edition - After 3 Years Experience with HERMES

Welcome to the 5th edition of the HRN-Magazine! Some European projects are more difficult to come by than others. Certainly when preparing for this Magazine ‘Cultural Heritage - Open Windows to Europe’ with the end of the project HERMES at the end of October in sight, payment difficulties remain still unresolved. They are caused by a general stop of any current money flow inside the EU structural fund 'Interreg'. Nevertheless the journalists of www.heritageradio.net decided not to focus so much on this financial issue but instead they opted for positive high lights. As the title suggests the aim is to open if not doors then at least windows. Ever since the new member states joined the EU, European integration and expansion have not been accompanied by positive developments. Fore mostly there was the rejection of the EU Constitutional Treaty and with it many experienced the loss of the European perspective.

Preservation through active use as best form of protection has been the key idea behind HERMES. As shown in a previous Magazine about UNESCO World Heritage Sites that is no easy task. Often in the wake of mass tourism, there is an ever greater risk at loss of authenticity.

Here the HERMES project made numerous experiences on how to approach cultural heritage from a different angle. As ‘memories of the future’ work in the present means more than just mere cultural news another story about cultural heritage within the CADSES space. It is a story which can be told as much in summer schools as in workshops organized about museums and their usage of the new media.

Insofar as European projects have besides tangible intangible outcomes these stories reflect a part of an ongoing learning process facilitated by the interaction between the partners. That brings about a visionary aspect. It is this part of the story in which cultural journalists are interested in the most for they are the defining moments of the project. By giving freedom of expression to the project’s underlying tone all of the interviews explore the meaning of cooperation within such a European project.

If one looks at the architecture of the HERMES project, the work packages do make sense in terms of the overall objective, namely the usage of new media to promote and to protect cultural heritage. They combine theory about cultural heritage as factor of regional development, use of new media in museums and as extension of that the experiment of the Heritage Radio Network as a web based communication tool. To this can be added the idea of summer schools as a special space where experiences and insights gained are disseminated to promising students of the future. Here then many discussions about the use of the new media were pursued.

Therefore it is crucial that despite of doors still shut due to many misunderstandings and bad feelings about others, a chance must be given to all citizens to retain the European perspective based on dialog between different cultures and their various forms of cultural heritages as manifested over time.

There is a patter of stones and sand, of stories and songs, of expressions and political ideas which have given shape to the continent of Europe over centuries by now and with it has developed an active policy of preserving and promoting Europe’s cultural heritage, the funding of the HERMES project as an example of that. By illuminating some of the highlights within this project and in realizing that the overall framework conditions are not as good as wished for, this Magazine wishes at the very least to contribute in a modest way by keeping at least these windows for further communication open.

Hatto Fischer, Athens 29.9.2006

Overview:

• Chapter 00: The Wieland Estate in Ossmannstedt, Germany

  • Interviewee: Hellmut Seemann, President of the Classic Foundation Weimar
  • Keywords: Classic Foundation Weimar, Lead-Partner of the Interreg EU-Project HERMES, the Wieland Estate in Ossmannstedt
  • Editor: Oliver Kröning, Radio LOTTE Weimar, Weimar

• Chapter 01: The HERMES Summer Course in Weimar, Germany

  • Interviewees: Sebastian Schöder-Esch and Burkhardt Kolbmüller, the HERMES Course facilitators, and the particpants: Fotini Vakitsidou, Anna Hanusch, Otilia Colac
  • Keywords: The HERMES Summer Course in Weimar, the Role of Media in Connection with cultural Heritage, Heritage on Display - investigating Museums in the Context of local and regional Development
  • Editor: Gyarmathy Dóra, Hungarian Radio, Budapest

• Chapter 02: The cultural Diversity of Malopolska in Poland

  • Interviewee: Agnieszka Szewczyk, Malopolska Cultural Institute
  • Keywords: Malopolska Region, Manor House in Dolenga, the Open-Air Agiarian Museum in Strona, 2nd HERMES Symposium
  • Editors: Katarzyna Fortuna & Marianna Knap, Radio Krakow, Krakow

• Chapter 03: Industrial Heritage and the Myth of the Argonauts in Volos, Greece

  • Interviewee: Vasilis Sgouris, director of DEMEKAV
  • Keywords: Local projects, argumentative Strategy, Municipal Council, industrial Heritage, Cooperation, Argonaut Mythology, Argonaut Museum
  • Editor: Hatto Fischer, Poiein Kai Prattein, Athens

• Chapter 04: The case of the Boyana Church in Bulgaria

  • Interviewees: Trifon Trifonov, Advisor of the National Museum Boyana Church
  • Keywords: UNESCO World Heritage, Preservation Concept, 3D-Modelling
  • Editor: Svetlana Dicheva, Bulgarian National Radio, Sofia

• Chapter 05: The Impacts of the EU-Program Interreg on Croatia

  • Interviewees: Anja Jelavić, Senior Adviser in Croatian Ministry of Culture; Majda Ivković, Editor-in-Chief of Voice of Croatia
  • Keywords: EU-Program Interreg in Croatia, journalistic networking, The Voice of Croatia and the Heritage Radio Network
  • Editor: Vid Mesaric, Croatia Radio, Zagreb

Editors-in-Chief of this Edition of the HRN-Magazine: Hatto Fischer, Poiein Kai Prattein, Athens & Jan Brueggemeier, the HRN Office Weimar.

Chapter 00: The Wieland Estate in Ossmannstedt

The so called lead partner partner of the HERMES project is the Classic Foundation Weimar which owns the houses of Goethe and Schiller as well as the many other historical buildings and parks in Weimar and around. The Classic Foundation Weimar used its part of the HERMES budget to reconstruct the Wieland estate in Ossmannstedt situated 12 kilometres away from Weimar. Furthermore this estate is now used as a centre for education which includes the possiblity of research on topics concerning Christoph Martin Wieland.

The author Arno Schmidt said once “We have a pretty easy method to recognize an intelligent person in Germany. – When he loves Wieland!” Who was Wieland, the first of the famous four who was called to court by Anna Amalia to create the classical period of Weimar? Oliver Kroening spoke with the president of the Classic Foundation Weimar, Hellmut Seemann, about the person Wieland, his estate in Ossmannstedt as well as about the question why the Classic Foundation Weimar decided to reconstruct the estate and make a centre for education out of it. His first question was, how much Wieland influenced his pupil, the young Duke Carl-August.

(Audio: Interview with Hellmut Seemann, President of the Classic Foundation Weimar)

Chapter 01: HERMES Summer Courses in Weimar

To spend two weeks in Weimar; to meet people from different parts of Europe; to get to know their culture; to talk and discuss topics which are interesting and important in our profession as well… These are the main characteristics of HERMES Summer Courses. One of the project’s main aims was to provide educational offers to young experts from the countries of project partners. So in the last three years the partner institutions of HERMES could nominate participants, who could stay 2 1/2 weeks in the end of August in Weimar. In 2004 the topic of Weimar Summer Course was cultural heritage, regional development and Europe, in 2005 the summer course focused on the role of media in connection with cultural heritage, in 2006 the title of the HERMES summer course was: "Heritage on Display – Investigating Museums in the Context of Local and Regional Development".

In the end of the first HERMES Summer Course Gyarmathy Dóra was talking with two participants, Fotini Vakitsidou from Greece, Anna Hanusch from Germany and the course facilitator, Sebastian Schröder-Esch.

In the end of the first HERMES Summer Course Gyarmathy Dóra was talking with two participants, Fotini Vakitsidou from Greece, Anna Hanusch from Germany and the course facilitator, Sebastian Schröder-Esch.

(Audio: the HERMES Summer Course participants and facilitator)

The HERMES Summer Course was held in Weimar at the European Centre for Youth Education where other summer courses are organized in every year as well. We asked about these courses Burkhardt Kolbmüller, the coordinator, and then you can hear about the HERMES Summer Course 2005 from one participant, Otilia Colac from Moldova, and Sebastian Schröder-Esch.

(Audio: the HERMES Summer Course participants and facilitator)

CHAPTER 02: The cultural Diversity of Malopolska in Poland

Malopolska Region is considered to be one of the places in Poland and Europe characterized by the greatest abundance of cultural venues. Thanks to the existing tradition and cultural diversity of the region, as many as three institutions have taken part in the Hermes Project: Radio Krakow, the Ethnographic Museum and the The Malopolska Cultural Institute (MIK). The less popular buildings, such as the Manor House in Dolega and the Open-air Apiarian Museum in Strona, were promoted by MIK.

"MIK has benefited greatly from its participation in the project", says Agnieszka Szewczyk, the coordinator of the Hermes Project in MIK.

A conference entitled "Practical Aspects of Cultural Heritage - promotion, utilization, and its consequences" was held in Krakow also as a part of the HERMES Project. Its organizers: Radio Krakow, the Cultural Institute of Malopolska and the Ethnographic Museum are planning further cooperation after the conclusion of the HERMES Project.

Report by Katarzyna Fortuna & Marianna Knap, Radio Krakow

(Audio: Interview with Agnieszka Szewczyk, Malopolska Cultural Institute)

CHAPTER 03: Industrial Heritage and the Myth of the Argonauts in Volos, Greece

As the only full partner in terms of the Interreg definition of partner having to be a local or regional authority, Volos stands alone within HERMES. This has many implications and can reveal some discrepancies but also interesting aspects on how a Development Agency for the City comes to terms with the other partners of the HERMES project while using the project to organize at a local level the next steps of development. The interesting aspect about Volos is that it has undertaken a lot of efforts to have another component of cultural heritage be recognized, namely not only evidence of the Ancient Past but much more of recent history linked to industrialization and what imprint that left behind in a city wishing to come to terms with modern times.

In an interview with Vasilis Sgouris, director of DEMEKAV, the Municipal Enterprise of Volos and partner in the HERMES project, progress made becomes evident as is attested in becoming stronger to focus on this particular aspect of development: industrial heritage linked to the memories of a city using as major reference point the myth of the Argonauts.

(Audio: Interview with Vasilis Sgouris, DEMEKAV)

CHAPTER 04: The Case of the Boyana Church in Bulgaria

The Boyana Church is considered as one of the pearls in the crown of Sofia's cultural heritage for its frescoes. Located in the outskirts of the Bulgarian Capital City, it comprises three buildings. The church on the East was built in the 10th century. The frescoes in the second church, painted in 1259, make it one of the most important repositories of medieval paintings in Europe. The ensemble includes a third church, built at the beginning of the 19th century.

The Boyana Church is one of the ten Bulgarian monuments included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Thanks to the Hermes project, presently the Boyana Church has a 3D virtual model, which is a part of a whole concept for the preservation of the church.

Report by Svetlana Dicheva from the Bulgarian National Radio

(Audio: Interview with Trifon Trifonov, advisor of the National Museum Boyana Church)