What Is heritage?
“Heritage is the full range of our inherited traditions, monuments, objects, and culture. Most important, it is the range of contemporary activities, meanings, and behaviors that we draw from them. Heritage includes, but is much more than preserving, excavating, displaying, or restoring a collection of old things. It is both tangible and intangible, in the sense that ideas and memories–of songs, recipes, language, dances, and many other elements of who we are and how we identify ourselves–are as important as historical buildings and archaeological sites. Heritage is, or should be, the subject of active public reflection, debate, and discussion. What is worth saving? What can we, or should we, forget? What memories can we enjoy, regret, or learn from? Who owns “The Past” and who is entitled to speak for past generations? Active public discussion about material and intangible heritage–of individuals, groups, communities, and nations–is a valuable facet of public life in our multicultural world. Heritage is a contemporary activity with far-reaching effects. It can be an element of far-sighted urban and regional planning. It can be the platform for political recognition, a medium for intercultural dialogue, a means of ethical reflection, and the potential basis for local economic development. It is simultaneously local and particular, global and shared. Heritage is an essential part of the present we live in–and of the future we will build.”
The project Education For Ancient Cultural Heritage aims to support an educational response to teaching and promoting the awareness of preservation and promotion of ancient cultural heritage in the countries of the participating organizations ( UK, Turkey, Slovenia, Romania and Greece), including shared ancient Roman heritage as all participating countries were once various provinces of the Roman Empire. All countries have valuable ancient heritage sites, some of them designated as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites.
The ancient cultural heritage preservation and promotion are very important aspects of sustainable development of all countries as the ancient cultural heritage represents the roots of nations. The project intends to enable public, educators and students with the activism and critical thinking and media literacy skills to work for the preservation and promotion of ancient heritage in the participating countries of the project as well as abroad.
The issue is addressed through an approach based on intercultural competencies, democratic values, and active citizenship.
The project combines both indigenous ancient cultures of participating countries as well as shared ancient Roman heritage. The new knowledge from the project will be a part of the intellectual output of the project.
Educators will be empowered with new skills in order to help students develop activism and engagement for cultural preservation and promotion.
To go beyond EU, the project deals also with the protection and preservation of ancient cultural heritage in non-EU countries, especially in those countries which are on the list of the official development assistance of the OECD DAC in Paris.
The ancient cultural heritage in participating countries has been influenced by the exchange of cultural, religious and other ideas in prehistory as well as in the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans and connected continents such as the example of the ancient Silk Road.
The project also fits with the priorities both to achieve high-quality skills and competencies and for social inclusion of students from an underprivileged background.
The acquisition of skills and competencies are very important due to the fast development of new knowledge in the field of ancient cultures and their preservation and promotion. This, in turn, results in creating new jobs in the future which also fits with sustainable development goals.
In the long term, the project outputs will contribute to more interest in preservation and promotion of ancient cultural heritage, and with educators and students empowered with new skills and knowledge to ensure the sustainability of the project.
