Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe - A Bridge towards a shared future - Activities - Romania

Romania

Title	Tourist promotion of Saxon fortified churches in the Transylvania Region
Status	Completed
Objectives	To inform about the richness of cultural heritage in the region of Transylvania, with specific attention to the Saxon fortified churches; To raise awareness of local and central authorities, as well as of the public in general, about the importance of preserving cultural heritage; To promote cultural tourism in the region; To develop skills and capacities of both private and public operators in the management of cultural tourism services.
Activities	Phase One (target area: Sibiu and Mures Counties. Duration of activities: 9 months) A. Organisation of local workshops aimed at raising awareness of private and public stakeholders about the importance of preserving local cultural heritage, and about the potential of cultural heritage as an instrument of human and economic development; B. Organisation of training courses for youths from each target village, providing them with basic skills and knowledge for acting as tourist guides; C. Collection and centralisation of information about local cultural heritage and events, as well as about existing tourist services/facilities, in order to realise a web-site and printed promotional materials; D. Website development and publication, including training for web-editors; www.fortified-churches.com E. Realisation of promotional materials – Specific leaflets will be produced presenting cultural offer and tourist services of each local community involved in the project. The materials will be provided to local communities, to be made available free of charge for visitors/tourists; F. Regular updating of website; G. Final evaluation and reporting. Phase Two (target area: Sibiu and Mures Counties. Duration of activities: 10 months) Organisation and start-up of 2 tourist info centres, respectively in the areas of Sibiu and Shighisoara. The centres will profit by the results and outputs of Phase One, and they will have the function of: promoting cultural sites and routes in the target areas, with special attention to UNESCO World Heritage sites; promoting other main cultural sites and UNESCO WH sites in Romania and in neighbouring countries; organising cultural events, to be also aimed at promoting local tangible and intangible heritage. All events shall be coordinated with and possibly included in the Programme of Sibiu 2007 – European Capital of Culture; organising thematic tours for journalists, cultural expert, and tour operators; promoting the Programme Sibiu 2007 – European Cultural Capital. Phase Three (target area: Sibiu and Mures Counties. Duration of activities: 5 months) Organisation of 9 cultural events. All the events shall be coordinated with the Sibiu 2007 Programme. They will take place outdoor in the areas of Sighisoara, Sibiu and the Saxon fortifications, and will consist of medieval and classical music concerts, theatre performance or dance manifestations. The programme of events will be integrated by collateral multimedia shows and photographic exhibitions on targeted sites.
Implementing agency	Mioritics Association