European Heritage Days is a cyclical cultural, social and educational project covering 50 countries of the European Cultural Convention. This year, events under the sign of EHD took place in Poland for the 30th time. On this occasion, on December 7, at the Kamienica Theater in Warsaw, the Jubilee Gala of the European Heritage Days “Connected by heritage” will take place.
The European Heritage Days, which were launched in France by the Council of Europe in 1985 and have run as a joint initiative of the European Commission and the Council of Europe since 1999, enabled citizens to learn about culture through themed events. They are a great opportunity to discover the history of the people and places that shape Europe’s culture and heritage.
The initiative is one of the most famous cultural events in Europe. The Pan-European character of the program unites the inhabitants of Europe and refers to the European dimension of cultural heritage enshrined in the European Cultural Convention. This year, as many as 50,000 events were held to recognize the value of common European heritage and the need to preserve it for present and future generations.
The national coordinator of the European Heritage Days celebrations is the National Heritage Board of Poland, which is also responsible for promoting the project on a national scale. Within a few years – with the support of local government authorities, dozens of non-governmental organizations, hundreds of organizers of individual events as well as traditional and social media – a unique formula of this project was created.
This year, for the 30th time in Poland, we could visit the most interesting monuments in our area for free and take advantage of a wide range of cultural and educational events. During the European Heritage Days, even monuments that are inaccessible daily invite guests into their walls, and the participants of numerous meetings, lectures and workshops to learn about national, regional and local history and culture were available for visitors.
This year’s, jubilee edition of the European Heritage Days was held under the slogan “United by heritage” and referred to the Framework Convention of the Council of Europe on the value of cultural heritage for society signed by Poland (the so-called FARO Convention). Particular attention was paid to the endangered cultural heritage of Ukraine, which is why events highlighting Polish-Ukrainian cultural heritage were organized all over Poland. Over two weekends in September, over 1,200 artistic and scientific events took place all over Poland, attended by about 200,000 people. There was no shortage of exhibitions, concerts, shows, walks, rallies, festivals and many other exciting events that will remain in the memory of all those who took part in them for a long time.
Each edition of the EHD is accompanied by a theme. So far, the European Heritage Days in Poland have been held under such slogans as: “Landscape of heritage – heritage of landscape”, “Independent for all” or “Tastes of heritage”.
The ceremonial Gala will be an opportunity to summarize the work done so far and integrate the organizers and provincial EHD coordinators. Also, the awards of the most involved local organizers of the European Heritage Days in Poland will be presented.