EU Commission promotes sites strengthening Europe’s shared heritage claim

Two projects in Italy and one in The Netherlands won a tender that aims to amplify events happening at the European Heritage Days

On 6 April, the European Commission and the Council of Europe announced the winners of the Call for Applications for the Support of European Heritage Label projects. The initiative was aimed at promoting small-scale projects on the local level that help strengthen the vision of Europe’s shared heritage claim.

Thus, the applications were limited to sites carrying the European Heritage Label, reserved for places that have played a significant role in the history of the continent or highlight a significant European perspective. Sites carrying the label participate in the European Heritage Days, which account for more than 70,000 events in 50 different countries and draw a combined crowd of 30 million people.

The winning projects

The projects that made it through the selection process will be financed with a grant of 14,500 euros. Furthermore, the Commission has said it will focus on projects which foster digital transformation, sustainable cultural tourism or promote capacity building of the sites.

The winners include Fondazione Trentina Alcide De Gasperi in Italy for its project ‘Visions of Europe. Following in the footsteps of the European Union's founding fathers and mothers’. The project has strong ties with the foundation’s Garden of Europe.

The garden itself is a collection of landscaping features that emulate the gardens at the Adenauer Haus and the Maisons Monnet and Schuman - places where the owners lived, worked to build Europe and sought moments of quiet.

Another Heritage Label site is the Stichting Herinneringscentrum Kamp Westerbork in The Netherlands and their project is called ‘Camp Westerbork Remembered’ (De Herinnering aan kamp Westerbork). The Westerbork Camp was built in 1939, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. It was known as the ‘Gateway to Hell’ and it served as a transit camp for Dutch Jews, Sinti and Roma, who were transported to Auschwitz and Sobibor.

The third winning project is the Ostia Antica Archeological Park in Italy. The project is called ‘Public Archaeology in Ostia Antica', as the park features an open-air excavation site with many well preserved Roman structures.