Slovenia Report

9-12 October 2011 Novo Mesto

1. Vesna Petkovic2. Sara Kokot

It was an introductory visit where we met our partners and their groups. Slovenian partner, our Coordinator, have organised meeting at their premises and introduced their staff. Slovenian partner also organised local TV station to film our meeting and to introduce the project to wider Slovenian audiences. We set up our plan for mobilities and activities and discussed each partner’s organisation and their local activities. The aim of this meeting was to meet with our Coordinator, Slovenian partner’s organization, and to agree about our future actions. We also had our first joint diner which was ice-breaking event and we realised that our group is going to be compatible sharing the same aims and ideas. The decision was made that the project coordinators will attend each visit in order to keep continuity with the project.

Our programme was well balanced so that we spent one day in the local museum, newly built and functional, seeing rare and extremely interesting archaeological collection. Than we saw a museum of modern art and an interesting local art hub where a group of artists took residence and created their studios. We had an art workshop there, learning how to paint with acrylic on canvas and to achieve any desired effects with using colours in certain way. Our workshop task was to try to paint the project logo, which was not so successful so our learners participated in a competition and a Slovenian boy won it.

We also visited a mountains and a small church rebuilt by the local residents. We visited a village there, which they kept their houses in original form and they turned them into tourists attraction and summer holiday retreats. We tried wonderful food and wine from the region and were introduced to specific local life. Novo Mesto is a small town but charming and with river Krka flowing through it which made the town picturesque. We also visited local library which was newly refurbished with lovely areas for children and adults. Very nice and pleasant learning venue.

It was very interesting and educational visit with lots of different things to experience and we forged new friendships, which we think will last longer than this project.

Cyprus Report

9-12 February 2012 Nicosia

1. Vesna Petkovic2. Xenia Wilding

The aim of this visit was to learn about traditional life and art/craft in Cyprus. Our host was a secondary school in a Green Zone, just on the boarder with the Turkish side and we could see the hill in between (dividing) Greek and Turkish Cyprus, protected by the UN solders. It was sad to see this people who lived once together so divided and families broken. Nicosia is also divided between both sides but our host is in the Greek part of Nicosia. We had our meeting and saw the new logo drawn by Slovenian boy. We also learned about the school which have their private museum of artefacts donated by Cypriot citizens and parents. It was a nice collection of jewellery, lace, costumes and pottery, from ancient time till present days. It was very unusual to see the museum’s collection at school, but it was also inspirational for us to suggest maybe to some smaller places in our countries to do the same. They do not have museums in the villages and small places but schools are everywhere. We had presentations in the school’s big theatre, each partner presented their own film, CD or talked. The host presented us with traditional dance and a film which girls from the school made. After the programme we had wonderful food and delicious cakes prepared by the local women and mothers of the school children.

Our cultural programme was also a visit to a museum-monastery, Museum of Folk Art, where we saw beautiful collection of religious art and adjoining church of St Nicholas, beautifully painted from top to tail. Next to these buildings was a seat of the Archbishop of Cyprus. We also visited the walls of the old citadel and monuments erected there in memory of Cypriots fight for freedom. Our next visit was to the mountainous village of Lefkara where we saw traditional lace shops and had nice lunch. We also visited a traditional Cypriot house which is now turned into a museum holding many artefacts, furniture, lace and small objects from the past centuries. We also enjoyed one beautiful orange tree, which our host said that its fruit is so sour and not good to eat.

This visit was relaxing and also educational where we saw how young people from Cyprus take seriously protection of their heritage.

Austria Report

21-24 June 2012 Vienna

1. Divna Gakovic2. Milos Bezanov3. Vesna Petkovic

This was a very nice visit because our task was to search for architectural and historic treasures of the Austrian capital. As an old city it created fantastic opportunities for us to look for their “treasure”. We also had presentation of our activities in between two meetings, and young people clicked together and made a nice friendly group. We enhanced this communication between them through joint meals and cultural activities. Our host suggested the activities, which we expanded to our own interests and desires. This mobility was a real informal learning opportunity where the

participants had to learn about Vienna’s history through their direct contact with it, either through the architectural wonders (Cathedral of St Stephen’s, Schenbrunn Palace and Garden, Hofburg Palace, Belvedere and Museum, Museum of the History of Art, Secession Museum and many other beautiful places).

History of Vienna goes back to Prehistoric and the Roman time, and it was on the way of the great migrations of people in Europe in the 5th-7th centuries. The first ruling dynasty was Babenberg in early Middle Ages followed by Bohemian king who fought with the German nobility for the Austrian land and succeeded in forming one of the longest ruling dynasties Habsburgs. Vienna was also attraction for the Turkish rulers who conquered the Balkans and steadily proceeded to Vienna, but were defeated. Vienna prospered during late 17th and 18th centuries, until Napoleon seized it in 1805, but their freedom was restored after Napoleon’s defeat. 1848 was revolutionary year across Europe and Vienna was also affected, but the people’s protests were crushed. Habsburg’s rule seized after the Great War when Austro-Hungaria split into Austria and Hungary. The WWII started with German invasion in 1938 and the aftermath was the Allied occupation until 1955 when the country became sovereign and Vienna became the seat of UN. All this our participants learned by searching for the places which meant a lot in history of Vienna. Our participants did not use books only maps, walking to achieve the given tasks by our host– to discover and photograph 10 historic treasures of Vienna. It was one of the most pleasant workshops we had.

This visit tied knots between the partners and inspired our learners to explore their themes better. We also had several presentations of this visit to our learners and also to general public, at the local libraries and community centres. This activity instigated wider interest to join our organization and to participate in our local activities, which became more complex and educational. It was one of the most inspiring mobilities for our learners that we had so far.

Spanish Report

29 - 2 December 2012 A Guarda

1. Vesna Petkovic2. Elena Brook-Edwards

This mobility was in Galicia, one of west Spanish provinces on the border with Portugal, on the Atlantic coast. A Guarda was a small fishing village, which became a small town with charming port and a hotel, which was once a San Bento Convent. This part of the country boast with many historic places and traditional life, which their people try to keep unchanged. The aim was to learn about the architectural heritage of the region.

Our visit included presentations of the young people’s work in between our mobilities and preparation work for the future mobilities and our Final Report. We discussed how to compile all information, photographs, presentations and to update

our blog – website. One change happened and instead of Marusa, who was our designated Coordinator from the first visit but sadly lost her job, another person Maja, who we also met in our previous mobilities when we developed our project, replaced her with help of another person Rok, who also came to Spain with the Slovenian delegation. We had already very good relationship between the partners so the new Slovenian coordinator and assistant were well received. Our Spanish hosts were really hospitable and helpful, they organised memorable visits and social gatherings and we just realised how wonderful Galician people are, although we had previous joint experiences where they already have shown their friendliness and kindness.

The aim of this mobility was Architecture, also to show the participants presentations from their countries. The host organised rich cultural events and guided tours to historic sites and places. We visited Tui and their famous Cathedral and the old town with its historic buildings and streets dated from medieval time. It was charming place with lots of beautiful small shops and cafes and little squares with lovely orange trees. We visited Valenca, a border city and historic town which exchanged its rulers between Portuguese and Spanish nobles. We visited the fortress, museum and historic medieval town, which is well preserved. We had a guided tour and learned a lot about the history of Galicia and de Minho region. The crown of this visit was Santiago de Compostela and its famous Cathedral. We also had tour through the historic town and visited the newly built Art Centre and the museum just outside of the city. Santiago de Compostela is a pilgrimage destination and many surrounding buildings serve that purpose. The Cathedral’s museum house mainly religious art and artefacts, but they derive from different parts of the world and from the different periods so one can see even so rare Byzantine silk and embroidery and Spanish and English silverware and other rarities. It was one of the really special treats of this visit.

It would be not fair if we would not mention our social gatherings and constructive time spent in conversation and learning about life in our countries, exchanging experiences, good practices and learning how to test and apply some new knowledge in our future activities. It was well organised and executed mobility thanks to our Spanish partner’s dedication to make it memorable.

UK Report

27 February – 3 March 2013 London

Hosted by Pro Art & CO

Our task was to show the Diversity of London, as one of the biggest cities in the world with different ethnic, cultural and historic element, which make this mega-city great. The topic we were given was presenting all these elements through culinary subjects. We looked at the markets and history of the city of London in order to follow the pattern of developing such different taste, cooking, consumption and the ways of presenting the food. We also concentrated on development and changes of eating habits throughout centuries and on influences which migratory populations brought to London.

Our larger report is available as a separate article.

This mobility included also cultural aspects and visits to some well known and less known tourist’s places in London. We organised visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum where ethnographic artefacts and history of London living, presented through silverware, glass, tableware generally, was presented together with the Imperial output gathered through colonisation and later formation of the Commonwealth. The history lesson of culinary subjects continue through visits to Piccadilly, China Town, Covent Garden, St Paul’s and the South Bank where we finished a day with traditional Fish and Chips at The Anchore Pub, one of the 17th century places and close to the oldest London market, The Borough Market which started in the 13th c. One of the hidden treasures in London’s City is the Leadenhall Market, which was originally built on the place of the ancient Roman centre of Londinium. In our time it was a place where Harry Potter’s the Wizard’s Alley was filmed. The City offered many other attractive historic places amongst which is the Royal Exchange, today it is a luxury jewellery market place and luxurious oyster and champagne bar. In order to present diversity we took our partners to another famous market, Spitalfield’s and for dinner we headed toward another landmark, The Brick Lane’s Truman’s Brewery, which is now art and music centre and the second half of the street is also traditional Bangadeshi food hub. Markets in London are mainly street markets and each has it’s own original history. To visit London and not to go to the famous Portobello and Camden markets would be a miss. We gave to our participants a short history of these visited London markets and organised a dinner at Camden market Mexican restaurant where they continue with learning about the night life of London.

Our members of Pro Art gathered to help with this visits and took part in all the events. We held a meeting where we discussed our project’s outcomes and feedback form the participants and wider communities and presented the activities between two mobilities. There were also a discussion about our Final Report and the last meeting, which we shall have in Italy.

Italy Report

2-7 July 2013 Castiglione del Lago

1. Vesna Petkovic2. Jadranka Djurdjevic3. Vera Pavlovic

This was the last mobility and the preparation for the Final Report. We also evaluated our work, discussed all our achievements, collected presentations and dissemination material and took part in the joint cultural events and visits to historic sites of Umbria and Tuscany with our learners. This was really pleasant time because the historic sites were offering more than art and the past glory of it, they are integrated in modern time

and formed an integral part of contemporary living. The are of Umbria around the lake is truly an Eco-museum in present time, because the natural and manmade environment are in one. We visited historic towns Montepulchiano and Perugia and we were fortunate to live in the beautiful medieval walled city Castiglione del Lago. It is situated on the Trasimeno lake and the castle is a museum today, connected to the citadel and fortress by the long built tunnel. The view from the fortress is over the lake and its breathtaking. Our partner organised visits to the farms, which are in the vales of ancient Etruscan fields with the indigenous crops grown even today. These vales are UNESCO heritage sites and once they had been seen it would be understood why they are protected as world’s heritage. Montepulchiano is medieval walled city where many Italian films were made and its well known for its chianti wine. Perugia is an old city, originated from the Etruscan time 5c BC and some parts of the city still hold edifices and buildings from that time (aquaduct, walls, gates). The city is mainly medieval and later Renaissance but the jewel is the underground city with all streets and houses as they were built above. What is modern and so efficient and futuristic is a mini-metro, small coaches driven without a driver, by using the electromagnetic power, and the tracks resemble our roller-coaster only it’s not that adventurous ride in mini-metro. Our treasure hunt in Castiglione del Lago was to find out the places of historic importance via our mobile phones and information written about it, which could be extracted electronically at the tourists banners. It was fun and we learned about the history of the place, but also about mobile digital technology (GPS).

All our learners and participants were extremely surprised by richness and beauty of the region. It was one of the very successful mobilities and we said farewell but also see you soon. Some of the partners are continuing their cooperation in some other projects and that’s thank to the EU Treasure Hunt which introduced us and made us such compatible group.