The main actor is Kuldiga Restoration Center, Head of the Center Ilze Zariņa,

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1 Country: Area: Latvia Cultural heritage and cohesion policy 1. Short description of the case Since 2008 Kuldiga Restoration Center had implemented a complex of activities for awareness rising on preservation of cultural heritage of old town of Kuldiga. It consists of three activities: culture heritage labs, action Art Spawn and action Regular Maintenance of Windows. The main value of Kuldiga old town is more than 400 wooden buildings that had been built between the 17 th 19 th centuries. Inhabitants had been living there for generations, but due to the Soviet period when the lack of private ownership existed lead to very bad attitude towards maintenance of buildings. Restoration Center has initiated activities for local people to get actively involved into the maintenance of their buildings. These activities have developed better understanding of values of cultural heritage and have strengthened local identity by targeting inhabitants of the old town, heritage owners, craftsmen and architects. 2. Main actors of the initiative The main actor is Kuldiga Restoration Center, Head of the Center Ilze Zariņa, ilzeizarinai@inbox.lv 3. Cooperation NGO Culture Projects Coordination Center, Latvian State Inspection for Heritage Protection; Norwegian Crafts Development, Drobak Restoration centre, Frogn municipality, Norway; Architect bureau of Jorgen Toft Jessen, Denmark; Rauma Renovation Center, Rauma Municipality, Finland; Old Lulea Visitor Center, Sweden; Tartu Municipality, Estonian State Inspection for Heritage Protection, Estonia. 4. Specific elements of the initiative that could provide a good or bad practice related to the synergy of different policies Culture Heritage Labs were organised with the aim to educate local people to understand the value of the local cultural heritage. The Lab consisted of three parts: theoretical part, practical works and discussions. Eight Labs had been organised on different topics: painting of facades, preservation of wooden architectonic details, preservation of red tile roofs, regular maintenance of windows, insulation of historic buildings, importance of the use of historical buildings, values of historical layers of different time periods, typical problems for the maintenance of red tile roofs. Regular Maintenance of Windows was organised to motivate local people to take active part in practical works to maintain their historic houses. Due to the limited financial resources of inhabitants, Municipality covered costs for materials and fees for specialists who did consulting and supervision of works. Inhabitants of the Old Town had to show up and learn practical ways to maintain old wooden window frames, the got all the necessary tutoring on the spot. Activity Art Spawn was organised with the aim to give young artists possibility to brighten up sites of cultural heritage and historical traditions of Kuldiga by organising workshops, performances, art exhibitions and old town was considered as a stage for these activities. 1

2 5. Financial aspects During the five year period eight Labs had been organised: four local and four international and about EUR had been spent on these activities; the main source of income has been Kuldiga District Council. Municipality had allocated about EUR Another important source of income has been the State Culture Capital Foundation for EUR Support had been received from Nordic Council of Ministers Nordic Culture Fund for total sum up to EUR , KKNORD Fund up to EUR , NordPlus Adult Education Program EUR x = x = Total Euro Estimate of the economic effects About 200 participants participated for the cultural heritage lab each time. During the 5 years period since 2008, there have been organized totally 8 labs, where most of the participants were attending every activity. In general about 500 people had been educated. Action for citizens of the Kuldiga Old Town Regular Maintenance of Windows has started in 2009 and there have been calculated about 300 people that participate in educational program about how to maintain windows, 30 families have implemented practical restoration works of the windows. Since 2008, action Art Spawn has been organized in 7 buildings of Kuldiga Old Town. About 100 direct project participants had been there and about 3000 visitors calculated. 7. Description of effects in cultural heritage, cohesion, environment, agriculture or other sectors of society The benefits from the project A Complex of Preservation Activities of Kuldiga Old Town have been defined on several levels. The First, most important are benefits for the local citizens. Local citizens learn to understand the value of the old ancient living houses of old town. Even the economic situation in town in general has not much changed, citizens started to care about buildings, started to communicate with local municipality about maintenance of the houses. They start to believe that there are several practical activities of the buildings maintenance that can be done by them and that developed belonging to the town. Citizens have experienced that their buildings are so nice that it is even possible to exhibit art, that other people are admiring the beauty of the interaction between contemporary art and ancient architecture. The Second level is real preservation works that have been done in old town. During the cultural heritage labs good restoration samples of old buildings were developed that motivate owners of the historical buildings to preserve cultural heritage values of Kuldiga. Practical solutions for preservation of old buildings had been developed. Real practical preservation activities of particular buildings had been implemented that ensure sustainable management of the Old Town and help to preserve high authenticity of important heritage sites for next generations. The Third level is a benefit for professionals working in field of cultural heritage preservation. Within the participation in cultural heritage laboratories, there was improved theoretical knowledge of craftsman, experts on historical buildings and architects. There were gained important practical skills essential for diagnosing the causes of deterioration and for selecting the most appropriate methods of conservation and restoration of wood. Cooperation with this international project extended the knowledge of craftsman, experts on historical buildings and architects beyond their own professions for a broader understanding of different aspects and approaches to wood conservation. 2

3 Activity Culture Heritage Labs has received Latvia Award of Cultural Heritage in nomination Awareness-rising about cultural heritage in 2011, initiative of Latvia Ministry of Culture. Activity Culture Heritage Labs has been highly evaluated from Latvia Ministry of Culture and Latvia State cultural monuments protection inspection of Latvia. Kuldiga Restoration centre is welcoming several delegations of municipalities of Latvia that are interested in this model that includes theoretical knowledge and practical works. In 2013, it is planed that Kuldiga Restoration centre will organize 2 cultural heritage laboratories in other towns of Latvia on request of municipalities of Smiltene and Cesis. Activity Culture Heritage Labs has been highly evaluated from Latvian Association of local and regional governments. This educational model has been recommended to other municipalities of Latvia that are responsible for local cultural heritage sites preservation. Currently there are discussions with Municipality of Riga that Kuldiga Restoration centre will organize cultural heritage laboratories together with new developing Restoration centre in Riga. It is planed that these activities will be included in program of Riga Europe Capital of Culture in In 2012, Activity Culture Heritage Labs has also received Award of Creativity, initiative of Latvia Environment protection and regional development ministry. This activity has been defined as good sample of creativity how to involve local citizens and ensure active participation in field of cultural heritage preservation. 8. Lessons to be learned However this process of the implementation of activity Culture Heritage Labs has been rather stressful because the budget has been implemented on the competitive base of applications throw the calls from different funds. There has been planned limited budget from the municipality and rest of the activity estimate has been raised up from the Funds. It was not guaranteed funding from the projects and results of the granted applications always are announced rather late. In this situation it is very good that Kuldiga Restoration centre has developed fruitful cooperation with Rauma Restoration centre, Nordic Crafts Development and Architect Jorgen Toft Jessen bureau that understand the situation and really contributed implementation of activity Cultural heritage laboratory. Important question where project is giving contribution on Europe level is environmental awareness and climate issues. From , the economic situation in Latvia was difficult and citizens had no financial resources to invest in restoration of the ancient houses, that ensured situation that cultural heritage of Kuldiga old town has preserved high authenticity. Starting from 2004, the economic situation in country improved and people started to invest in their properties. But there were several threats emerged as use of the plastic and synthetic materials aluminum gas window frames and doors, acryl paints, plastic plastering materials instead of previously existed historical values wooden construction details, natural paints and materials. Therefore implementation of the project A Complex of Preservation Activities of Kuldiga Old Town, where was explained need of use of traditional natural materials, give significant impact on sustainable development and environmental awareness. Real problem that is common for Europe is traditional and rare craft skills and knowledge that are in danger and disappearing and therefore in coming up 10 years there will not be possibility to restore ancient buildings. During the cultural heritage laboratories there was used method of action-borne knowledge where knowledge transfer takes place through a practical learning situation, where experienced practitioners teach a person who is acquiring the skills. There has been paid high attention to use of traditional tools, there were created new tools according to historical methods. Therefore there was given significant contribution to preserve ancient crafts and tools, ensuring transferring of the knowledge from generation to generation. However the main benefit from the implementation of project A Complex of Preservation Activities of Kuldiga Old Town is the real change in attitude of the local people. The understanding of the value of old living houses, as important part of cultural heritage, has seriously changed. During the 5 years of project implementation the number of motivated families has seriously increased. People were proud that they can do window frames maintenance themselves. They learn to take out glass, to oil and paint frames with natural materials and insert glass with linen-oil putty as it traditionally has been done. Local citizens really enjoy the process of restoration and they were proud with self-made result. 3

4 Even the economic situation in town in general has not much changed, citizens started to care about buildings, started to communicate with local municipality about maintenance of the houses. They start to believe that there are several practical activities of the buildings maintenance that can be done by themselves and that developed belonging to the town. Citizens have experienced that their buildings are so nice that there is even possible to exhibit art, that other people are admiring the beauty of the interaction between contemporary art and ancient architecture. 9. Illustrations LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Photographer Modris Rubenis 1. The main value of the Kuldiga old town is wooden buildings from century. Building from 15 Kalna Street, Kuldiga 2. The main value of the Kuldiga old town is wooden buildings from century. Building from 30 Baznicas Street, Kuldiga 3. The main value of the Kuldiga old town is wooden buildings from century. Building from 7 Baznicas Street, Kuldiga 4. The main value of the Kuldiga old town is wooden buildings from century. Backyard of the building from 21 Baznicas Street, Kuldiga 5. Activity Cultural heritage laboratory in Practical restoration works 6. Activity Cultural heritage laboratory in Project participants discuss typical threads of the maintenance of facades 7. Activity Cultural heritage laboratory in Project participants discuss typical threads of the maintenance of facades 8. Activity Cultural heritage laboratory in Presentation of the practical works 9. Activity Cultural heritage laboratory in Theoretical part with presentation of good restoration samples 10. Activity Cultural heritage laboratory in Theoretical part with presentation of good restoration samples 11. Activity Cultural heritage laboratory in Presentation of the practical works 12. Activity Cultural heritage laboratory in Presentation of the practical works 13. Activity Cultural heritage laboratory in Presentation of the practical works 14. Activity Cultural heritage laboratory in Presentation of the practical works and discussion 15. Activity Cultural heritage laboratory in Presentation of the practical works 16. Activity Cultural heritage laboratory in Presentation of the practical works 17. Action for citizens of the Kuldiga old town Regular maintenance of the windows in Action for citizens of the Kuldiga old town Regular maintenance of the windows in Action for citizens of the Kuldiga old town Regular maintenance of the windows in Action for citizens of the Kuldiga old town Regular maintenance of the windows in Action Art Spawn in 2010, at 7 Baznicas Street, Kuldiga. Artists Kristine Lazdane and Anda Poikane 22. Action Art Spawn in 2011, at 14 Baznicas Street, Kuldiga. Artists Iveta Brence and Inita Ermane 23. Action Art Spawn in 2011, at 14 Baznicas Street, Kuldiga. Artist Iveta Brence 24. Action Art Spawn in 2009, at 7 Baznicas Street, Kuldiga. Artist Laura Feldberga 25. Action Art Spawn in 2010, at 17 Baznicas Street, Kuldiga. Artist Inga Meldere 26. Action Art Spawn in 2009, at 2 Baznicas Street, Kuldiga. Artists Iveta Brence, Inita Ermane, Solvita Bruze 4

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