Beit Govrin National Park (Image: Mitrani)
Having been to IE’s annual conference several times, the influence of Interpret Europe leaders led us four years ago to establish a forum in Israel to promote interpretation in protected areas by government and public organisations, including the Nature and National Parks Authority, the Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites, the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Forest Authority, Jerusalem and Heritage Ministry and Haifa University.
This year is our fourth year of activity. In February we held the 3rd National Interpretation Conference. The theme of the conference was ‘interpretation in open areas’, such as national parks, reserves and forests. We dealt with the benefits and challenges that managers and professionals must pay attention to. The conference was attended by 150 people. It began with a study tour to raise questions at the Beit Govrin National Park and then proceeded to a hall at the National Police College where participants enjoyed presentations, including one from Professor Nir Orion on natural learning and the open environment, and split into small working groups to discuss themes. The end of the conference was a guided visit to the Israeli Police Heritage House.
The booklet we distributed to conference participants explained the Hebrew word for interpretation, translation of the ICOMOS Convention of Interpretation, and the first chapter of Freeman Tilden’s book.
In 2019, we began “Behind the curtain” tours at various sites in Israel. This was inspired by the excellent tours experienced through Interpret Europe. These tours continued this year up until the global pandemic.
Dr. Eyal Mitrani is the visitor and community unit manager at the central district of Israel Nature and National Parks Authority, and one of the founders of the National Transmission Forum in Israel. You can get in touch at: e.mitrani@npa.org.il.
To cite this article:
Mitrani, Eyal (2020) ‘The third time is already a tradition’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 2-2020, 20.
Available online: https://www.interpret-europe.net/fileadmin/Documents/publications/Newsletters/Newsletter_summer_2020.pdf
