HeriQ was rooted in the Leonardo project TOPAS – Training of Protected Area Staff (1999-2006) and related to the German project ParcInterp (2009-2012).

It intended to emphasise the ideas of learning for sustainability within heritage interpretation focussing on two aims:

  • To inspire interpreters to act as interpretive agents, setting up networks for heritage interpretation for sustainability
  • To train and to certify interpretive guides who intend to share their heritage mainly with visitors from abroad.

Main results were a seven-day pilot course for interpretive agents and a five-day certification course for interpretive guides, based on a needs analysis and evaluated and improved by a Quality Monitoring Committee.

Following an agreement with the HeriQ Consortium in 2015, HeriQ’s Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) course formed the basis for Interpret Europe’s training and certification programme.

The project website is www.heriq.org.

HeriQ project partners

National Association for Small and Medium Business
(Bulgaria) Lead Partner

Association pour la Participation et l’Action Régionale
(France)

Bildungswerk interpretation
(Germany)

Heritage Interpretation Centre
(Bulgaria)

Istituto Pangea Onlus
(Italy)

Mediterranean Centre of Environment
(Greece)

Honorary Advisory Board

Prof. Tiziana Banini, PhD (Italy)
Environmental Geography, University of Rome “La Sapienza”

Claude Bouliou (France)
Director Culture and Education, Council Alpes de Haute Province

Michael Hamish Glen (UK)
Interpret Europe, Chair of the Supervisory Committee

Dionyssia Hatzilakou (Greece)
Ministry of Tourism

Maria Ivanova (Bulgaria)
Tourism Policy Directorate

Prof. Dr. Heike Molitor (Germany)
Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development

Dr. Stefano Spinetti (Italy)
President of the Italian Association of Nature Guides

HeriQ project results

HeriQ guide manual, pre-version

HeriQ guide manual, first edition (2014)

HeriQ guide manual, second edition (2015)