It starts with values, continues with how we engage others and inspire them, and it might end with “wow” and common growth in facilitated common ground. It’s the magic of interpretation.

When we think about how to be relevant, we should always keep in mind that one rock can say more than a geological map, that it is better to make friends with one tree than to know the names of all of them … And we should always dive into the world of our visitors. So it’s all in the interpretive approach.

At the Europarc conference in May 2022, Katarina Zakelj (CIW) and Max Dubravko Fijačko (CIT) will deliver some intriguing and meaningful activities for this year’s new style of workshops: Mind Factory. This year Europarc wants to give an opportunity: Question your mindset! OK, then we will really question it and give all participants the power and magic at a workshop entitled, The Magical Power of Interpretation: Adding Meaning to Visitors’ Experiences in Protected Areas.

It has long been said:
Through interpretation, understanding;
through understanding, appreciation;
through appreciation, protection.
We also know that understanding is an ‘infinite process’, but therefore the importance of interpretation only gains in meaning.

Join us in Austria in early May if you can! The Neusiedler See – Seewinkel National Park in Austria will host the biggest gathering of Protected Area professionals: the EUROPARC Conference 2022 (https://www.europarc.org/europarc-conference/). Our workshop will be held on 3 May and we’re looking forward to sprinkling some magic.

Max Dubravko Fijačko is a member of IE’s Tourism Team, is the Gastronomic Heritage Coordinator and an IE Certified Interpretive Trainer. You can get in touch with him at: dubravko.fijacko@interpreteurope.net.

To cite this article: Fijačko, Max Dubravko  (2022) ‘The magical power of interpretation’ in Interpret Europe Newsletter 1-2022, pg.20

Available online:https://interpret-europe.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PDF-Newsletter-2022_1-spring_draft-5.pdf

I met Bursu Cunneen, a Turkish artist and teacher, when she was photographing the stairs I went down after visiting the Lycia rock tombs in Feithiye, Turkey. She accidentally caught me in her shot and explained that she was working on a mosaics project for that staircase.

I was in such euphoria from visiting Troy with its magnificent museum, as well as the Lycia rock tombs of Feithiye, that when I saw a heritage site with ancient tombs below the popular tombs, dirty and surrounded by garbage containers, I expressed to Bursu my readiness to clean that place by myself. There were no information signs and in general the place seemed so undeservedly abandoned.

Bursu frowned and agreed that the heritage site really should be cleaned up to encourage others to appreciate it. So, we exchanged phone numbers and agreed to call each other. In the middle of the night I received a message from Bursu to meet the next morning.

I took my rubber gloves, left over from a business trip during quarantine, and went straight to the meeting place. And I was so surprised when I saw a smiling Bursa with a dozen workers equipped with shovels and equipment ready for cleaning the heritage site.

Bursu and I were later sitting in a local coffee shop drinking delicious Turkish tea with Suzan Tasor, a first female Headman of District, and two managers from the local museum. I listened to the story of how restless Bursa had called Suzan in the evening to inform her that we were planning to clean up the heritage site and maybe even to invite the press. That information reached the Municipal Manager and the District Governor. As a result, the Municipality agreed at 7am to organise the works that day. Bursu and I received a lot of thanks for our personal involvement. On parting, Suzan Tasor showed us an official letter of appeal on behalf of their community with a request to clean this heritage site, which was sent to the Municipality long before our appearance.

We celebrated our victory at Bursu’s 100-year-old house with magnificent views in Faralya village. It is another art project of Bursu. She has many successful projects to her name. She used her skills and art to fight poverty in a shanty Chinatown settlement in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. She made a dream come true for a child with cancer and organized a balloon flight in Cappadocia. I believe that the key to her success is not only her talent, but also her readiness to change the world for the better every day. Now many more people will be able to safely access this heritage site to engage with the past and find their own meanings there.

Nataliia Gudkova is an Associate Professor of the State Ecological Academy of Postgraduate Education and Management in Kyiv, Ukraine. You can get in touch with her at: ngudkova@gmail.com.

To cite this article: Gudkova, Nataliia (2020) ‘Cultural heritage warriors’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2020, 23.

Available online: http://www.interpret-europe.net/fileadmin/Documents/publications/Newsletters/IE_newsletter_2020_4_winter.pdf