The inaugural periodical celebrates the first year of WHIPIC and showcases inspirational stories from around the world. In particular, the combined content looks at inclusive interpretation and the presentation of world heritage in a changing world.

Interpret Europe was asked to represent the continent of Europe by providing an example. We have been working with UNESCO offering training to World Heritage Site staff, following the principles of our Certified Interpretive Planner (CIP) course, so we were very happy to be asked to contribute to this new publication.

You can download it here: https://unesco-whipic.org/periodicals/?q=YToxOntzOjEyOiJrZXl3b3JkX3R5cGUiO3M6MzoiYWxsIjt9&bmode=view&idx=13954175&t=board

Valya Stergioti is a certified interpretive trainer and planner, collaborating with NGOs and institutions to promote heritage interpretation in Greece and the Balkans. She has been Interpret Europe’s Training Coordinator since 2016.
Valya can be contacted at: valya.stergioti@interpret-europe.net.

To cite this article: Stergioti, Valya (2023) ‘Soup and flowers – Interpreting World Heritage’ in Interpret Europe Newsletter 1-2023, pg. 7.

Available online: https://interpret-europe.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/PDF-Newsletter-2023_1-spring.pdf

The importance of wetland habitats – lakes, streams, swamps, winter pools which are flooded annually or seasonally – is indisputable: The species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates, and plants that develop in these habitats are specific to flooded areas and saturated soils, making these areas essential for biodiversity and this to benefit humans all over the world.

Wetland habitats are very sensitive to changes. In fact, since 1900, at least 64% of them have disappeared due to construction, diversion of water, pollution and other causes, and thus many of the species that call them home have become endangered. Amphibians are a prime example of an endangered wetland habitat species. The presence or disappearance, increase or decrease, of the amphibian population is an indicator of the health or fragility of the entire ecosystem. And therefore, this group of animals has attracted great attention in keeping track of the stability of wetland habitats.

In the winter of 1971, an international convention for wetland conservation was signed in the city of Ramsar, Iran. Known as the Ramsar Convention, it represents global cooperative efforts to preserve wetlands and utilise their resources wisely. The signatories – which now number 163 countries, including Israel from where I send this report – face the challenge of mitigating severe damage to these special habitats all over the world.

February 2 – the date the convention was signed – was declared International Wetlands Day, with the goal of raising public awareness of wetland habitats.

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) is a government agency tasked by Israeli law with responsibility in two main realms. One is the management of protected areas – nature reserves and national parks. There are some 500 reserves and parks in Israel covering about 23% of the country. The second realm is nature conservation, which includes setting policy, conducting research, enforcing relevant laws, implementing international conventions, and education.

One of the INPA’s tasks is to protect and support wetland habitats and create new ones. The INPA is responsible not only for the land itself, but also for the flora and fauna at such sites, especially endangered species, including all the native amphibians: water frogs, tree frogs, toads, eastern spadefoot toads, newts and salamanders. All of these creatures are protected by Israeli law, prohibiting their capture or injury.

As part of its nature conservation work, every year the INPA sponsors activities to better acquaint Israelis with nature conservation and to encourage them to participate in these efforts. Some events also further other goals associated with international conventions whose implementation also falls under the INPA’s remit. For example, Bat Day in Israel was originally started to also urge the Israeli government to sign EUROBATS, the Agreement on the Conservation of Populations of European Bats (www.eurobats.org) – there are 28 bat species in Europe and 33 in Israel and all of them endangered; although Israel is not part of the European continent, the conservation of bats in Israel is important for the conservation of bats in Europe. World Migratory Bird Day (www.worldmigratorybirdday.org), held in May, also forms part of the educational obligations outlined by the international convention on this issue. Thousands of people of all ages come to these events.

Yarkon National Park

Yarkon National Park covers four square kilometres in central Israel, near Tel Aviv. Until about 100 years ago, water was abundant in the area, in the form of the Yarkon River, its springs and swamps. Today, there are signs that the wetland habitats of the old days are returning; some are small, conserved segments from the past and some have been recreated by the INPA. And so, in addition to heritage sites, the national park is home to a stream, a small lake, pools with a variety of fish and endangered plants, swamps and seasonal winter pools.

Frog Day

As part of the INPA’s educational work on conservation of wetlands and their flora and fauna, the Yarkon National Park team has marked the annual Frog Day for the last 15 years to help people realise the importance of protecting these habitats and the plants and animals that thrive in them. Activities focus mainly, but not exclusively, on the likeable creature of legend (and real life, too) – the frog, as an ambassador for all amphibians. Every year, on the Saturday (Israel’s weekly day off) closest to February 2, World Wetlands Day, between 3,000 and 5,000 people take part in the activities at the park.

Among the numerous visitor attractions are terrariums containing models of amphibians to introduce them to visitors; a ‘wheel of fortune’ that people can spin to land on a question to win a small gift; a large tent with an exhibit and a speaker or film on a relevant topic; actors who regale visitors with frog tales, a Ropes and Ladders-type game, where the ladders lead to conditions that are good for frogs and the ropes to harmful ones; a competition to create posters and slogans; guided views of the winter pool; listening to croaking; fashioning origami frogs; an aquarium with a magnifying glass and a species identifier to identify animals in the winter pool (the aquarium overlooks the pool); and informative signage. Visitors can play leapfrog, and there’s also an exhibition of sculptures and paintings of frogs, tours, and more. The event closes with a ceremony in which the winners of the poster and slogan competition are announced, and amphibian egg chains that have been moved from sites outside the national park where they are endangered, are placed in park’s lake or winter pool.

And yet, among all these many and varied activities one key element is invisible – the frogs themselves. In fact, visitors don’t see any of the other amphibian species native to Israel either. The organisers made the decision to do things this way since the first Frog Day to make a clear statement – we’ll introduce you to amphibians, you’ll get to know what’s good and bad for them and how to protect them, but…you won’t be able to see them because Israeli law deems them “protected natural values”, and we won’t harm them, even for the sake of education. We designed all the activities described above – interpretive elements, models, stories and many other means of teaching and inspiring – but without the animal itself – based on this prime directive.

I believe that the very absence of the ‘star of the show’ conveys the message that we seek to convey.

Eyal Mitrani is the visitor and community unit manager at the central district of Israel Nature and National Parks Authority (INPA), and one of the founders of the National Transmission Forum in Israel. You can get in touch with him at: e.mitrani@npa.org.il.

This webinar will recall Tilden’s sixth principle about tackling younger minds. Do we follow a fundamentally different approach as Tilden suggested? Which tools and methods are good to use? How do children experience heritage?

The world is changing rapidly, sometimes too fast to follow its progress. Heritage interpretation can help us to slow down the pace, to listen, to imagine and to be children. We’ll try to find answers and encourage discussion through different examples and initiatives from a mum and interpreter’s perspective.

Iva Caleta Plesa is a tourist guide for Zagreb, a French and Russian language teacher, museologist, heritage interpreter and IE Certified Interpretive Trainer. Together with her husband Boris, she runs Doremiza, a small creative space for workshops, photo sessions, lectures and meetings. Iva has a special interest in heritage interpretation for children. She is a member of a development team for the IE module for interpretation for children. She is curious, loves to travel and meet other people and beside heritage interpretation, she is passionate about all forms of learning and dancing.

This webinar will cover the topic of how cultural and natural heritage interpretation is helping us to preserve our very own bee, the indigenous melliferra macedonica.

The challenges that we were facing in the past in our efforts to protect and promote sustainable beekeeping were mainly due to the fact that we were not telling our story to people outside our immediate surroundings. While we were using scientific language, full of factual information, analysis, statistics and data, the local population spoke the demotic language of their everyday life. Over the years, we all learned to tell the same story in a common, understandable language that reached beyond the eyes and ears of the audience. We found ways to help the local population to become the bees’ biggest ambassadors. The webinar will cover some of the tools used in the process, important milestones and an overview of how the interpretation of cultural and natural heritage helped to change the mindset of a whole community.

Katerina Ivanovska is a programme officer with the Nature Conservation Programme in North Macedonia, a project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), implemented by Farmahem Skopje. The project’s duration is from 2011 to 2024 and is currently within the exit phase of the implementing activities. Katerina Ivanovska holds a master’s degree in economics and a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food in Skopje, North Macedonia. Her professional background includes research and analysis of subsidy policies in agriculture, rural development, sustainable use of resources in agriculture, stakeholder management and behavioral economics.

Running along the ground, the wind catches under the wing and her feet leave the ground. She’s airborne. She climbs quickly and now she’s soaring over the huge expanse of the Arctic tundra with only the rush of the wind and the sound of swans and geese honking. From up here, she can see more of this remote area; such a perfect breeding ground for birds, safe from predators. The only human presence, the local tribes herding reindeer in traditional ways.

Following watercourses and coastlines, she begins her 7,000km journey south, through more densely populated areas and 11 European countries to reach the UK, experiencing and recording everything that all migratory birds have to contend with on their route: habitat loss and dwindling or changing water supplies; pollution; power lines; being shot at by hunters.

Just outside a town, a huge congregation of school children shouts up and waves. She comes down on a strip of grass and is immediately enveloped in cheering and TV cameras trying to capture the moment. The Human Swan has landed, making one of many pre-arranged visits in her three-month journey along the migratory flyway where she will engage with local communities and government officials to inform and discuss the plight that migratory birds are facing and encourage cross-border cooperation for conservation.

The Flight of the Swans project took place in 2016 with the human swan, Sacha Dench, flying by paramotor in often perilous conditions along the migration route of Bewick’s swans. Polar bears, personal injury and huge logistical challenges, as well as everything that the real swans have to deal with, including the weather, did not stop the human swan. By using powerful storytelling, along with the ambitious adventure to capture media attention, the project gained huge support.

It was awarded the 2017 Campaign of the Year in the ENDS Environmental Impact Awards for engaging more than 10,000 people on the ground, including school children, local indigenous communities, hunting groups, fish farmers, artists and government officials. More than 1,700 stories featured in the media, most of those on TV and radio, including prime-time chat shows with celebrities, and almost every story talked about the threats to swans because it was impossible to cover a woman attempting this flying feat without also asking the question, ‘Why?’.

More than 30 partner organisations got involved and were invited to interpret the story their own way to tackle their priority issues. The adaptation of the overall story to local culture and the activities inspired by it ranged hugely. In Poland, Sacha landed live on national breakfast TV to talk about lead poisoning (the only country en route with no restriction on lead in hunting) which led to a mass public response in letters and phone calls to the media and shooting associations, and hunters joining a Swan Symposium. In Latvia, an art competition encouraging people to interpret the swan stories received such a response from all ages that entries could only be cut down to a shortlist of 100. Each piece interpreted the Bewick’s swan story differently and entries ranged from swans of sculptured lace to recycled plastics and the entire migration of the swans knitted into mittens.

And now, looking to 2021 when the UN COP26 meeting on climate change will take place in Glasgow, UK, the human swan is planning to take to the skies again. This time, two record-breaking activities will come together to raise awareness of the need to act against climate change. Flying around Britain’s coastline by green-powered electric paramotor, Sacha will visit as many climate activists and local grassroots projects as possible to highlight the best of the positive action already happening. While doing this, she will attempt to inspire the largest number of people ever to sign up to a climate pledge in support of positive action in their own lives – not just around the UK but around the world through media and online coverage. Finally, the climax of this exciting project will be to deliver the results directly to the world leaders at the COP next year and demand more action. She has already been offered a seat at the table with direct access to amplify all our voices and concerns on the climate crisis.

This story comes with a price tag! The project is possible only with public support: the Crowdfunder (link below with more information on the project) is live until 23 December. It’s been a difficult year for everyone, but climate change is already affecting us all. If you are able to support the initiative in any way, please consider adding to the funds to enable Sacha to take our voice on climate action to the UN. And please share the link far and wide and consider how you could become a part of the journey. Thank you.

I’m sure the human swan will have even more tales to tell us from her latest adventure.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/round-britain-climate-challenge

Marie Banks is IE’s News Coordinator. When not volunteering for IE, she runs her own interpretation and proofreading business, www.zebraproof.uk. She can be contacted at: marie.banks@interpret-europe.net.

Sacha Dench is the UN Ambassador for Migratory Species and set up the NGO Conservation Without Borders www.conservationwithoutborders.org.

You can see some of the highlights of the Flight of the Swans project here: https://flightoftheswans.org/expedition/highlights/.

To cite this article:
Banks, Marie (2020) ‘Stories in the sky’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2020, 33-34. 

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

The European Commission’s official proposal for the Year was released on 4 March 2020. It was presented to the European Parliament on 23 June 2020 and was accepted by its Committee on Transport and Tourism (Tran) on 12 October 2020. Within the Commission, DG MOVE (Mobility and Transport) will be responsible for the implementation of the Year. So far, there is only limited information but questions can be addressed to MOVE-C3-EUROPEAN-YEAR-RAIL-2021@ec.europa.eu.

The proposal strongly refers to the European Green Deal suggesting that “through projects, debates, events, exhibitions and initiatives across Europe, the European Year of Rail will promote rail as an attractive and sustainable way to move across Europe, to citizens, business and authorities, emphasising its Union wide and innovative dimension. By reaching out to citizens, beyond the railway sector, through dedicated events and communication campaigns, it will convince more people and businesses to make use of rail”. In an information to the Expert Group on Cultural Heritage from 18 November 2020, DG Education and Culture underlined the relevance of the Year also for the heritage sector, stating: “The final text makes direct reference to rail’s history and its cultural heritage for building on the rail’s power for collective imagination. The European Year of Rail is indeed directly relevant to sustainable cultural tourism and heritage, with the great train routes of Europe, railway and transport museums, and the reuse and conservation of industrial railway heritage.”

There is no doubt that the growth of the railway system had significant impact on the development and connection of European regions, especially from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. People in villages gained access to towns, travelling between cities became much easier, in some places, railway construction work brought thousands of people from other countries into remote areas (e.g. regarding the construction of Alpine bridges and tunnels). Railway lines turned tiny villages into international hubs – or caused the decline of others that were sidelined or bypassed. In many European countries, parts of the railway system are listed heritage, even including three World Heritage sites:

•    Forth Bridge, UK
•    Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes, Switzerland
•    Semmering Railway, Austria

Many recent and historic railway lines are part of protected landscapes and therefore link culture to nature. In Austria and Switzerland, the landscapes surrounding the tracks (to be viewed from the train) are actually part of the designated World Heritage, and railway companies refer to the World Heritage status of their lines. For example, in Switzerland there is a UNESCO World Heritage pass which travellers can buy, and the German main railway company is cooperating with national parks in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (some of them World Heritage) through the programme: Fahrtziel Natur (‘Destination nature’).

There is also a large number of heritage railways (lines out of regular operation) and of railway museums in Europe (see also here). Most larger railway companies run their own museums or are involved in the operation of public railway museums. In Germany alone, there are more than 175 railway museums or museum lines, and even more activities are supposed to take place in France and – by far the most – in the UK.

So, the Year might offer some potential for IE members. Interpreting European railway heritage helps to approach sustainability from a new direction and might open the field of technical heritage to some members. It could also help to get in touch with stakeholders to whom there is so far no real connection, regarding institutions for technical heritage as well as large and financially strong companies. There are also links to IE’s upcoming tourism initiative since the idea of transition hubs is related to the idea of turning key railway museums into hubs for smaller railway museums.

Considering that the Year has only been confirmed in October 2020, and that so far the EU long-term budget for 2021-2027 has still not been adopted, it can be expected that EU funding will only be provided towards the end of 2021. The proposal of the Commission includes an allocation of 8 million euros for the implementation of the Year which, in European terms, is not too much. However, the proposal explicitly mentions Creative Europe and Erasmus+, and since the budget for these programmes will increase for the seven upcoming years, it could be expected that funding for projects linked to the Year would also be available within them. Furthermore, the Year might be seen as catalyst to encourage associations, foundations and companies related to the railway system to provide funding for interpretive activities, and an option for IE trainers could be to address railway museums as potential organising partners for IE training courses.

So, please get active if you feel the European Year of Rail offers opportunities for you – and share your ideas and experiences through our social media channels or through the newsletter in order to foster exchange.

To cite this article:
IE Management (2020) ‘2021 will be the European Year of Rail’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2020, 31-32.

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

As someone who deals with tourism on a practical level – as a head of a tourist office and as a tourist guide – but also as someone who deals with tourism on a scientific level by scruntinising tourism trends and communication in tourism, I can not hide my enthusiasm for a workshop like the heritage interpretation one delivered by Interpret Europe.

This type of workshop and the training of various tourism stakeholders to interpret and show love for their heritage, shows how Interpret Europe keeps pace with tourism trends. More and more people are looking for a unique experience and some more meaning, some special message, and not just a list of facts and boring data.

Personally, what thrilled me the most in the workshop was the enthusiasm of the trainer, whose energy moved all participants to get involved from the very beginning and very successfully master the techniques of heritage interpretation. As someone who deals with communication on a scientific level, I noticed that some participants made significant progress, and our trainer constantly pointed out good and bad practices and enabled everyone to become an even better interpreter.

Each of us can make our own contribution to the interpretation of heritage through original interpretive walks and speeches. Every country, and especially small countries like Croatia, needs a special story to attract attention. Interpreting heritage as a communication tool is something that all countries, and especially those less recognisable countries, should be encouraged to embrace.

When we become aware of the importance of communication, but especially the importance of interpretation, then we will no longer have to worry about our heritage because it will be in the hands of those who recognise the importance of heritage preservation.

Many thanks to Interpret Europe, to the trainer, Ivana Zrililć, and to all participants who made me an even better interpreter.

Dejan Gluvačević, PhD, is a private entrepreneur and external associate at Faculty of Political Science (University of Zagreb, Croatia). His scientific research includes areas of destination branding and communication in tourism. Professional experience gained working as a PR manager, tourist guide and manager of a travel agency.

To cite this article:
Gluvačević, Dejan (2020) ‘Interpretation – more than communication’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2020, 16.

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

It was the end of September, and I had moved back to my hometown only a week prior. Covid-19 and office closures brought me back home from abroad and I was dying to be a part of the community again. My new neighbourhood, named after cherry orchards that used to grow there, has an interesting community which has been collecting stories, photographs, and gathering historic data on how the neighbourhood grew and formed its identity. My first weekend was definitely marked by an event organised by this community – a Jane’s walk through Tratinska Street, with workshops, exhibitions, stories being shared, concerts, and much more.

One of the workshops was The Heritage Interpretation Workshop, led by Ivana Zrilić. We gathered at Cibona Tower, next to the statue of the late basketball player, Dražen Petrović. Participants had to bring three objects with them – the one they hold most dear, one that was the eldest, and one which travelled the farthest. All of the participants were emotionally tied to the object which objectively would not be of high value, but each item reminded them of a period or a person in their lives. We gave meanings and a new purpose to the objects, interpreted them differently than someone else could have. We have shared stories tied to the objects and the neighbourhood, while our guide slowly shifted focus on how we as people each interpret places, objects, buildings, areas, and situations differently. This was a new way of seeing things that surround us, and their meanings and value.

The second part of the workshop entailed associations connected to the object we were shown, in our case, one of them was the statue of Dražen Petrović. The associations varied from person to person, while some of us saw Dražen as a symbol of sports and success, others associated him with his early passing. Lastly, we were to draw anything we could see in our surroundings, explain to a person we were paired with why we chose that particular object, and say a few words about it. It was interesting to see how people saw, or interpreted, the staircase of the Technical Museum across the street, the phone booth, rubbish bin, etc. Interesting descriptions arose, from the modern rubbish bin representing our attitude towards nature, to a staircase drawing back to the once glorious days of Zagreb’s Fair and its importance in the region.

The workshop ended and we left with a new way of seeing the place we live in, and people we live among. The different media used to interactively interpret have shown us another way to look at heritage and brought us new knowledge.

Petra Mikolić is an M.Phil in Nordic Viking and Medieval Scandinavia. In her work she has tackled the notions and the difference between the history and the past through language and its historical sources, by the use of modern, cognitive linguistics approach.

To cite this article:
Mikolić, Petra (2020) ‘The value and interpretation of personal objects’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2020, 26.

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

Earlier in the autumn, I visited the Jelacic days held at the renowned Novi Dvori estates in Zapresic, Croatia. While surveying this historical manifestation, the authentic maidservant, Marica, invited me to join a heritage interpretation workshop. At last, I thought, something fun, and an activity that coincidentally resembled a project I was working on. The perfect incentive at the perfect time.

Meeting Marica (played by Ivana Zrilić), more than ever I realised the importance of who and how a story is told – she made every story interesting and personal. That influenced me to explore the role of an interpretive guide, at least for a while. I quickly cooked lunch, handed over the kids to my husband and embraced the Sunday bliss of the enchanting Novi Dvori. Alone and free, curious of what I would learn and experience. Rain started pouring and it got cold so I put on my heavy coat, motivated to continue.

I was thrilled to encounter Ivana, ever enthusiastic and equipped with accessories. What a sight to see strangers showing an interest in the workshop! Driven by positive feedback, guests from Zagreb enjoyed festivities honoring the legendary Ban Josip Jelacic. It was a tremendous achievement for people from the capital to travel to a suburb for cultural events, as opposed to rushing downtown for entertainment. I always emphasised that even if it lacked in numbers, our hearts made up the difference! Zapresic has so much to discover, so much potential to develop.

Finally, the workshop began. The brief introduction and reference to bells reminded me of Hemingway’s For whom the bell tolls. Ivana started displaying countless personal items and asked us to share our associations. Suddenly, I remembered all the tickets, postcards, letters, dedications, messages and other memorabilia from travels, performances and exhibitions I have kept at home… I could also show them and help others evoke their own memories. This workshop truly intended to encourage personal experiences rather than generic stories and, thinking back to my project at work; when examining Proust’s masterpiece, Combray, a novel in which the narrator reminisces about his idyllic childhood while eating honey madeleines with tea, I always ask my students what smell, taste or sound takes them back in time.

For our next assignment I was paired up with an American studying Croatian heritage. We were supposed to find and draw an object near us. My choice was a counter in the forest where a young DJ played music. He picked a wooden detail from the Matija Skurjeni museum. My statement, “Those were the careless days“, is singled out as the central idea – my retrospection painted a time when I was free and on my own, going out and longing for what I have today. My partner, Jeremy’s, sentence was, “I like the details of Croatian architecture“. It is intriguing to see how others often consider us more valuable then we do ourselves. Everybody represents another’s object. There was no self promotion but a position of interpreting someone else’s chosen location and experience. An interpretation of an interpretation.

We listened, talked and laughed. Even though we do not know each other, we shared secrets from our lives. However, everyone added their own, personal signature while interpreting objects others chose. That is something unchangeable. Encouraged, I realise I have so much to tell in my own, unique way. I started writing a project, decided to enroll in a tourist guide course and make sure Ivana includes me in the next heritage interpretation class as soon as possible. See you there!

Branka Tolić is a Croatian language teacher working in Gornjogradska gimnazija, Zagreb, Croatia (www.ggg.hr). Her personal blog created during lockdown this year is: https://www.karantenablog.com/. You can get in touch with her at: branka.tol@gmail.com.

To cite this article:
Tolić, Branka (2020) ‘True stories and real experiences spice up presentation’. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2020, 25.

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

Phenomena. The uniqueness of phenomena.
Facts, true facts.
Meaning, meaning before facts, deeper meaning.
Universal terms, love, happiness, maybe sadness, emotions. Definitely emotions.

Message. A message with meaning. But what is the meaning? Listen! Listen? Yes, listen! Listen to what the phenomena are whispering. Whispering? Lucija, you must have lost your mind! No, wait! I can hear something!  Yes, there it is! I can hear it, what a beautiful sensation. But what do I do with it?  Maybe I should follow it. Yes, follow the message!  A message that guides me, a lighthouse. My lighthouse. Isn’t it wonderful, just the idea of it?  Having your own bright lighthouse. I don’t know about you, but to me, it brings peace and joy.

These were the thoughts roaming through my head while I was walking through my hometown’s park forest, looking for new cultural phenomena to interpret. For a matter of fact, this happens every time I indulge myself in interpretation and the process that comes with it. I must say that since the CIG course, I have reached new perspectives. A lighthouse, a metaphor for the idea which keeps you on track during cultural heritage interpretation. As our CIG trainer, Max, would say, it is your own theme, your own lighthouse, it is there just for you, connect with it. What an abstract idea, but it makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? And when you think about it, it is quite logical too. Would participants like to follow me to my lighthouse – or do they have other lighthouses where they would like to guide me?

“Lucija, look!”. I have sunk so deep in my thoughts that for a brief moment I forgot I was with my friend Tijana. “Look! A lighthouse!”. Tijana noticed a tablecloth with a lighthouse drawn on it, which belonged to a nearby beach bar. “A lighthouse, can you imagine?”. A coincidence or not, it brought a big smile to our faces and a warm fuzzy feeling inside. I remembered the first time I was introduced to the Certified Interpretive Guide course principles and Interpret Europe’s approach to heritage interpretation. We were a small group with different backgrounds and of all ages. I was listening in awe to our trainer, eager to learn, trying to comprehend that vision on heritage, which I had never heard before.

I always wondered why people lack an appreciation for heritage, starting with their own. One could say these individuals are ignorant. But what if there is something more to it? What if they are not aware of what is standing right in front of them. What if there is someone who could bring them close to what they are seeing, to acknowledge, to make them think, to feel. As our trainer says, address people’s minds, but most importantly, address their senses and their hearts.

Lucija Šorić recently obtained her MSc and MA degree in International leisure, tourism and events management. During her studies at NHL Stenden in The Netherlands and University of Derby in the UK, she collaborated with ETFI, VVV Nederland information centres and their Knowledge platform tackling contemporary issues. Lucija can be contacted at: lucijasoric6@gmail.com.

To cite this article:
Šorić, Lucija (2020) ‘Lucija’s lighthouses‘. In Interpret Europe Newsletter 4-2020, 12.

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