2022. gada 1. November
On 20 October, the Turaida Museum Reserve received a special recognition award from the European Cultural Tourism Network (ECTN) Board for the inclusion of the Turaida Historical Centre in the list of European Heritage Label Sites.
The 15th International Conference for Cultural Tourism in Europe took place in Krk, Croatia, from 19-20 October, and this year the theme was "Relaunching European Tourism through Cultural Heritage and Digitalisation".
The tenth award ceremony for "The Destination of Sustainable Cultural Tourism" was held during the conference. This year, awards were presented in five categories:- Cooperation between museums and heritage sites;
- Medieval heritage and archaeology;
- Digitalisation in sustainable cultural tourism, towards smart destinations;
- International thematic tourism including European cultural routes;
- Promoting European heritage for young people.
It should be noted that in the Medieval Heritage and Archaeology nomination, the highest recognition went to the Medieval Castle of Rauna - for the work done in preserving, researching and incorporating the castle into contemporary events.
Bestowing recognition award of the Board to the Turaida Museum Reserve, Manos Vougioukas, ECTN Secretary-General in his address noted that several of the organisation's members are on their way to obtaining the European Heritage Label and that ECTN is now proud of the first member who has received this high distinction. Sites awarded the European Heritage Label play an important role in shaping Europe today. The European Heritage Label has some differences from the UNESCO World Heritage List. Its sites bring to life the message of Europe, its underlying history and values.
The "Destination of Sustainable Cultural Tourism " award is organised by ECTN in partnership with Europa Nostra, the European Travel Commission and NECSTour, and supported by the European Association of Archaeologists, Interpret Europe and ReInHerit Horizon 2020. This collaboration between several organisations started in 2018 as a contribution to the European Year of Culture and has continued successfully in the following years.
For reference:- On 13 June 2022, during a solemn award ceremony, the Turaida Museum Reserve received the European Heritage Label, which was awarded to the Historical Centre of Turaida.
- ECTN is an international association founded in Brussels in 2009. It is a platform for European cooperation in the development and promotion of cultural tourism. ECTN is active in EU projects, involving partners, presenting goodpractices and providing new opportunities for cooperation. ECTN is represented in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain and Sweden(Gotland). The association is composed of individual institutions, regional associations, universities, research institutes and non-governmental organisations. Vidzeme Tourism Association, which includes also the Turaida Museum Reserve, has already been an activememberof ECTN for several years.
