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European Places of the Spirit (EST)
European Places of the Spirit
(EST)
Start date: Dec 31, 2003,
End date: Jul 30, 2006
PROJECT
FINISHED
The project main objective is the creation of a European network of areas and regions that are rich in spiritual and cultural traditions and heritage. The network will link together territories in Umbria (Italy), a region known as the ‘land of Saints’ for its stunning religious heritage, Marche (Italy), whose concentration of ‘sacred place’ is one of the highest in the Country and where there is one of the richest Romanic religious heritage in Europe; North-East Region (Romania), a region famous for the painted monasteries of Bucovina dating back to XV-XVI Century and Thessalia (Greece), where, in the XIV Century, the famous meteorisa monastiria (monasteries built on top of pinnacles) were built and developed. The project will develop activities in order to achieve two broad aims: - awareness-raising among local populations about their own cultural heritage seen as a cornerstone of regional and national identity, through dissemination of information, - attraction of qualified tourist flows to the regions involved, through the creation of ‘packages’ focused on the spiritual and cultural aspects of these areas of Europe and linked together through a thematic network called ‘European Places of the Spirit’. The network, supported by IT instruments, will be able to offer tourists looking for a spiritual destination all the necessary information, along with the links to the partner countries that could offer a similar travelling experience. Expected Results: The expected results of the project are: - Eight studies at cultural and tourism level, - Four marketing research studies and four SWOT analyses, one best practice study, - Definition of a common planning approach for the management of the areas and definition of a common marketing strategy document, - Organisation of 20 local workshops and events to involve partnerships in the areas, - Involvement and transfer of the model of management to a broad partnership of local institutions and operators, - Creation of a database with all the necessary information on the areas identified as "Places of the Spirit", - Development of a complex software application supporting the IT link and the website of the project, - Distribution of 800 copies of the information on CD-ROM in four languages, - Distribution of 5,500 copies of the final colour publication in four languages, - Organisation of four transnational meetings of partners, - Organisation of a presentation seminar in each partner country, including a final event, followed by the publication of the abstracts, - Definition of a common identity logo.