JEWELS TOUR in Coimbra!
JEWELS TOUR partners gathered in Coimbra on June 4th and 5th for a program full of knowledge exchange opportunities and wonderful experiences.
During the two days of work, the partners exchanged views on the progress of activities implemented at the local level, sharing experiences, good practices, and challenges. Particular attention was given to the opportunities and obstacles in promoting cultural heritage. Cultural destinations across Europe, in fact, require creative promotion strategies that include strong public-private cooperation and take into account the needs for protection and conservation of heritage assets.
The meeting was also an opportunity to learn more about the initiatives undertaken by the city of Coimbra to enhance its local Jewish heritage. Particularly interesting were the visit to the exhibition: “The Jews of Coimbra – Memories and Materialities”, and to the local Mikveh - Jewish purification baths, recently revitalized through a musealization project that used audiovisual aids and technology to also narrate its function and history. Furthermore, the presentation of historical publications related to Jewish culture in the General Library of the University of Coimbra provided another example of how to exploit different local resources and integrate them into the tourism narrative of the city.
JEWELS TOUR at the International Congress “Luso-Sephardic Dialogues”
Finally, on the afternoon of June 5, some members of the partnership participated as speakers in the special session “European Perspectives of Jewish Heritage” organised in the framework of the 7th International Congress “Diálogos Luso-Sefarditas – Cidades-Mundo de Memória Judaica” (Luso-Sephardic Dialogues – World Cities of Jewish Memory), held at the Convent of San Francesco and organized by the Municipality of Coimbra, with the following topics:
Karin Sczech – Archaeologist and Site Manager, World Heritage (Erfurt, Germany) - “Erfurt and the new route medieval Ashkenaz a part of the European cultural route“
Joseph Roevens – BUas University of Applied Sciences (Breda, Netherlands) - “Antwerpen: Jewish Presence & Heritage”
Amedeo Spagnoletto – Director, MEIS – National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah (Ferrara, Italy) - “Ferrara, home city of the Italian National Museum of Judaism and the Shoah. Responsibilities, Opportunities and Experimentations”
Shemel Y. Lampronti – Associate Professor of Strategic Management, Warwick Business School, UK (Ferrara, Italy) - “Jewish Ferrara as a Crossroads and a Laboratory”
Maksym Martyn – Head of Judaism Department, Lviv Museum of the History of Religion (Lviv, Ukraine) - “Drohobych. Historical landmark and the town of three artists”.
Donagh Horgan – Inholland University & Erasmus University (Breda, Netherlands) - “Mapping Luso-Sephardic migrations”.
Emil Majuk – Brama Grodzka – Teatr NN & Lecturer at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (Lublin, Poland) - “Tales of Light and Darkness. Participatory governance in the context of Jewish heritage tourism in Lublin, Poland”
Monika Tarajko – Grodzka Gate – NN Theater Center (Lublin, Poland) - “Sephardic Influences in the Jewish Cultural Heritage of the Lublin Region”
This congress is an important yearly international event dedicated to reflecting on Sephardic identities, memories, and cultural legacies in Europe and beyond. For the JEWELS TOUR partnership it represented an occasion of introducing our project in the international dialogue on Jewish Cultural Heritage valorization.
Link to the agenda of the JEWELS TOUR third consortium meeting.
Link to the agenda of the Luso-Sephardic Dialogues Congress.