European Heritage sites are milestones in the creation of today’s Europe. Spanning from the dawn of civilization to the Europe we see today, these sites celebrate and symbolise European ideals, values, history and integration. Since 2013, these sites have been carefully selected for their symbolic value, the role they have played in the European history and activities they offer that bring the European Union and its citizens closer together.
In 2017, the European Commission has decided to add nine sites celebrating and symbolising European ideals, values, history and integration to the European Heritage Label list. The sites will be celebrated during an award ceremony taking place on the 26th of March in Plovdiv (Bulgaria), as part of the International conference “Cultural heritage: for a more sustainable Europe” co-organised by the Bulgarian Presidency and the European Commission.
So far, 38 sites have been designated to the European Heritage Label list, two from Slovenia: Javorca Memorial Church and its cultural landscape (2017) and Franja Partisan Hospital (2015).
Javorca Memorial Church is a unique piece of Art Nouveau built in the mountains by soldiers of the WWI Isonzo Front to remember fallen soldiers regardless of their origin and culture. Today the church and its cultural landscape continue to symbolise this call for reconciliation and the unifying power of collaborative artistic creation and construction.
Source EAC; find out more about the selection of the site from the panel’s report.
The Franja Hospital was a secret World War II hospital run by the Slovenian partisans as part of a broadly organized resistance movement against the occupying Nazi forces. The refuge treated wounded soldiers from both the Allied and the Axis powers and the physicians came from various European countries. The hospital was run and kept secret thanks to the support of local people. Today, it has been turned into a museum promoting solidarity, democratic values and human rights.
Source EAC; find out more about the selection of the site from the panel’s report.
Find out more about the European Heritage Label and the nine historical sites selected for the European Heritage Label.