About the project:
The “Art and Culture – common cross-border assets in support of sustainable tourism development” project is a cross-border initiative focused on developing an integrated tourism product that connects people with the rich cultural and artistic heritage of the Romania-Bulgaria region. By creating a new thematic route, the project aimed to value and sustainably utilise cultural assets, transforming them into a source of economic benefit and enjoyable experiences for tourists. It seeked to build collaborative links between cities like Veliko Tarnovo and Calafat that share a common cultural history. Through measures aimed at improving local cultural infrastructure, the project’s goal was to create and promote a joint thematic route of classical and contemporary art, ultimately supporting the sustainable development of tourism in the cross-border area.
Code: ROBG-576
Financing programme: 2014 – 2020 INTERREG V-A Romania – Bulgaria
Implementation period: 14 September 2018 – 13 September 2021
Budget: €1,487,271.41
KEY OBJECTIVES
- To improve the sustainable economic use of cultural assets and common heritage in the Romania-Bulgaria cross-border region;
- To boost the number of visitors and tourists in the cross-border area.
- To enhance the condition of cultural and historical attractions in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, and Calafat, Romania.
- To create a wider variety of tourism products and services for the region.
- To develop new, integrated tourism services, such as a web portal and mobile apps, to promote the thematic route at a regional and international level.
THE PARTNERSHIP
Veliko Tarnovo Municipality – BG;
Calafat Municipality, Dolj County – RO;
Face for Art and Culture Foundation, Pleven – BG.
KEY RESULTS
The project successfully created a joint thematic route “Art and Culture” that includes six prominent cultural sites: four in Bulgaria and two in Romania.
- BG: Regional Art Gallery “Boris Denev” (Veliko Tarnovo), Drama Theatre “Vida” (Vidin), Art Gallery “Nikola Petrov” (Vidin), Art Gallery Donation “Svetlin Rusev Collection” (Pleven)
- RO: Marincu Palace (Calafat), Museum of Art – Jean Mihail Palace (Craiova)
- 1 trilingual web-portal and 2 joint trilingual smartphone apps
- A marketing strategy and a comprehensive promotional campaign were executed.
- A catalogue of intangible cultural heritage was created to be included in the product.
- Both the Regional Art Gallery “Boris Denev” and the Marincu Palace underwent modernisation to serve as contemporary art centers.
BROCHURE: Joint integrated tourist route “Art and Culture”
More information:
Project website: https://artandculture-robg.eu/
Information and the Project fiche on Programme website: https://www.interregrobg.eu/en/projects/our-hard-projects/axis-2/2-categorie-principala/427-robg-576.html
Social media: https://www.facebook.com/borisdenevgallery and Virtual Tour of the Boris Denev Art Gallery: https://140bdenev.borisdenevgallery.com/