May 23, 2018 - Montenegro is hosting the Pilot Study Tour in the framework of FORTE CULTURA® from May 23 to 26, 2018. A pilot fortress study tour, under historical and touristic aspects, will be held in Kotor, Herceg Novi, Budva, and Podgorica. The twelve participants who arrive today from Trebinje, are fortress experts and members of various national fortress societies from Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Ukraine.
The visit is part of a study tour between Sarajevo in Bosnia Herzegovina and Podgorica in Montenegro. The aim and purpose of the tour is to get to know the different types of fortifications, exchange professional experiences among professional colleagues, examine further cooperation, in particular with interested people from three countries in the Balkans and other European countries, submit proposals and possibilities for the enlargement of the European cultural route FORTE CULTURA® to South-East Europe.
The tour is organized by Dr.-Ing Hans-Rudolf Neumann. He is Deputy Chairman of ECCOFORT reg.ass. (European Cooperation Center of Fortified Heritage) and is also a member of ICOMOS Germany. He is a co-founder of the European cultural route of fortified monuments FORTE CULTURA®.
The entire Austro-Hungarian fortification chain in Boka is endangered. Out of a total of 55 fortresses, 33 are preserved and can be upgraded for development, above all cultural tourism. However, Montenegro does not approach its necessary and strategic protection, but even allows for privatization or granting a long-term lease of these cultural heritage objects. The older layers of cultural heritage, when talking about the fortresses, is not in a much better situation. Though they enjoy UNESCO's two-basis protection and are one of the few fortification objects used for tourism purposes, the Kotor walls are not adequately maintained. One of the reasons is the fact that in Montenegro we have very few experts dealing with their protection.
For Arza
"The most logical host to our guests would certainly be the architect Ilija Lalošević, who is an expert on the Kotor walls. But he is unfortunately not in Montenegro," said Aleksandra Kapatanović from the Center for Sustainable Spatial Development 'Expeditio' from Kotor. "Special interest will be shown to the Venetian fortifications as part of the UNESCO World Heritage List, Lastavica island with Mamula fortress, some Austrian-Hungarian fortifications and Fort Kosmač near Budva. Today, they plan to visit the fortifications in Kotor and Herceg Novi. The guests will meet in Kotor with the representatives of the Tourist Organization and the Municipality of Kotor. In Herceg Novi, apart from representatives of Expeditio, guests will be led by amateur researcher Radojica Pavićević who signs the most extensive work about the Austro-Hungarian fortification in Boka- 'Warg. Tomorrow they will visit Luštica and the island of Mamula in the company of architect conservator Katarina Nikolic," explains her colleague Aleksandra Kapetanović. “The last day of this visit is reserved for exploring the fortification of Budva and particularly the fortress Kosmač.“
FORTE CULTURA® was founded between 2012 – 2014 and was the cooperation project of eight European countries of Central Europe. Meanwhile, the culture route consists of more than 30 partners and participants. FORTE CULTURA® presents the „Architectura Militaris“ as unique fortress architecture with its very diverse tourist offers under a uniform brand. Fortified monuments have significant tourist potential, but only a few benefits from that. 80% of the fortified monuments are lesser known, not present on the tourism market, underfinanced and burden the communal budgets.
The FORTE CULTURA project aims to boost new quality into the particular segment of cultural heritage by promoting of the fortified heritage and exchange knowledge about the monuments' protection and their modern utilization.
Although the cultural heritage is so splendid and unique, it faces a common problem concerning inadequate maintenance and utilization of cultural goods. Transnational cooperation can help the regions, in this very context, to capitalize on their cultural heritage for urban, cultural and social development, promote the tourism business and conceptually prepare tourism and monument protection related investment.
The aim is to open the historic fortifications for tourism development and better market them on a European level. FORTE CULTURA® is a leading partner in the European Cultural Heritage Year 2018 and opened the European Fortress Summer on April 24, 2018.
