Herzlich Willkommen

zur Informations-

veranstaltung

1

Welcome!

Pilot seminar

Project THETRIS THEmatic Transnational church Route development

with the Involvement of local Society

30.04.2

014

THETRIS – Our region

- 16 federal states in Germany

-> Saxony: 10 administrative districts

County Meißen & County Nordsachsen

characterized by:

-> beautiful landscape, surrounded by river Elbe

& nature reserves

-> Agriculture (fruits/vegetables/wine)

-> Industry (steel, chemical industries,..)

Church districts of Lutheran church Saxony

760.000 church members

765 parishes

1600 churches and chapels

Source: http://www.evlks.de/landeskirche/kirchgemeinden/index.html#karte

-> Tangible/intangible cultural heritage

- eg. Meissen White gold, Traditional events (eg. Saxon Wine & Fish

catching festivals, harvest festival, …), Personalities

- Unique sacral monuments

-Extraordinary church music (Organ/choirs)

Herzlich Willkommen

zur Informations-

veranstaltung

5

Set up a network of different actors

in order to create a supporting

environment to preserve cultural

heritage and to make the local

church route sustainable

30.04.2

014

Pilot activity in

Saxony

1. Network (Goals/Actors)

2. Regional church route, Map + Stamp system

3. Lessons learnt

4. Additional positive effects/Sustainability

-> set up a network

-> create a bicycle map + stamp

system

THETRIS – Set up a Network

Initial situation: Existing church route with 5 churches (about 40,5 km) Basis for pilot activity

•To preserve cultural heritage by involvement of local actors, members of church & tourism

(local identity)

•To open churches for tourism and to link church with tourist institutions as well as to

create a common working basis

•To gain awareness (church members) for the chances of linking motives of churches and

tourism to inspire more people

•Increase level of awareness for cultural heritage

•Stimulate interest (from inhabitants and tourists) for the sacral heritage of the region -> Open

churches for visitors, which:

follow religious motives would like to “feel” the church as a place of spirit, silence and

meaningful effects

are interested into its history, art and further specialities of the

churches (tangible/intangible cultural heritage)

•To strengthen the touristic section economy (eg offer an incentive to tourists, to stay longer

than one night in this area)

THETRIS – Pilot activity-Goals

1. SG+Selection of actors - 1stmeeting with External experts and associated partner

- Which actors/local networks should be involved (according to decisions, competencies, pilot area…)

2. RWG- Opening - Introduction of project and pilot

- Fixing rules to network (meetings on a regular basis (number of meetings is related to tasks), where are the meetings,

who is coordinating them, goals…)

3. Meetings on a regular basis (8+2) - brain storming according to implementation, presentation of current project status, make decision, partly like workshop

-> according to activities, new members were invited

Actors in the project: about 50

THETRIS – Set up a Network-Steps

3 regionalman

The size of the network depends on the number of actors as well as the (local

and thematic) range of the network and can change during the network

operation.

Specialisation (eg Working Group sign posting, sustainability,…)

SG

RWG

LWG LWG

LWG

F2F

F2F

F2F

F2F

Map+Stamp system

(incl.church route)

Involvement

of residents

THETRIS – Set up a Network/ Involved actors

3 regionalman

Priests/ Parish council

Lutheran church Saxony

Municipalities (Mayors, Building authorities, Press departments, city marketing,..)

Administrative districts (+Experts for bicycle path of the county)

Regional management institutions (LEADER/ILE Areas)

Church Tourism

Experts

Tourist associations Tourist informations

Further (Service provider, Museum,…)

Public authorities

THETRIS – Set up a Network

Connection of existing networks

3 regionalman

Church district Leißnig-Oschatz

Church district Grossenhain/Meissen

Church

Tourism

Administrative district North Saxony

Administrative district Meissen

Generate joint -Activities -Touristic elements -Promotion (internal/external)

To preserve cultural heritage

Church cycle route in numbers: - Length: about 130 km - 5 stages (going by bike:

from a single starting point/ from different destinations)/

different level of difficulty - 26 churches - About 35 sites - 6 different landscapes - 2 bank sides of the river Elbe

THETRIS – Set up a Network: Regional church route+Map

i

i

i

i

i

i

i

Cycling:

sign posting, quality of roads

Bicycle ride:

Route guidance, gastronomy

Bike+Experience Tourism:

Attraction,

History & Culture

Experiences

THETRIS – Route as emotional experience

Selection of the route (according to SWOT, expert for bike-routes of the county, RWGmembers):

- using already existing routes (good passibility, already arranged by communes, suitable for bikers, easier for additional sign posting,.. ) - routes with no more than 2 topics - no well exploited bike paths -> connection to rural areas - no big distances between churches - gastronomy facilities/ service provider in near distance Selection of churches (according to priests, RWGmember):

- Lutheran churches - Churches in rural areas - Churches directly on the route (no long distances) - Open to public/ at least possibility nearby to provide stamp&information -> 26 churches

THETRIS – Pilot activity:

Map of church route combines:

- route and connection to further cycle paths

- list of stages and recommandations for visits

- Level of difficulty/ length,…

- Information about all churches/history/ architecture/contact/ places for stamps

- Tourist information/ contacts (Which local actors are in which place?)/

( Public transport/ ebike stations/ bike rental/ bike services/ gastronomy/

accomodation facilties)

- Project information and connection to international church route

- GPS-datas

Collect -> Get added value

Church Tourist informations

THETRIS – Set up a Network: Regional church route+Map-> Multilingual

Museum

Cultural Events

Guided tours

Regional products

Service provider…

Representative of churches to establish further contacts

THETRIS – Lessons learnt

Time!

Select members of Working Group carefully

Face-to-Face Meetings

Positive (additional) effects of network beside project goals:

- sign posting of the church route (the whole path) with

additional financial sources of communes

- sign posting of churches: 16

(6 financed by church parish Wildenhain)

- engagement of adminitstrative districts +External

experts

- integration into tourism concepts of the region-

additional common promotion activities with

churches +regional managements

(eg Day of the Saxon, Heritage day)

THETRIS – Positive effects

- Creation of an Incentive for tourists and inhabitants, which connects the region and its cultural

heritage as basis for further activities (eg App system, guided tours, link to intangible heritage

(Organ playing), school classes,…)

- Revive the route or parts of it

- More attractiveness of churches and region

- Churches are not only open for church services, visitors can experience religion and culture

of the region by themselve

-> Local identity will be strengthened by the creation of awareness for the highlights of the region

- Gain more visitors by offering concrete tours (rural areas&cultural heritage are more visible and

interesting now) ->additional sales

- Multilingual communication materials -> route can be also experienced by international

guests

THETRIS – Future chances

The historic output of a community, both tangible and intangible, is the foundation

of all cultural routes. The notion of the ‘community’ can be broadly interpreted,

from a local community, to national and the global community. Managing a site on a cultural route on the example of the Wooden Architecture Route in Malopolska

(Anna Franik, Malopolska Tourist Organisation; Consulted by Pawel Mierniczak, Director of MOT)

“This project is implemented through the CENTRAL EUROPE Programme co-financed by the ERDF.”

THETRIS.

Key to the hidden potential of our region!

Thank you!

ZTS GmbH

Jana Barth

Industriestraße A11

01612 Glaubitz

Tel.: 0049 35265 51102

Mail: barth@zts.de