Spring School Heritage Horizons 2025

Spring School Heritage Horizons 2025 – From Division to Dialogue

The Spring School Heritage Horizons 2025 is an innovative academic project dedicated to fostering cross-border collaboration in the field of cultural heritage studies. Funded by the Erasmus+ KA 131 Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) of the European Union, this initiative united partners from Germany, Serbia, Romania, and Poland to explore the intricate dynamics of shared heritage using the example of the Banat region and its neighbouring areas. The program examines how historical border shifts have shaped the preservation, reinterpretation, and cultural policies surrounding monuments and sites.

Spearheaded by the Chair for Heritage Studies, Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences, European University Viadrina (Germany), and hosted by the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade (Serbia), the eight-day program received invaluable support from esteemed institutions such as the National Museum of Serbia and the Museum of Science and Technology in Belgrade.

A Borderland Perspective

At the helm of this project, Viadrina’s Chair for Heritage Studies views shared heritage as a bridge across divided landscapes. This perspective is deeply shaped by the Chair’s location on the German-Polish border in Frankfurt (Oder) — a dynamic region where borders have shifted dramatically over the centuries, weaving a complex tapestry of layered cultural landscapes. From this vantage point, the Chair bridges divides, scrutinises the impacts of fluid frontiers on cultural assets, and advocates transnational preservation strategies that respect diverse claims.

By encouraging dialogue across ethnic and national lines, it seeks to enhance understanding of intertwined histories, support sustainable heritage management, and highlight the role of communities in valuing shared legacies. Heritage here is understood not only as a record of the past but also as a resource for dialogue, development, and reconciliation.

A Global Perspective

The 2025 edition of the Spring School Heritage Horizons gathered 23 students from Armenia, France, Germany, Japan, Palestine, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Uganda, and Vietnam, creating a vibrant, multicultural cohort that enriched discussions and exemplified the project's commitment to global perspectives on shared heritage.

An international team of experts and researchers joined forces to design and deliver a thematically diverse and hands-on program. This included: Prof. Dr. Paul Zalewski, PD Dr. Izabella Parowicz and Robert Seke, M.A. (Chair for Heritage Studies, European University Viadrina, Germany); Prof. Dr. Milica Božić Marojević and Prof. Dr. Milan Popadić (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Serbia); Prof. Dr. Cristian Blidariu, Prof. Dr. Gabriela Domokos-Pașcu, and Prof. Dr. Bogdan Demetrescu (Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Polytechnic University of Timișoara, Romania); and Prof. Dr. Piotr Stec (Faculty of Law and Administration, Opole University, Poland).

Spring School Heritage Horizons 2025 group photo

Participants of Heritage Horizons 2025 on Vršac Hill

Unveiling Layers – From Webinar to Wanderlust

The project launched with a virtual webinar, illuminating shared heritage across Europe's diverse landscapes – from the Eastern Polish borderlands and the Polish-German frontier to Croatia and the historic Banat, the program's focal heartland. The webinar featured lecturers and experts from various institutions: Prof. Dr. Barbara Murovec (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut), Prof. Dr. Dragan Damjanović (University of Zagreb), Dr. Robert Born (Federal Institute for Culture and History of Eastern Europe, Oldenburg), Prof. Dr. Mirosław Kruk (University of Gdańsk), alongside the two host-lecturers from the European University Viadrina, Prof. Dr. Paul Zalewski and Robert Seke M.A.

The opening ceremony of the in-person phase of the program took place in the atrium of the National Museum of Serbia, featuring a welcome address by Dr. Ivana Lemkul, curator of the museum’s Medieval Department. The program then unfolded over eight intensive days, including lectures and site visits in Belgrade, Vršac, Subotica, Timișoara (Romania), and Szeged (Hungary), where students explored museums and architectural landmarks ranging from medieval fortifications to Fin-de-Siècle Art Nouveau treasures.

Students worked collaboratively in four groups, each focusing on a distinct theme: style and materiality, interconnectedness, visibility of different groups, and the use and reuse of monuments. Their findings culminated in online group presentations, hosted on this website.

Opening Ceremony of Spring School Heritage Horizons 2025

Shared Heritage as a Common Good

At its essence, Spring School Heritage Horizons 2025 celebrates shared cultural heritage as a vital tool for rapprochement and cultural integration in fractured historical landscapes. The project promotes collaborative approaches to sites with overlapping cultural claims, aiming to raise awareness, deepen understanding, and encourage the conservation of built heritage in border regions and areas of historical transition.

This vision contributes to wider debates on heritage as a common good, enabling communities to confront contested pasts and co-create narratives that move beyond narrow national frameworks. In doing so, it strengthens resilience against misuse, misinterpretation, and neglect.

The school’s mission resonates with international frameworks, most notably the Council of Europe’s Faro Convention (2005), which recognises cultural heritage as a shared source of remembrance, identity, cohesion, and creativity, as well as the foundation of peaceful, democratic societies.¹ It also aligns with ICOMOS’s International Scientific Committee on Shared Built Heritage (SBH), which advocates for the protection of shared heritage shaped over time by diverse cultures, civilisations, and religious traditions.²

¹ Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society, Faro, 27.X.2005, Article 3
² https://sbh.icomos.org/

Topics

Materiality and Style

Architecture serves as a powerful medium for expressing cultural values, power structures, and collective identity through material choices, design elements, and stylistic decisions. This study explores how architectural forms and ornamentation reflect the interplay of aesthetics, ideology, tradition, and modernity in ethnically diverse urban spaces. By analyzing building materials, style, and symbolic expressions, it reveals the deeper relationships between architecture and the socio-cultural dynamics of two distinct cities.

Visibility of Different Groups

In Europe's multi-ethnic and multi-religious regions, due to historical forces like migration, assimilation, demographic and political shifts, the traces of certain communities are often marginalised in urban landscapes.This erasure manifests in the selective preservation of physical heritage, such as religious buildings and public monuments, which alters the presence of groups in public memory and influences modern identity politics and city branding. By examining the visibility of ethnic and religious traces in three cities—Subotica, Timișoara, and Szeged —this study proposes ways to reconstitute and reintegrate these heritages into modern society across these cities.

Interconnectedness

Vršac’s landscape is dominated by the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Gerard, the Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas, and the Vršac Fortress, raising questions about their interconnectedness and contribution to a cohesive urban identity. While the churches’ distinct architectural styles and cultural histories create visual competition, the fortress, standing aloft on the hill, offers a unifying perspective that diminishes their contrast. By analyzing their positions within the urban matrix and their relationship to the broader landscape, this study explores how these landmarks shape the identity of the city.

Use and Reuse

The adaptive use and reuse of historic buildings is a growing global practice to preserve cultural heritage while promoting sustainable urban development. In Serbia, structures like the National Museum of Serbia, Vršac Tower, and Princess Ljubica’s Residence exemplify this trend, balancing historical value with modern functionality. However, poorly executed projects risk contradicting their initial goals, potentially wasting resources and sparking criticism. This study examines these landmarks across two cities to highlight their adaptive reuse and its impact on urban identity and sustainability.