Behind the curtain: Facts worth knowing about project HERMES

By: Katarzyna Fortuna, Radio Krakow

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Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Germany, Italy and Greece participate in a common project of the European Union Hermes. The project is a part of the European Commission program Interreg III, aiming in a cooperation between Europe's regions. The main purposes of this project are joining the cultural heritage with new medias, creating an international internet radio, introducing informatics to the museums, education and tourism. Weather this is realizable and how the ideas are beeing put into practice tells Dr. Burkhart Kolbmueller, coordinator of the project from the Weimarer Klassik Foundation.

Burkhart Kolbmueller: Certainly, working with so many partners isn't easy for a coordinator, who has to visit all the countries. However I am really glad we succeeded in finding eight partners, for each of them contirbutes something completely different. This makes it like a mosaic, a situation much more complex than when there are just three or four countries. Gripping are also some new conceptions of adopting the cultural heritage, for example a virtual model of the roman Boyan church in Bulgary or the Greek Argonauts Museum in form of a multimedia reconstruction of the ships and route of argonauts who followed Jazon on a search of the Golden Fleece. The cooperation runs really smoothly and I think will bring new projcts and ideas in future.

Agnieszka Szewczyk: Malopolski Instytut Kulturalny above all deals with the cultural heritage of Maloplska. We mostly work outside of Cracow and are concerned with beautiful sites, that are worth seeing but less known because of their location remote from touristic paths. It may be seemingly irrelevant to the subject of cultural heritage, but is not. We've just chosen 2 such sites in Malopolska, that we would like to work on within Hermes project. One of them is a manor in DoÅ,Ä?ga near Tarnow, the other a Beekeeping Scansen Museum called Bartnik in Strozy near Gorlice.

Katarzyna Fortuna: And what are you going to do there?

A.S. We are one of the partners acting within a so-called "museum-working" group. It means that we focus on museums and intrducing new technologies and new medias in order to attract new, larger public. Polish and foreign tourists, young people, those who don't visit museums too often and those who know them already and wish to approach something new.

K.F. Somehow I find it difficult to picture new technologies in a place like a Beekeeping Scansen Museum.

A.S. That is a sort of place to display creativity and a whole range of ideas. Modern technologies can be applied for instance in a multimedia presentation showing the life of bees. That would be something interactive children could learn something more than a customary knowledge about the bees' culture as well as their parents. Moreover the skansen museum may popularize the knowledge about the region, in reference to the heritage of this area, tell about the community. It will also present the meeting of cultures in this region, for around Gorlice cultures do meet, Polish, Jewish and Lemks'.

Sebastian Vogt: On the internet radio website there are not only to be found the informations on cultural heritage and events. It will be possible to listen to several European radio stations and music. We offer also a discussion forum and the pssibility to exchange experiences.

Sebastian Schroeder: There's going to be a lot of interesting information from various regions, various countries about the projects relating to the cultural heritage. The very first propositions are already interessting and I think all this will develope pretty well. I belive it will be not only a succes of Hermes project but of Europe generally.

My name is Lucia Tarbajowska, I am from Slovakia. I work for the Slovak National Radio, which has 3 programmes. The first are mainly information and actual journal reviews. Second one is called Radio Devin and is concerned mostly with culture, we talk about contemporary world and Slovak litterature, art and theatre. The third programme is a regional one it covers for example Bratislava and Kosice. This programme focuses on the information from the region and joural reviews.

K.F. What is the role of the Slovak radio in Hermes project?

L.T. I find it a marvellous project for it combines different nationalities and different types of mentality. I am the person responsible for the international contacts and I think this project has a huge meaning to the listeners, who will be able to compare the news published on the website and listen to the internet radio and stations from all over Europe. We'll be able to tell what is going on at our neighbours, Poles, Hungarians, and generally around the world.

K.F. I suppose that the use of new technologies, new media may attract young people who are less and less drawn to the museums or scansen museums.

A.S. Yes, maybe because the young are modern and do with completely different means of communication than older people do. To them new media are necessary in life. That is why they are not interessted inthe traditional ways of visiting museums. However a computer presentation with a touchscreen or a strategygame or a open air presentation: light, sound or something in that kind, wuold surely be more attractive to them.

Audiofile: Listen to the interview with Burkhard Kolbmüller and Agnieszka Szewczyk