Brussels, 24 April 2017 – The Conference on the occasion of marking the 20th Anniversary of the Inscription of Trogir on the UNESCO World Heritage List was held today in organisation of MEPs Željana Zovko and Ivana Maletić.
The Mayor of the City of Trogir, Ante Stipčić and the President of the Youth Council of the City of Trogir, Ante Škrobica welcomed more than 70 participants to the Conference. Their introductory speeches were followed by a review of specifics of historical and cultural heritage of Trogir presented by the Director of the Museum of the City of Trogir, Fani Celio Cega, Head of the Conservation Department, Radoslav Buzančić and Head of the Legal Department for EU Funds and Economic Development, Patricia Pavlov. Then, the speakers presented to the participants the Trogir as described by European travel writers from the 19th century, Art and architecture of Split and Trogir from the first half of the 13th century and their universal value on the World Heritage List and the project The Stone Encyclopaedia of Trogir, for which the EU Operating Programme for Competitiveness and Cohesion allocated kn 5.8 mil. for preparation of technical documentation for individual reconstruction of protected cultural sites in the Old Town of Trogir.
MEP Željana Zovko pointed out to importance of valorisation in the European Parliament of the Croatian heritage, which is inscripted on the UNESCO prestige list for increasing the number of tourists in cultural tourism, considering that at the inscripted sites, the number of educated tourists with a higher purchasing power statistically increases by 30%. “What Trogir has to do is to attract more businessmen who do not have time for long trips and to make Trogir and Split more available to such tourists by introducing a direct flight from/to Brussels. In that way, the key decision-makers in the field of tourism shall have easier access to these beauties and to this city-monument.“
MEP Ivana Maletić stressed that the initiative for organising the Conference had actually been launched by the Youth Council of the City of Trogir and the whole idea and organisation strongly supported by the City Council, institutions and civil society, so that the Conference is a marvellous result of the partnership in culture, in addition to its purpose of promoting the cultural and historical values of Trogir and of entire Croatia. “The ideas may be brought into life and projects successfully implemented only if we all act with joint forces.“ – said Maletić. She devoted a special attention in her speech to the project The Stone Encyclopaedia of Trogir. A significant amount of funds shall be required for the project of individual reconstruction of protected cultural sites, which shall start once the technical documentation is completed. In this context, changes in the regulations are very important, which are currently worked on in the European Parliament. “The cultural projects and investments in cultural heritage were limited to EUR 5 mil. or EUR 10 mil. for the sites from the UNESCO list. We succeeded in revoking the limit, what opens a space for stronger funding of the projects similar to the one in Trogir.“ – as of MEP Maletić.
The participants had an opportunity to enjoy the national anthem of the Republic of Croatia “Our Beautiful Homeland“ in interpretation of Joško Ševo, a Croatian theatre, TV and film actor.
After the Conference, a special edition of the show “From the Heart of Europe” was taken, devoted to the visitors from Trogir and the 20th Anniversary of the Inscription of Trogir on the UNESCO World Heritage List.