Tiles – A Cultural Journey from the Past to the Future Erasmus Project

Project Title

Tiles – A Cultural Journey from the Past to the Future

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; Social dialogue; Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage

Project Summary

Our project aims to raise awareness for the tile as an artform and common cultural heritage connecting people in Europe and beyond.

The tile has been an art and craft building material for centuries, introduced to Europe through the moorish expansion into southern Spain. European craftsmen picked on this decorative element and have used it for embellishing private and public and religious buildings ever since.

This project is motivated not only by the idea to explore and trace the origin of this delicate and yet enduring visual form of art but also to cross-fertilise content and shapes to ensure a lasting legacy for future generations.

Being a secondary school located in a late medieval castle in the north of Germany, staff and students are aware and involved with historical building substance on a daily basis. Realschule Schloss Dornum has also twice been awarded the label Schule:Kultur! – a label awarded to schools in lower Saxony which have impressed with cultural projects.

We aim to improve motoric skills through art worshops such as drawing and photography. Photography will be an integral part of the project as we are working towards a digitalisation of our findings as well as documenting our new creations resulting from joining Portuguese and Fresian/Dutch types of tiles. Documentary writing as well as creative writing will accompany the project. Furthermore it is our aim to develop the students’ communication competence and deepen English language skills.

The combination of the planned activities will broaden the students’ understanding of the diversity and yet common elements of European heritage and culture. As concrete visual and tangible result we will create a portfolio of tile’s shapes, motifs, colours and styles in each partnering school during our visits. This portfolio will be growing and increasing during it’s journey through Europe – from Turkey via Portugal and Northern Germany towards Lithuania – and will be a lasting document of our process showing not only historical elements but also the re-creation of entirely new shapes and styles inspired by the traditional tile thus creating innovative content connectIng and strengthening modern Europe.

On the other hand, the participants will not only collect and document the richness of motifs and shapes of tiles, but also explore the stories connected with single places, homes or even singular tiles. Equipped with cameras, they collect and document the relation between the artefact and the people – maybe in their home, in a church or wherever. Probably the participants will find a lot of stories connected with local history in their interviews and photo shootings.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 157599 Eur

Project Coordinator

Realschule Dornum & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Gimnazija Pozega
• Agrupamento de Escolas de José Relvas Alpiarça
• Vilniaus savivaldybes Grigiskiu gimnazija
• Necmi Asfuroglu Anadolu Lisesi