HERritage and CULture: Exploring, Sharing and preserving the hidden treasures of European cultural heritage Erasmus Project

Project Title

HERritage and CULture: Exploring, Sharing and preserving the hidden treasures of European cultural heritage

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Regional dimension and cooperation; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage

Project Summary

The project “HERCULES- HERitage and CULture: Exploring, Sharing and preserving the hidden treasures of Europe” – invited our students, teachers as well as residents and institutions of 6 European countries into international dialogue about the values ​​that we, as communities, recognize in the context of cultural heritage.

The project was inspired by the declaration of 2018 as the European Year of Cultural Heritage and support from the managements of our schools to hold international strategic partnerships that would provide new educational opportunities in three basic areas: strengthening language learning and acquiring new competences, supporting the European dimension and strengthening the teaching profile of teachers.

We were working on 6 main topics: Natural heritage, Cultural heritage hidden in the language, Crafts, folklore and architecture, Traditional symbols, motifs in Art Legends, fairy tales and myths and Proheritage – preservation and sustainability of CH.
Project teams conducted activities that enabled our students to discover, understand, value cultural heritage and become tolerant of the culture and cultural expressions of other nations.
Holding 6 international short-term student exchanges and many local and regional activities our students learned about a wide range of cultural heritage, participated in various research and studies with regional institutions responsible for preserving and sustaining the cultural heritage of their regions. Conducting and completing the tasks of the project they created various presentation materials, which they transformed into 6 main outputs of the project:
1. The HERCULES project website, which includes a detailed picture of the course and documents the activities of the project and contains all the outputs of students within 6 project topics
2. Recipe book of traditional dishes
3. CLIL lesson plans with focus on Cultural Heritage
4. Hercules game – online activities
5. A documentary film “Unique Crafts of Europe”
6. Collection of legends and quizzes
These can continue to be used in education by teachers and students of partner schools, other schools in the region who show interest, either during regular classes of English, History, Geography, Art/ Culture or as inspiration for further work in the field of cultural heritage preservation.

We consider the main benefit of the project to be that our students value CH more thanks to the knowledge and understanding of the cultural heritage of their region and the regions of the partner countries. By respecting CH more, they want to take more care of it. By becoming more interested in it, discovering and studying it, carrying out their ideas, creativity in this area, they proposed ideas how they themselves can contribute to its preservation and sustainability and enjoyed the results of their work. The enthusiasm and pleasure came, the desire to understand even more the values ​​that previous generations have upheld for us, our and future generations. They went from learning to creating and implementing their own ideas.
From the beginning, we offered activities that developed understanding and tolerance, which helped to positively perceive the diversity and similarities between the cultures of our countries, supported the recognition of common values, but also tolerance of differences, equality, anti-discrimination.
The richness and diversity of cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, places associated with CH, various manifestations provided ample opportunities to use traditional but also innovative, collaborative and integrated educational approaches, thus supporting the expansion of traditional repertoire of educational activities and non-formal education in our schools.
According to the “Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”, the aim is to improve the quality and efficiency of education and training.
An integral part of the project was the use and development of competencies of students and teachers in the field of language learning, digital competences, support for creativity, independence and self-realization of individuals, development of the competence to work in a team and reflect on their own creation and group dynamics.
Cultural heritage is all around us: in our cities, nature and archaeological sites. We find it not only in literature, art or objects, but also in craft skills, stories, gastronomy, music and film.
It unites us in its diversity. Thanks to technology and the Internet, we have better access to it than ever before. Seeing and experiencing all these phenomena, even in other countries, is still a more intense experience.
That is why we tend to visit other regions, we love traditional tastes and admire typical products of folk culture, crafts, architectural monuments. If we combine such experiences with learning, using foreign language skills, getting to know peers from other countries, it is again another more aspiring level.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 173508,39 Eur

Project Coordinator

Gymnázium Antona Bernoláka & Country: SK

Project Partners

• Kauno taikomosios dailes mokykla
• Lykeio Agiou Spyridona
• Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace im. Stefana Zeromskiego w Bartoszycach
• Vasil Levski Secondary School
• Agrupamento de escolas Carolina Michaëlis