The website has been developed since the 15th edition (2018) of the World Congress of the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC), to which Krakow belongs since 1995, as an important tool supporting the integrated management of the city’s heritage.
In its assumption, the website is to integrate content scattered so far in various parts of the web, constituting – as its creator informs – a virtual gateway to Krakow’s heritage: both for Krakow residents with longer experience, who are still able to be surprised by the city’s history, and for those who are just beginning their adventure with the city – as its new inhabitants or as active tourists. In addition, it is intended to serve as an informative guide to specific support programs, heritage institutions and organizations, or heritage protection and conservation issues.
The website captures heritage very broadly, meeting the changes in its perception. It is part of a reflection that treats the past as a building block of the present – not only in the dimension of architecture of different eras, but also of the people who fill this space with their work and daily habits, determining the authenticity and uniqueness of a place. It has been divided into two main sections: one devoted to tangible heritage, arranged in classic chronological order, and the other to intangible heritage introducing the achievements of Krakow in seven areas of human creativity by the UNESCO classification – from literature and music to design and gastronomy. Krakow Heritage also includes a blog dedicated to current topics reflecting on the city’s heritage and a section informing about international organizations and networks devoted to the heritage preservation and management to which Krakow belongs. Among a dozen of them, we can find a description of Krakow’s activity in the Europa Nostra. A special expression of this was the decision to establish the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub in Krakow – the organization’s first regional organizational and advisory center for Central and Eastern Europe.
The Krakow Heritage website will also report on the most important events related to this year’s jubilee. Kraków has been celebrating the 45th anniversary of its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List since the beginning of the year. The Krakow Heritage Hub is actively involved in the organization of the main celebrations, which will culminate on September 7-8.
Details coming soon.