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For this episode of Heritage Hour we are in Nowa Huta – the industrialised, socialist-realist city established in the late 1940s, acting as a proletarian counterweight to the seemingly snobbish and intellectual city of Kraków. Over seven decades later, and Nowa Huta’s sprawling steelworks have all but disappeared, the district is one of the greenest in Kraków, and new challenges await. While the city is on the Polish historical monuments register (designated as a pomnik historii), it now has a chance to promote itself further by applying to UNESCO. But is such a heritage label what Nowa Huta really wants, or needs?

Let me tell you a story… The Europa Nostra Kraków Heritage Hub launches the Narrative Heritage Network, an line platform for the exchange of ideas in heritage storytelling. On 16 December 2025 the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub in Kraków launched the Narrative Heritage Network, an online platform which aims to bring together heritage practitioners in the broad field of storytelling.

The tradition of basketry in Poland has been inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The official announcement took place on 10 December 2025, during a UNESCO conference in New Delhi.

In this episode of Holistic Heritage, we open our ears to the sounds of heritage. Is sound heritage? Sound is inherent to every building, every object. A wind which whistles its way through a church door, the bustle of people on a market square, the echo inside a church or even farm machinery harvesting the year’s crops…

We’re launching a new initiative! We warmly invite you to the inaugural meeting of the Narrative Heritage Network on Tuesday, 16 December at 12:00 CET, to be held online. In creating this new discussion platform, we aim to unite people involved in storytelling on a daily basis—museum staff, non-governmental organisations and cultural institutions, artists, and outreach professionals—to exchange experiences, engage in discussions on current challenges and share best practices.

Applications for the European Heritage Hub are open until 19th December for best local practices that support the green, social, and digital transformation in cultural heritage! The programme is targeted at municipal and regional institutions, with the most inspiring projects being promoted and having the opportunity to participate in a specially organised study visit and online workshops. We warmly encourage you to apply!

The third and final workshop session on audio applications in heritage took place on a wet and windy Monday, 17 November 2025. Participants of the Kraków Heritage Forum were trained in the art of audio editing and basic mixing, working with sounds that each group had recorded during the previous session.

In this episode of Holistic Heritage, we look at ongoing negotiations between preserving the old and allowing new architecture in World Heritage Cities. The implementation of new architecture in World Heritage City Areas is a challenge. What is allowed and what needs to be negotiated? What is the range and limit of these negotiations? Isn’t it better to build new somewhere else, leaving protected areas as they are?

Despite a rainy and cold Monday, 3rd November, we were warmly welcomed by the International Cultural Centre in Kraków, where the next meeting of the Kraków Heritage Forum took place. During the event, we continued the series of workshops initiated in October dedicated to the sounds of heritage and the art of storytelling. The sessions were led by John Beauchamp, a sound producer and communication specialist at Europa Nostra Heritage Hub in Kraków.

On Wednesday, 29 October, during this year’s Małopolska Heritage Protection Forum, the award ceremony for the Małopolska Days of Cultural Heritage took place, where the Europe Nostra / European Heritage Award 2025 was presented. The award, in the form of a bronze plaque, was presented to the Director of the Małopolska Institute of Culture Tomasz Włodarski, by Prof. Jacek Purchla, Vice-President of Europe Nostra and Chairman of the Europe Nostra Awards Jury, along with Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik, Board Member of Europe Nostra. The event was held at the Polish Aviation Museum in Kraków and was also attended by Dr Katarzyna Jagodzińska, Head of the Europe Nostra Heritage Hub in Kraków.

The Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum is celebrating its 25th anniversary! In the latest episode of “Holistic Heritage”, Dr Katarzyna Jagodzińska visits one of the most extraordinary places specially created for modern and contemporary art in the 21st century in Central Europe. She examines how it has been embedded in this remarkable natural and cultural landscape. Her guide is Michaela Šimonová, who shares the history and architecture of this Danubian gem.

“Cultural Heritage Matters for Europe” is the theme of the European Cultural Heritage Summit 2025, taking place in Brussels from 12 to 15 October. This year’s edition holds particular significance as it precedes the publication of the European Commission’s first-ever “Cultural Compass for the Future of Europe”. This included showcasing the achievements of the 30 winners of the 2025 European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards. Among those honoured at the ceremony held in Flagey – a stunning Art Deco building in Brussels – were five projects from Central Europe.