Euromed Heritage

Promotes cultural dialogue and caring about the Mediterranean’s heritage, through preservation and raising awareness

Budget €40 million (MEDA)
Timeframe 2002-2008
Participating Countries Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey

Objectives

It aims at supporting the Mediterranean Partner Countries in their efforts to promote and care for their heritage. Euromed Heritage I was launched in 1998 to document Mediterranean heritage, promote high quality tourism and encourage networking between cultural bodies. It has been followed up by Euromed Heritage II and III, with a total of 15 projects to promote cultural dialogue through a more thematic approach and by placing particular emphasis on preserving cultural heritage.

What does it do?

Euromed Heritage III carried out four projects, namely Discover Islamic Art, Rehabimed, Qantara, Byzantium Early Islam, aiming at promoting the Mediterranean’s cultural heritage, increasing knowledge and the rehabilitation of its architecture. Euromed Heritage II ended in 2006.

Since its inception, the programme helped establish an inventory of historical sites and cultural institutions, as well as promoting tourism, it provided technical assistance and improved knowledge of heritage through multimedia, information dissemination, awareness programmes, and by creating a compendium of know-how, methodology and techniques. It also did training related to heritage and cultural activities.

What's next?

The phase IV, under the ENPI framework with a budget of € 17 M was launched beginning 2008. As defined by the Mediterranean partners in the strategy paper, the new programme will be centred on the appropriation of cultural heritage by the population themselves and on education and access to knowledge of cultural heritage.

The projects selected following the call for proposals will be implemented during a period of maximum 4 years.

Website http://www.euromedheritage.net/

Actions in brief
Created a network of 156 museums, cultural institutions, universities, NGOs.
Promotes cultural dialogue through 49 exhibitions and festivals, 17 workshops, Info Days, 18 short films.
Carries out 69 research programmes on preserving the Mediterranean's tangible and intangible heritage, leading to 146 publications.
Facilitates 131 training courses and 21 conferences on Architecture, Archaeology / Prehistory, Maritime Heritage, Cultural Tourism, Low and High Technology, Labels, Norms, Arts & Crafts, Music, Oral History.
Involves journalists through an annual Euromed Heritage Journalism Award.
Conceives and publishes a "Strategy for the Development of Euro-Mediterranean Cultural Heritage: Priorities from Mediterranean countries".

Since 1998 the Euromed Heritage regional programme has committed a total of 57 million euros to fund partnerships between conservation experts and heritage institutions from the countries of the Mediterranean region. Almost 400 partners from the Member States of the European Union and MEDA countries (Algeria, Palestinian Authority, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey) have benefited from the Programme during its past phases:

Euromed Heritage 4
Euromed Heritage 4 represents a further milestone in the process of recognizing 'culture' as a catalyst for mutual understanding between the people of the Mediterranean region. Today embedded in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and with a budget of 17 million euros, Euromed Heritage 4 (2008-2012) intends to facilitate the appropriation by people of their own national and regional cultural legacy through easier access to education and knowledge on cultural heritage.

To meet this goal, a number of projects are funded for a three-year period. Each project brings together a leading organization and various partners from both the European Union and Mediterranean Partner Countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria and Tunisia.

Euromed Heritage 4 offers to selected projects a framework for exchanges of experience, channels for disseminating best practices as well as new perspectives for the development of the cultural institutional environment at national and regional levels.

Euromed Heritage III (2004-2008)
The main goal was the increasing of Mediterranean countries’ capacities in managing and developing their cultural heritage with a special focus on intangible heritage. It was an extension of the previous phase and included four projects:

Discover Islamic Art, Rehabimed, Qantara, Byzantium Early Islam.

Euromed Heritage II (2002-2007)
The main goal was the increasing of Mediterranean countries’ capacities in managing and developing their cultural heritage with a special focus on intangible heritage.

Projects included within this phase are:

Delta, Prodecom, Filières Innovantes, La Navigation du Savoir, Mediterranean Voices, Medimuses, Temper, Patrimoines Partagés, Ikonos, Unimed Cultural Heritage II, Defence Systems in the Mediterranean Coasts.

Read the Final Evaluation on EH II (pdf 453 Kb) carried out in 2006.

Euromed Heritage I (1998-2004)
The main goal was the creation of heritage inventories and facilitation of networking between museums and other cultural institutions.

Projects included within this phase are:

Corpus, Corpus Levant, Euromediterranean Heritage Days, Expo 2000, Fêtes du Soleil, Ipamed, Maghreb Heritage Training Courses I/II, Manumed, Museomed, Islamic Art in the Mediterranean I/II, Pisa, Rias, Salambo, Unimed Audit, Unimed Herit, Unimed Symposium, Saving Cultural Heritage Exhibition, Encyclopedia of the Mediterranean.

Read the Final Evaluation on EH I carried out in 2004