Revitalising and promoting tourism at cultural sites in Serbia

At the beginning of 2022, the Ministry of Culture's International Cultural Expertise Mission mobilised the CMN Institut to set up a partnership of European cultural players. The intention was on the part of Serbia, which was looking for help in terms of cultural engineering in order to set up a programme to promote cultural heritage as part of the "Castles of Serbia - protection of cultural heritage" project. There are a number of partner institutions, including the French and Serbian Ministries of Culture and the Serbian National Heritage Institute. Another party involved in this cooperation is the German Agency for International Development Cooperation (GIZ), which is making a financial contribution to Serbia's cultural development.

In order to carry out this mission, the CMN Institut has mobilised 2 experts: a state urban planning architect and an administrator of heritage sites and monuments. The expertise was carried out in several meetings:

• An initial three-day mission (November 2022), which enabled the experts to meet their Serbian partners and establish initial contacts with some of the sites involved in the project.
• A second ten-day mission (December 2022) to the Vojvodina region, which enabled the experts to carry out an assessment of all the sites involved in the project.

The final stage of this mission is the submission of a mission report to the Serbian partners and authorities. It will take the form of an action plan designed to propose initiatives that will enable the twenty or so castles, villas and monuments concerned to be included on tourist circuits, as well as being taken care of in terms of restoration.

This project is an exceptional opportunity for both parties to strengthen mutual cooperation through the exchange of experience in the protection of cultural heritage, which will help to improve the overall bilateral relations between the two countries.