The Covid-19 crisis confronted all of us with unfamiliar challenges that changed our natural way of communication and behavior, as well as taught us how to rearrange our priorities in order to live in the new normal. Before that period, no one would have ever imagined that a project partners meeting would provoke such euphoria and empathy.

On 15 and 16 September 2021 - a year after the start of the ISTER project - participants from the ISTER consortium had the opportunity to meet in the beautiful Romanian city of Alba Iulia, where the municipality of Alba Iulia (ISTER project partner) was host of the hybrid event (physical and online).

The vision of the organizers to turn the event into an ISTER thematically related experience was evident from the well thought out two-day program. The community involvement and a welcome speech by the mayor of Alba Iulia Municipality Mr. Gabriel Pleşa, demonstrated the traditional Romanian hospitality, as well as the good work of the whole team.

Analysis of the state of the project

The event had multiple aims, comprising a transnational training and capacity building workshop for PPs (on day one), the capitalization of the annual ISTER results and the official launching of the ISTER IBP Awards (on day two).

On the first day of the event, the ISTER team also visited Roman sites from the Alba Carolina Citadel, the largest fortress in Romania.

The actual city of Alba Iulia rises above the ruins of the ancient Apulum, the largest Roman city in the province of Dacia and, at the same time, its political, economic, military and cultural center. The traces of the Apulum Castrum are part of the „European Cultural Route of the Roman Emperors and Wine along the Danube”.

A section of the event was dedicated to several bilateral discussions between Work Package leaders and project partners. It was once again highlighted that the ISTER project is not only looking for tourism development, but also regarding opportunities for local communities to rediscover and exploit their history in a sustainable way.

At the end of the event, the partners were satisfied with the clear instructions and training materials received for the upcoming Local Capacity Building Workshops, as well as with the resolving of issues related to further project implementation. All of them were grateful for the first physical meeting of the ISTER consortium, even if it was held a year after the start of the project.