AN2 project - Trainings for tourist guides by INP / NIH

May 2020

The National Institute of Heritage completed an important activity from the comprehensive research, educational and promotion components of the ART NOUVEAU2 project: The Art Nouveau heritage interpretation course for tourism guides & stakeholders.

The training is part of a series of activities dedicated to the larger scope to professionalize and streamline the touristic promotion of the Art Nouveau heritage. Therefore, the trainings for tourism guides aimed to increase the level of knowledge and awareness of the Art Nouveau heritage among people in the tourism sector, so that they develop their skills in interpreting the Art Nouveau heritage and presenting it to public in a way that is both fair and attractive.

The 6 hours long multidisciplinary Art Nouveau heritage interpretation course took place on May 9, 2022, online, and brought together – as lecturers - specialists in cultural heritage, art history, architecture, economy and tourism. On the other side, amongst the participants and beneficiaries of the course were tour guides and other relevant specialists at local, regional and national level (eg. representatives of tour-operating travel agencies, destination management organizations, tour operators, etc.).

The training was structured into 4 seminars, to which were added a short introduction regarding the necessity of the course and the context of its organization, respectively a final session, dedicated to the interpretation of the Art Nouveau heritage. Accompanied by supporting materials (written + graphic content), the lectures were interactive, with theoretical knowledge supported by examples and case studies and included, at the end, question and answer sessions.

The four seminars of the course covered the following topics:

Introduction – Characteristics of the Art Nouveau heritage

The emergence and evolution of the Art Nouveau trend in the European space
Representative stylistic features in architecture and decorative arts
Features of the Art Nouveau style in Europe
Characteristics of the Art Nouveau style in Central Europe - the search for a universal and/or national style (Vienna and Otto Wagner, Budapest and Ödön Lechner)

Art Nouveau heritage in Romania

Art Nouveau in Transylvania
Art Nouveau in the Romanian Countries
A special case - the Neo-Romanian Style

Art Nouveau heritage in 3 representative cities in Romania - case studies (Arad, Brașov, Constanța)
Art Nouveau heritage in Timisoara – European cultural capital in 2023

The course ended with a short lecture regarding heritage interpretation, emphasizing its principles, values and tools. Topics such as the interpretation of Art Nouveau buildings for different categories of public, the integration of themes that complement architectural information (difficult themes such as the traumas of the Holocaust and communism, aspects of social inclusion policies over time, the role of densification in urban spaces) were addressed, but also was brought into discussion how to create interpretive experiences at heritage sites, with an accent on the role of the tourist guide.

Funds for the implementation were provided from the IPA funds of the European Union.