In 2021, the Historical Centre of Turaida was awarded the European Heritage Label. Since 2013, 67 sites in Europe have been awarded the label – large and small, rural, and urban, well-known, and less well-known, in the mountains and in the sea. All these sites share a European dimension – values that are intrinsic to each site, and yet common to Europe as a whole.
Recognition of Cultural and Historical Heritage
The following text is inscribed on the sign of the Turaida Museum Reserve:
“The Historical Centre of Turaida is a place that represents the interaction of different cultures and a multi-faceted process of Europeanisation over a period of a thousand years. It is a place that expressed non-violent resistance in the “Singing Revolution”, representing European values – freedom, democracy, and human rights.
The Historical centre of Turaida is inscribed on the European Heritage List for its important role in European history and culture. Europe starts here!”
In 2019, the first European Heritage Label in Latvia was awarded to the Three Brothers Complex in Riga for the role of cultural heritage institutions in preserving a wide range of cultural assets, especially in the context of difficult and protracted political conflict.
The objectives of the European Heritage Label are to strengthen the European citizens’ sense, in particular young people, of belonging to the European Union (EU), mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue, based on the common values and elements of Europe’s historical and cultural heritage, as well as on the understanding of national and regional diversity.
The label provides European citizens with new opportunities to understand their common, yet different cultural heritage. The European Heritage Label is awarded to sites of great symbolic European value, and which represent the shared history of Europe and the creation of the EU, as well as the European values and human rights at the heart of the European integration process.
One of the major benefits of awarding the label to the objects is the opportunity to participate in networking events, which are intended for the objects that have received the label.
All site managers are invited to participate in the annual conference to facilitate the exchange of experience and learning from fellow members, as well as to create favorable conditions for starting joint projects. Sites awarded the label do not receive direct funding from the EU budget, however, they can apply for support from other European Union programs.
Photo gallery
Unveiling of the European Heritage Label
Photo: Agris Tabaks
