Korça, the city of the first Albanian school (Mësonjëtorja), could not miss being a part of the Heritage Ateliers organized by Cultural Heritage without Borders – Albania (CHwB Albania).
On October 2, the team of CHwB Albania, assisted by the Creative Unit of the Municipality of Korca, held a Heritage Atelier for children 9 to 14 years old. The children worked, together with parents and teachers, on the paper model of the Babameto House, part of the ‘E Ka Kush E Ka’ children’s series.
During a brief conversation, CHwB Albania staff introduced the children to basic information about cultural heritage, focusing on the cultural monuments of Korca. Shortly after this, they visited the National Museum of Education in Korca. The children were welcomed by the director of the museum, Niko Kotherja. He presented them with this historic building, its importance over the centuries, and the objects in the collection.
After being introduced to the Museum of Education, which is an example of 19th-century architecture in Korca, children began working with the paper model of the Babameto House, which belongs to the same period. In only a short time, the children were able to complete the model successfully.
Heritage Ateliers combine visits to local cultural heritage monuments with practical work. During 2015, 15 Heritage Ateliers have been held in 8 cities in Albania and Kosovo, and 267 children have taken part in them, along with 36 adults—parents or teachers.
The ‘E Ka Kush E Ka’ collection is made up of four booklets for children, 1 puzzle and 1 paper model and aims to familiarize children with the values of cultural heritage and to teach them how to care for it. A core principle of CHwB Albania is that cultural heritage objects are unique and their damage or disappearance is a loss and an irreversible impoverishment. At CHwB Albania, we believe that everyone has the right to enjoy cultural heritage and the responsibility to protect it, in order to deliver it to the next generations.