Members of the Ice hockey team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as members of basketball and swimming clubs, paragliders, bikers and street runners, together with the ambassadors of cultural heritage Nihad Cengic, fine art restorer, and Hasan Gušić, champion of Bosnia and Herzegovina in downhill, participated in a workshop held at Isa-bey Hamam in Sarajevo.
This is the second workshop organized by the foundation Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB) in cooperation with Waqf Directorate in this architectural complex as part of the project “Učini svojim!” (“Make It Yours!”).
The aim of the project “Učini svojim!” is to raise awareness among BiH citizens of the importance of cultural heritage as a common wealth, and its universal importance. Participants had the opportunity to listen to a lecture by the prominent restorer Nihad Čengić and assisted in the restoration of this important monument under the supervision of experienced craftspersons. In this symbolic way they contributed to the preservation of Isa-bey Hamam.
“I am honored to be one of the ambassadors of this project, which promotes the importance of preserving the cultural and historical heritage of our country, as this is something that is very important to me personally. People who do not care about their culture, language and traditions or learn about their history, in my opinion, have no future. We owe it to future generations to leave a foundation on which to build and grow as a society. I am especially happy that I am today, at least in a symbolic way, contributing to the preservation of one of the cultural monuments of BiH” said Hasan Gušić, ambassador of Cultural Heritage.
At the workshop Nihad Čengić has delivered the lecture on the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage and the use of traditional technologies.
“Conservation as an activity stems from natural instinct to conserve one’s own existence. The importance of culture is merely the value created in the immovable and moveable creative activity of past generations. It is a value that has already been produced, and we do not, therefore, have to produce it ourselves – it is enough to reproduce this value, for the heritage to become the initial seed from which to generate a basic economy, scientific-historical tourism and suchlike” said ambassador of Cultural Heritage Nihad Čengić following the lecture.
The project “Učini svojim!” will be implemented through 2014 and 2015 via a series of activities aimed toward different stakeholders, in order to increase a sense of belonging (connection) cultural heritage and exercise space in order to open dialogue on heritage, culture and identity. “Učini svojim!” is funded by the European Union under the Sarajevo 2014 program for the marking of the hundred years from the beginning of WWI. The aim of this program is to spread the message of peace, reconciliation and solidarity from Sarajevo to the whole world.