Around 40 cultural workers from throughout Bosnia & Herzegovina participated in the workshop held on 18th September 2014 in the area of Isa-bey Hamam in Sarajevo, and through various activities contributed to the preservation and restoration of the oldest public baths in Sarajevo. The workshop was realized by the Foundation Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB) in collaboration with the Bosniac Institute – Foundation Adil Zulfikarpašić and the Vakuf Authority within the project “Make it Yours!”, funded by the EU.
The project “Make it Yours!” aims to raise awareness amongst citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina of the importance of cultural heritage as a common wealth, as well as to provide a space in which to open dialogues on heritage, culture and identity. The project “Make it Yours!” has already been realized on the territories of Kosovo and Albania.
At the workshops for cultural workers were held lectures by local restorers and conservators Nihad Čengić and prof. Dr. Ćazim Hadžimejlić, whose works are found in some of the most important galleries, museums, private collections and objects of cultural heritage in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad. With the help of an artisan, who has for months been working on the restoration of Isa-bey Hamam, workshop participants, after the lecture, symbolically participated in plastering facades and interior walls, thus contributing to the restoration of this building and the preservation of cultural heritage that belongs to all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Today’s educational and informative workshop aimed to present the principles and methodology of conservation and restoration for cultural workers, who are faced daily with these aspects of the profession. Focus was placed on the leather, paper, wall surface, i.e. materials with which most of those present work. All employees of these institutions know the basic principles of conservation, so this workshop is meant as additional training for different profiles within the cultural institutions, and we were lucky that two excellent professionals in these fields could share their experiences on this very important segment of preserving cultural heritage” said Amina Rizvanbegović Džuvić, Director of the Bosniak Institute – Foundation Adil Zulfikarpašić.
CHwB, in this workshop, appointed professor Dr. Ćazima Hadžimejlić as Ambassador of Cultural Heritage. The title of Ambassador of Cultural Heritage is assigned by CHwB to persons in public life who have demonstrated through their work the promotion of BiH and its cultural heritage.
“How good and worthwhile it is to conserve and protect our cultural heritage, so we’ll be better off. The main goal of the restoration is to deliver authentic work, protect and extend the life of the objects. A large part of the details were lost over time on these objects, and the possibility of their return or reconstruction and presentation is certainly possible with a good knowledge of relevant issues, ranging from art history, knowledge of the period and styles, their development and influence, and all to the present day, through “the art of presentation” and, of course, restoration-conversational skills”said professor Dr. Ćazim Hadžimejlić, Ambassador of Cultural Heritage.
The project “Make it Yours!” will be implemented during 2014 and 2015 via a series of activities aimed toward different stakeholders, in order to increase a sense of belonging to and connection with cultural heritage. This project is funded by the European Union under the ‘Sarajevo 2014’ programme, which incorporates a series of projects implemented in and around the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, in order for Sarajevo to send messages of peace, reconciliation and solidarity to the world.