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European Heritage Days are a joint promotion between the Council of Europe and the European Commission to promote cultural experiences across Europe. What this means for the lucky visitor is free access into numerous sites, as well as a peek into buildings and other places not normally open to the public. This year, 49 countries will help spread the message about Europe’s cultural diversity in conjunction with the European 2008 Year of Intercultural Dialogue campaign.

Dates and events vary, but most are held sometime in September. In the Czech Republic for example, the theme is Monuments in the Landscape and the Landscape as a Monument and the dates are September 13-21. In Denmark, they are showcasing Buildings of the Welfare Society 1950-1980 on September 13-14. Austria is celebrating on September 28 and is offering Imported Culture: Chinese Chambers, English Landscape and Italian Frescoes. Bulgaria’s theme is Together in Diversity and they’ll be holding events September 26-28. Germany will celebrate one day only, September 14. Uncovering the Past – Archeology and Building Research is their focus. Even smaller countries are happy to be involved. Lithuania will promote Historical Organs in Lithuania from September 19-28.

The great thing about European Heritage Days is everything is free, or the sites ask for a symbolic donation. If you will be in Europe in September, or live here, be sure to find out what “your” country is doing and when. Last year we had randomly taken a day trip to a small town south of Prague during the Czech Republic’s European Heritage weekend. You could visit all the city’s museums for free, and they had opened a church that wasn’t normally open to the public. The city had also sent up an exhibit of paintings form local artists, so all in all, it was an unexpected bonus to our day out.

For more information visit the European Heritage Days website. Here you’ll find more information on the history of the program, its goals as well as links to the websites from individual countries participating in the events.

Photo Credit: Jule_Berlin@Flickr

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