Report forgotten cultural heritage values!
The Finnish Local Flavours project team mobilized to the streets of Savonlinna on the 28th and 29th of July 2021 to interact with local people. This way the team wanted to hear, if the people think there are some cultural heritage values (“hidden gems”) with a potential for valorization. On the 29th of July Savonlinna celebrated its patron saint St. Olav with an event presenting performances and craftsmen and women selling their products. The previous day, the project team met with people at the stand of the local history association St. Olav's Guild in Savonlinna harbor. The two-day action was initiated in order to support the preparation of the regional action plan with verified information concerning development potential and needs.
The action was recognised by three local newspapers who published the press release inviting citizens to participate and report overlooked cultural heritage. The newspaper articles alone triggered direct response in the form of email and calls to the Local Flavours team.
On the first day the stand was visited mostly by tourists who were not the primary target group of action. However one visit initiated discussion about the neglected role of literature in the city and the region with a local author interested in using Savonlinna as a setting for a new series of detective stories. The project team recognized the role of local literary heritage and contemporary literature in representing and communicating local identity and cultural heritage. In the discussion participants agreed that literary endeavours are also important for generating material and manuscripts for possible media productions representing the city and region and their heritage.
On St. Olav's day, vendors of handicrafts were interviewed and the presence of local producers evaluated. This action is related to the aim of revitalizing the market place as a meeting point and point of sales for local heritage products. The evaluation of market place offer revealed that local authentic products and artisans’ work are not adequately featured and accessible. Profiling local tradition and products will be one of the main objectives in making the market place more attractive and accessible for visitors as well as local people. The Savonlinna project team is confident that it will be possible to transfer good practices from other partners for the revitalization of the market place in addition to all the stimulating ideas already tranferred during the project.
More information:
Pellervo Kokkonen
Senior advisor
Savonlinna Development Services Ltd.
+358 44 758 5472
