The Prešov self-governing region is one of the partners in the international project "Recapture the Fortress Cities", the aim of which is to start steps for the implementation of specific measures in these cities. The international project brings together 7 European countries with the aim of exchanging know-how, establishing partnerships and, in particular, building capacity in the field of fortification.
The subtitle of the project is the motto "Let's bring the walls back to the life of cities".
From 9.6.-18.6.2020, the representatives of the region visited the fortified towns in the Prešov region - specifically a visit to Sabinov, Podolínec, Kežmarok, Levoča, Prešov, Bardejov and Stropkov.
During these visits, in addition to presenting the project, we listened to the problems that cities face in solving the restoration of fortifications as cultural monuments. The fortified cities themselves agree that this topic is extremely topical and important, not only in terms of the remediation of cultural monuments but also in terms of development plans in the field of tourism.
Each of these places is in a different stage of restoration. On the one hand, there are cities that are somewhere at the beginning of this process (archaeological survey of the area - Stropkov), cities in the stage of lively debate and ongoing work on revitalization (Prešov, Podolínec, Kežmarok, Sabinov) to cities inscribed on the UNESCO list of cultural monuments, which have been dealing with this topic for many years and especially systematically and are an example of good practice for other project partners or cities in the region (Bardejov and Levoča).
The aim of the Prešov self-governing region is, among other things, to connect these cities into a joint development strategy and to provoke dialogue in the Ministries concerned with regard to the systematic support of these cities. We are pleased that by using a "bottom-up" approach, we can create pressure based on thorough analysis, which will ultimately help to achieve real results.
The Recapture the Fortress Cities project is a joint project of 7 partners: Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Germany and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund from the Interreg Europe program.
