Mining cultural heritage and heritage communities

Banska Bystrica (Slovakia)
Basics
Pilot #
6
Location
Central Slovakia
Banska Bystrica

This is a very heterogeneous region in terms of economic and social structure as well as geography, but generally consists of a mountainous and better-developed north and a flat and agrarian south, bordering Hungary. The unemployment rate in the region is higher than the average of the country (5.9 %) on the level of 8.48% (in December 2022), with the unemployment rate ranging from 3,9 % in Banská Bystrica district to close to 20% in Rimavská Sobota district. However, this region has a significant cultural and technical heritage related to its mining history, which is not fully exploited and has a high potential for development. The development and promotion of cultural and creative tourism can help rural and remote areas in this region to increase sustainable job opportunities and investments.

This pilot builds on previous activities of the H2020 INCULTUM project and its pilot action oriented towards the creation of a participatory digital and responsive platform on mining treasures in central Slovakia. The region has a significant cultural and technical heritage related to its mining history. Mining areas were concentrated around mining towns, namely Banská Bystrica, Banská Štiavnica, and Kremnica. Banská Bystrica is a very old settlement located on the "Via Magna'' road from Hungary to Poland, which served as a starting point for copper, gold, silver, and iron mining. The development of the city was mainly related to the mining of copper ores in the area between Staré Hory (Altenberg) and Spania Dolina (Herrengrund). Although copper was mined here probably already in prehistoric times, it gained industrial importance only in the second half of the 13th century. In the 14th century, copper was already demonstrably exported to Venice. The largest expansion of the heavy copper industry occurred in the years 1494 -1546. “The copper Banská Bystrica '' acquired its present picturesque look in the late Middle Ages when the affluent Fugger and Thurzo families founded the prosperous, largest, and most modern early capi- talist company of that time. Depending mainly on the mines around Banská Bystrica, the company had become a leading world producer of copper by the 16th century. “The silver Banská Štiavnica'' can be considered the most important mining town in Slovakia.

Despite the great potential of this region for sustainable cultural and creative tourism that fosters social inclusion and engagement, the development of rural and remote areas is still vastly underrated and does not fully exploit this potential. The pilot case aims to foster the renaissance of mining-related cultural heritage in central Slovakia through the creation of a business model for the Barbora mining route and the development of cultural and creative industries in the region.

Actions will be focused on two main activities:

  • The creation of a unique hybrid business model for the regional mining route called the Barbora route. It will focus mainly on a number of rural localities and peripheries on the route that are underrated. The Barbora route is the longest educational and sightseeing route in Slovakia that connects cities and localities that were in the past the centre of mining of pan-European importance (Banská Bystrica, Kremnica, Banská Štiavnica, and other villages and many remote and rural areas in the vicinity). The 186.2 km long pilgrimage route starts and ends in Banská Bystrica and can be completed in 9 days. The Barbora route can be done as a pilgrimage route or a cycling route in a shorter time. Currently, this route is managed by a civic association and the route suffers from the lack of basic tourism services and supply. Creation of a unique business model could help to move this route towards sustainable development and bring quality and tourism offer closer to the standards of a successful pilgrimage route and to counteract depopulation and preserve and develop the HC’s unique offerings and identities.
  • Empowering the development of the mining-related heritage community and development of cultural and creative industries in the self-governing Banská Bystrica region that belongs to catching-up regions in Europe due to low GDP and high unemployment. The development of creative industries will focus on the creation of unique products and/or services related to the mining heritage and history of the region. For this purpose, we will organise a hackathon in cooperation with a network of local stakeholders oriented towards enhancing cultural and creative industries in the region through creation, development, and/or design of new products, services, apps, games etc. related to cultural heritage. Special attention will be given to the active involvement of younger people under 30 through hackathons that will be organised together with the self-government region and their Development agency, which is running projects like Innolabb, Get started, Show your talent etc. The outputs of hackathon will be supported and further developed through innovation scheme in region with aim to help the most promising outputs of hackathon to foster development of cultural and creative industries; to create new jobs opportunities; and to ensure the sustainability of the project and exploitation of its results.
  • Local heritage communities in villages and towns on the Barbora route
  • Regional municipality and local municipalities
  • Business partners in the region (including IT sector)
  • University and secondary school experts and students
  • Tourism agencies
     
  • Development of a unique cultural tourism business model for rural and remote areas of the Barbora route, which can help to increase sustainable job opportunities and investments.
  • Promotion of inclusive and sustainable cultural and creative tourism through originally created and/or developed creative and cultural products or services that foster social inclusion and engagement, respect the needs of local communities, the heritage and the capacity of the rural and remote areas.
  • Increasing regional cultural tourism cooperation related to the development of the Barbora route to help the socio-economic development of rural and remote areas on this route.
  • Barbora route civic organisation
  • Development Agency of the Banská Bystrica region.

The pilot case can be interconnected with other pilot cases through building specific and unique heritage communities, searching for original business models, enhancing cultural and creative industries and inclusion of minorities. In addition, the mining heritage that is part of the Barbora route is intertwined with the European Fugger Road, an international cultural route that represents an important chapter in economic history.

INCULTUM innovations

To create an interactive digital platform about the mining towns of Banská Bystrica and Banská Štiavnica (UNESCO World Heritage Site) which intersects two tourist routes, the Barbora Route and the European Fugger Route

Create responsive web platform using participatory approach which is a unique product of cultural tourism with educational context

Use innovation and technology to offer a platform for fostering creative thinking and the development of new products and services within the tourism sector and related fields