Forum “Preserve and pass on”: when ideas, people and heritage come together

Stone by Stone: Heritage without borders

In mid-April 2026, the town of Varshets brought together, for several days, people who would not usually find themselves in the same place discussing the same topics – local authorities, cultural experts, local historians, tourism professionals, representatives of NGOs and businesses. The common theme was cultural heritage, but the conversations quickly moved beyond the usual question of “how to preserve it.” Because today the question is also what comes next.

How can a fortress, museum or archaeological site become more than just a place tourists visit for half an hour before moving on? How can history become a reason for people to stay longer, return and connect the region with something more meaningful than just a photograph? These were the questions at the heart of the four-day tourism forum “Preserve and pass on”, organised under the project “Cultural and Historical Heritage of the Cross-Border Region as a Driver of Integrated Sustainable Tourism” (BGRS0200011 – CULTURolling STONES), with a total budget of over €1 million, co-funded by the European Union under the Interreg VI-A IPA Bulgaria–Serbia 2021–2027 Programme.

The project brings together the City of Pirot, the Municipality of Montana, the Agency for Development of Northwestern Bulgaria – Montana, and the Ponišavlje Museum in Pirot. The idea is for the cultural heritage on both sides of the border to function as a shared tourism experience rather than as separate sites.

The forum was organised by the Agency for Development of Northwestern Bulgaria and gathered nearly 90 participants from Bulgaria and Serbia. From the very beginning, the Mayor of Montana Municipality, Zlatko Zhivkov, and the Serbian project manager, Marija Djošić, outlined a clear direction – the region should develop as a connected space where culture and tourism complement each other rather than evolve separately.

The discussions then moved in different directions – from preserving cultural heritage across borders, to finding more meaningful ways to use historical sites, to understanding how visitors today no longer want just information, but experience.

The topic of the New European Bauhaus also naturally became part of the conversations. Not as an abstract European concept, but as the idea that a place should be sustainable, beautiful and functional at the same time – not simply preserved, but alive. This is where the discussion became most engaging: how a fortress can become more than just a “site,” turning instead into a space for events, exhibitions, meetings and cultural life, and how digital tools and interactive elements can encourage visitors not simply to hear history, but to experience it.

An important part of the forum included visits to sites in Varshets and Berkovitsa. There, the discussions naturally moved beyond the conference hall and continued on location, among real examples of preservation and socialisation of cultural heritage, where the purpose of such meetings becomes most visible.

Because during these four days, more than ideas were exchanged. New connections were created between people and organisations that are beginning to see the Montana–Pirot region not as two separate points on the map, but as a shared space with shared potential. 

This is where the real value of such projects begins – when cultural heritage stops being only a memory of the past and starts becoming part of the region's future.