Strategic Heritage Conservation Practices

This paper describes an innovative joint project of the Slovak Republic’s Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, and Family, which involved the unemployed in saving items of built cultural heritage. The project operates with unemployed citizens who, together with the active participation of civic associations, restore selected monuments under state oversight. The project focuses on creating short-term job positions in the sector of heritage conservation. After the third year of operation, it can be concluded that the results have been above expectations. The project has had a positive effect not only on decreasing the unemployment rate in regions with low economic productivity but also with integrating the long-term unemployed into the process of heritage conservation, building up good relations with cultural heritage, regional traditions, and local citizens’ cultural values. By gaining specific skills (for instance, medieval building techniques and traditional methods of stone working and wood carpentry) the prospects for job seekers in the job market also have been improved. The restored cultural heritage also becomes more attractive for tourism, creating opportunities for more employment in the service sector. The preconditions for success are: quality preparation, an individual approach, and good leadership. Also important are engagement in training and education, as well as motivational elements

Business · Cultural heritage · Cultural heritage management · Economic growth · Economics · Industrial heritage · Political science · Productivity · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Tourism · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation

• An evaluation of decision-making process on maintenance of built cultural heritage

  Open Access•Esra Eken, Burcu Taşcı et al.•Cities•2019

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