RESTORY

Civitas Status

Period

Project total budget

Civitas Foundation budget

Funder

Partnership leader

The RESTORY project – Recovering Past Stories for the Future: A Synergistic Approach to Textual and Oral Heritage of Small Communities focuses on using written and oral stories to explore the past of small communities, with the aim of restoring emotional connections of locals with interrupted traditions.

RESTORY can be seen as comprising two essential components: researching the histories of communities and transferring the know-how from the academic environment to communities to help them develop and leverage their heritage.

The research part of the project will involve conducting methodologically hybrid case studies, based on the textual and oral heritage of communities formerly inhabited by Transylvanian Saxons, a group of German-speaking settlers who settled in present-day Romania approximately 800 years ago. Researchers will also carry out 10 international case studies (in Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Ukraine).

All of these aim to explore strategies for effectively managing limited resources, especially in times of crisis. RESTORY aims to investigate the formation of sustainable attitudes and strategies, learn from past lessons, and integrate them into the future configuration of communities.

The Civitas Foundation is particularly involved in the know-how transfer from the academic environment to local communities. Within the project, we will facilitate meetings with citizens and stakeholders and provide suggestions for research development. Once the case studies are completed, we will return to communities to translate the results into ideas and projects through which they can valorize their heritage.

One of the long-term outcomes of the project is the creation of a multifunctional guidance center for all professionals in the cultural sector, open to those interested in local history and cultural heritage: schools, public authorities, and private enterprises.