Doors Open Days
The Doors Open Days are the Scottish contribution to the European Heritage Days . On this day, individual cultural monuments , i.e. buildings and facilities that are usually listed buildings and which are normally not or only partially accessible to the public, are released for viewing. Institutions such as museums that present historically significant objects all year round are also involved, and additional offers take place here. Admission is free. As part of the Europe-wide action days , references to the participating locations, for example on flags and banners, also display the joint logo of the European Heritage Days.
history
As with comparable events in other countries, the aim is to arouse interest in both the historical and cultural heritage of Scotland, but also in matters of monument preservation and protection. Scotland is one of the pioneers of this idea. Only the series of events in France (since 1985), the Netherlands (1987), Sweden and Malta (both 1988) and Belgium (1989) exist longer.
The trigger was the choice of Glasgow as the European City of Culture of 1990, when the underlying idea was implemented for the first time in Scotland on a larger scale in Glasgow itself and in the small town of Ayr to the south-west . Due to the success of this cultural offer, it was gradually expanded to the other areas of Scotland in the following years. Today all regions are involved with events. It is estimated that around a thousand locations attract around a quarter of a million viewers each year.
organization
The Doors Open Days are organized by the Scottish Civic Trust , a non-governmental organization that has set itself the goal of preserving Scottish cultural heritage and also works with the state monument protection agency Historic Scotland . The trust takes care of the central coordination and presentation, the individual events are implemented in cooperation with owners, local authorities and associations. An estimated 5,000 volunteers are involved.
The Doors Open Days in Scotland take place in September each year. In contrast to most other countries, this is not limited to a specific day, but extends over the entire month. Accordingly, the Plural Days as a whole , but the Singular Day is used for the local activities .
In parallel to the Doors Open Days, another series of events will take place in September, the Scottish Archeology Month . The focus here is on archeology , i.e. the explanation and demonstration of objects hidden underground and therefore invisible, as well as on prehistory and early history .
Remaining English-speaking area
Since the responsibility for the preservation and protection of monuments falls within the area of responsibility of the British states, independent but comparable events, organized under different names and organized by other groups, take place in these:
- England : Heritage Open Days organized by English Heritage .
- Wales : Open Doors Days ( Welsh : Drysau Agored ) organized by the Civic Trust for Wales
- Northern Ireland : European Heritage Open Days
- The capital London organizes this independently under the name Open House London
The term Doors Open is also used in other English-speaking countries, such as Canada or the United States
See also
- Open Monument Day in Germany and Switzerland
- Monument Day in Austria
Web links
- Official website (English)
- United Kingdom - Scotland on the European Heritage Days website
- Scottish Archeology Month on Archeology Scotland website
References and comments
- ↑ The identification of Ireland as a pioneer since 1988, which can also be read, does not apply according to the so-called Irish Heritage Week . There the Heritage Council only began national coordination in 2005. Source: General FAQ on the Irish Heritage Week website, accessed October 14, 2012
- ↑ Michel Kneubühler: Handbook on the European Heritage Days. March 2009, digitized version on the website of the Council of Europe, PDF file, 268kB, accessed on October 14, 2012. (English)
- ↑ Doors Open Canada ( Memento of the original from October 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from the Heritage Canada Foundation website, accessed October 14, 2012
- ↑ Doors Open Denver ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the City of Denver website , accessed October 14, 2012
