Two Jewish heritage projects whose development we have enjoyed following (and have reported on) — the 10 Stars project in the Czech Republic and the cross-border Shtetl Routes project in Poland, Ukraine and Belarus — have just launched new, expanded and redesigned web sites, with lots more content (or planned content.)
We encourage you to take a look — and take advantage of these new resources, which are geared both to on-site visitors and to armchair travelers and researchers.
The Czech 10 Stars project launched in the summer of 2014, after about six years of development. As we reported, the project includes 10 synagogues (and five associated Jewish heritage sites), in 10 towns all over the country: in Úštěk, Jičín, and Brandýs nad Labem to the north; Plzeň and Březnice to the west; Nová Cerekev and Polná in the south-central part of the country; and Boskovice, Mikulov and Krnov to the east.
The sites have all been renovated (or re-renovated) with a mono-thematic exhibit installed in each to form 10 regional centers of Jewish culture and education (and tourism).
We have published a number of posts about the project, as well as photo galleries of some of the sites.
The new web site, in Czech and English, is better organized than the previous sites and easier to use, with more photos, videos and description of the project and individual sites.
Click to visit the new 10 Stars web site
Shtetl Routes involved the development of an ambitious, international tourism itinerary through a score or more of towns in the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine border region, funded by a more than €400,000 grant from the European Union’s Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2007-2013.
Formally called Shtetl routes: Vestiges of Jewish cultural heritage in transborder tourism, the complex project has involved both on-site and archival research in all three countries; the development of three tourist trails; an internet portal that will describe towns and feature images, anecdotes and history; a guidebook to Jewish heritage in the region; guided tours and the training of tour guides; and the preparation of 3-d virtual models of 15 shtetls, five in each country. The goal was “to develop a narrative and tools that will be successfully used in tourism and to support local development” involving Jewish heritage sites in eastern Poland, western Ukraine and Belarus.
With the launch of the new web site, this material is beginning to be loaded online — there are already several 3-D videos, photographs, stories, itineraries, and other material.
On December 10-12, Shtetl Routes will hold a final conference in Lublin, summing up activities, research and results.
Click to visit the Shtetl Routes Web site