Project increases tourist interest in Black Sea Dobruja – Dobrich

Today in the Municipality of Shabla, a final press conference was held under Project No. ROBG-407 “Restoration of the unique common cultural heritage and promotion of the joint tourist product “Hamandzhia – the first civilization of Old Europe”, financed under Contract No. 81781/17.07.2018, Priority axis 2 : “Green Region”, Specific objective 2.1: “Improving the sustainable use of natural heritage and resources and cultural heritage” under the INTERREG VA Romania-Bulgaria Program 2014-2020.

Deputy Regional Governor Zhivko Zhelyazkov attended the event. The overall goal of the project, which has the lead partner Shabla Municipality, is to improve the sustainable use of the cultural heritage – the “Hamandzhia” culture in the Bulgarian and Romanian Dobrudja region through joint efforts and actions to protect and valorize the cultural heritage of Hamandzhia with a view to developing a joint integrated tourism product “Hamandzhia” “and its joint promotion and management.

The Hamanjiya culture, discovered on the Big Island by Prof. Henrietta Todorova, was briefly presented to the attendees. Among the curious facts that were presented by the historian Ivan Vaisov is that the Hamandzhia culture is older than ancient Troy, as well as that the worked gold discovered during the excavations on the Great Island is older than the finds found in the Varna Necropolis.

Within the framework of the project, a number of activities were carried out on the socialization of the Big Island called , construction of an Information Center, it became clear during the presentation of the activities.

In addition to the study of the Khamandzhia culture in the cross-border region, among the specific goals of the project are the development of a joint integrated tourism product “Hamandzhia”, incl. joint tourist route and innovative ICT-based tourist services, as well as improving the attractiveness of Shabla Municipality as a tourist destination and Cerna Voda, Romania.

The innovative aspect of the project is that the cultural heritage of the Hamandzhia culture in the Bulgarian and Romanian regions of Dobrudja will be presented through modern means of popularization and distribution – with a virtual tour of the objects of the joint tourist route Hamandzhia – “Durankulak – Hamandzhia Archaeological Park” in the municipality Shabla and Hamandzhia Center in the city of Cherna Voda through 3D digital reconstruction of the sites and free smartphone applications for the Hamandzhia tourist route. The virtual tour is a unique and unforgettable IT-based means of perceiving the cultural heritage of Hamandzhia. The intended service of experimental archeology for the methods of Hamanjaya – Workshop for thinkers is new and original in terms of practical activities as well.

Partners in the project are the Municipality of Shabla, Republic of Bulgaria and the Municipality of Cherna Voda, Republic of Romania. It is co-financed by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within the INTERREG VA Romania-Bulgaria Program. The total budget of the project is in the amount of 1,494,037.68 Euros, of which 85% in the amount of 1,269,932.02 Euros is provided by the ERDF.