A cultural interaction presented with visual documentaries in which interviews and blog articles were prepared from the monument and sculpture information in local cultural exhibitions based on a journey along the Ancient Roman Roads, which reach Europe and Mediterranean Region and reflects its own time.
Presented by Alaturka.Info with valuable contributions from İzmir Goethe Institute, your support for this project will shape the future in 25 countries, more than 250 cities and numerous societies.
Understanding the past and societies that existed in old times will only be possible by looking at the details. Being able to understand the past will provide a wider perspective to individuals, bestow energy and new ideas, and compel us to think and imagine.
Culture and Travel Portal Alaturka.Info
Omnes viae Romam ducunt / All roads lead to Rome!
The Roman Road and Roman Road network system, which was built by Ancient Romans especially for military and commercial purposes and later used by different civilizations as well, is one of the grandest engineering accomplishments of all times.
The expanding of the Empire forced Rome to establish economical, political and military relationships with all countries around Mediterranean Sea. So, they built a 85.000 long road paved with stones which connected the farthest regions of the empire to centre and with each other.
At the same time, these roads belong to many different societies and they were in relation with each other by way of cultural, language, religion, idea and commercial exchanges.
The awareness of individuals and societies are needed to be raised if the cultural diversity is to be regarded as richness. A unifying force is needed in order to create this conscience. With our journey along the ancient Roman Road, we wish to create a common ground and form new bonds between cultures, societies and individuals.
Considering that the culture and art are among the basic stepping stones for the development of individuals and institutions of a nation, we ask you to support the project of "A journey of Intimacy and Culture Along the Roman Road" for communities that are more enlightened, have an awareness of culture, protect their own values and renovate those values in accordance with the times.
How will the journey take place?
The travelling team shall consist of two people (architect / photojournalist and graphics designer / photographer) and the journey shall be made on automobile and caravan.
The team will focus on documenting the events that take place during the journey and publishing them at the online environment. That way, a reader audience shall be created whose interest will grow with each passing day. All of the journey objectives shall be clarified at online environment and followers will have a chance to directly contact the team members.
The related daily reports shall be organized with the internet connection in the caravan which shall be used as a "travelling office" by the team.
In order to minimize the time and location difficulties in organizing local activities, maximum attention shall be given to contact the local and cultural representatives of the all destination points.
For instance, "Via Egnatia" chapter of the Ancient Roman Road: Following the Appian Road which reaches from Rome to Brindisi, Rome – İstanbul connection starts over the Via Egnatia Road which reaches from modern Albania, Greece and Macedonia borders to Turkey.
"Since the day it was built by Romans until today, Egnatia Road has been the road of many communities for over 2000 years: Albanian, Slavic, Bulgarian, Roman, Jewish, Pontus, Turkish, Pomak and Vlach communities were in relation with each other by way of cultural, language, religion, idea and commercial exchanges." - VEF
The team of two shall follow this road and visit the historical ruins, natural beauties, touristic and cultural centres on their way or nearby; and these visits shall be documented with photographs and, from time to time, videos and coordinate data.
Also, the team will visit places where they can get in contact with local people and make conversations with community dwellers about culture, history, traditions and art.
The daily impressions concerning these visits, which constitute the focal point of the journey, shall be published in the official blog ; a photo gallery shall be created with some of the photographs and shared over the internet.
The satellite coordinates (GPS), which are requested by many users and at the same time, allows a traveller to reach destination points easily and on their own and makes it easier to track our journey, also constitute another element of our journey.
At the same time, articles about ancient cities that have archaeological and historical value, which are written with an academic language, shall be offered at the official web portal in Turkish, English and German languages.
The team members shall also make contact with destination points on their way which belong to non-commercial organizations such as Goethe Institute and Egnatia Foundation, and shall participate in or organize activities in certain centres.
Primary goals of the project
- Getting to know, promote, develop and preserving the folkloric values and causing development and change in society with the social – cultural activities. Ensuring that folkloric integrity grows stronger. As a social conscious, looking after social and cultural values, and providing interaction between communities and individuals.
- Making sure that the following mentalities are spread to people: by learning different cultures, individuals are more tolerant towards cultural heritages and belief differences, the diversity and differences that arises from different cultures make every culture richer, while bringing new ideas and energy.
- Creating new opportunities for parties and contributing to the international cooperation by acting as a bridge between people, companies, organizations and countries that want to find new business partners,
- Providing information utility which is required to bring to Turkey projects which are implemented in Europe in tourism field, whose cost appeal is not considered as the only marketing element, preserves locality, focusing on a single product or subject and reaching immense success,
- With our publications located in written and visual media, - considering the state Europe is in with the bank crisis and state deficit these days – making sure that people get closer with each other and preventing conflicts which may arise in the future,
- Overcoming the prejudices with cultural presentations along the way such as speeches, exhibitions, visual presentations and conversations, allowing new ideas to develop for interaction and raise awareness.
Examples of activities that shall be participated / organized within the scope of project:
The promotion of an artist from Turkey at Rap and Rock concert activity which shall be organized in the city of Ausburg in Germany, and taking the stage with a German musician,
In another destination point, learning the culture and tourism related festivals which are organized beforehand and participating in those festivals if there is time, opening a stand with required permits. For instance; Vindonissa Museum Römertag, Römerfest / Heimattage, Villae rusticae / Festival, Römisches Stadtmuseum / Festival
In another destination point, organizing activities related to nature sports such as bicycling, paragliding, walking and making sure that athletes from different countries participate in this activity.
The project concept is primarily planned to cover a three-year period as a whole. As long as weather conditions allow it, spring, summer and autumn months shall be used for travelling.
In addition to this, having members of the team coming from different cultural environments shall allow narratives to be listened with great interest and cause some lively exchange of ideas.
The activities that shall be participated in / organized within the scope of project and their objectives are;
Environment / Nature / Sport
• Promoting and developing the sports that are done in nature, making studies to narrate the adventures experienced in nature, making contributions to popularizing the educational and sporting activities that allow people to make use of their free times in line with their interests and skills,
• Participating in trips which are organized by various institutions regarding international natural beauties for the promotion of scenic beauties and richness, performing nature walks, participating in various organizations for entertainment and travel purpose and promoting these locations. Thus raising awareness of the individuals and communities about environment, making them sensitive, allowing individuals to integrate themselves with nature and protecting the nature that we live in,
• Participating in camping trips in various regions which are educational about natural life, staying in camping, organizing presentations and activities where the experiences of the camp are shared, while at the same, reminding everyone to be respectful to natural life and people, promoting team work and showing that sharing is necessary and good,
• Providing information, organizing parties and trips in order to develop social and cultural relations and allow individuals to make use of their spare times and become intimate with each other, thus helping to create environmental friendly communities which respect nature and solidify the unity between people.
History/ Archaeology / Architecture
• Improving knowledge of individuals and communities in the fields of archeology and history; organizing various activities, exhibitions, presentations and slide shows in order to enable them to participate in socio-cultural activities and attending various panels, seminars and conferences,
• Examining historical ruins from an architectural viewpoint and giving information on the art of engineering in different ages; making publications and organizing exhibitions and presentations that aim at introducing architectural orders of ancient age, their development and distinctive features of architectural elements; contributing to creation of interest in and awareness about history and archeology,
• Contributing to raising awareness of investors and encouraging ecological architecture for the purpose of ensuring that new constructions are planned and materialized in an environmental friendly manner from the investment stage by addressing development, material, technique and stiles of architectural structures in different periods and cultures,
• Attending various scientific organizations pertinent to international historical and archeological sites, learning and introducing on an international scale the works which the ancient civilizations has brought to world architecture and which have remained until today and details on these works by communicating with relevant institutions,
• Collecting information on gods, heroes, mythological creatures and tales in Greek and Roman mythology during visits to ancient sites and museums, presenting reflections of mythological narrations, which play an important role in artistic and cultural development of these cultures, on the art works,
Tourism / Travel
• Visiting the international tourism fairs set up in various regions and sharing experiences, attending some international fairs as a participant within the bounds of possibility and distributing educative and cultural publications,
• Ensuring that tourism awareness rises within the society and among individuals by helping organization of social and cultural activities to develop tourism, which is one of the sectors that can offer important opportunities to countries and regions in terms of income and employment increase,
• Establishing a ground that will enable communication and idea exchange among individuals in terms of tourism, which raises development level of countries, on the internet; learning about alternative tourism types and contributing to their introduction,
• Revealing the values which have lower tourist intensity than average and which have not yet been discovered; endeavouring to create touristic attraction through these values; carrying out introduction works for the destination that will consist of these attraction centre elements and contributing to local and international development of countries,
• Pioneering programs with social, cultural, artistic and touristic content; helping urbanites spend their leisure times efficiently and contributing to urban integration, diversification and development of tourism services and products ,
• Visiting the regions advantageous in terms of tourism and ancient cities recognized and "prepared" by tourists; explaining the importance borne by these places for the local people and guests and creating examples for developing countries and encouraging them about tourism – for example: Rome Road Via Claudia (www.viaclaudia.org),
Art / Craft
• Being in contact with institutions in order to enable exhibition of photographic works; selecting subjects that will raise awareness of the community and individuals and organizing photograph exhibitions and educational slides,
• Presenting the development demonstrated by the painting art through human hand since the wall pictures in caves, which are the first settlement areas of humankind, light-shadow, perspective, differences seen in painting art and examples of mosaic art; also organizing activities that will encourage children to paint and contributing to cognitive development of children,
• Contributing to organization of events for the purpose of helping use of theatre, which is a stimulating and amusing education house and a life stage, as a universal language that will ensure spread of pace and conciliation messages; raising the cultural level by sharing the important literature works staged with individuals and communities; making interviews with people famous in the field of theatre, learning about traditional theatres and contributing to their introduction on international scale,
• Organizing literature activities such as poem concert, book reading and story writing; ensuring that individuals tend towards art and aesthetics; getting to know national and international men of literature more closely; paving the way for new literature projects and extending the habit of book reading,
• Helping different music types from various countries and in different languages come together; allowing socialization of individuals by organizing national and international concerts; pioneering provision of individuals with the capacity to show and develop their capabilities in the field of music and in addition to this, to use these capabilities for the benefit of him/herself and the community,
• Helping films with artistic content which are not presented by the cinema industry be run for the purpose of providing cinema culture for individuals and communities and enabling them to view cinema from a different perspective, encouraging young directors to make productions and increasing visibility of their productions and helping cinema be used as a tool with which young people can express themselves,
• Contributing to introduction at international scale, conservation and development of traditional handicrafts which bear the features of the regions where they are produced and which are an effective language to reflect feelings and artistic admirations of communities; supporting producers of traditional handicrafts which tend to be forgotten; helping arts and craft in different cultures exceed the boundaries,
Roman Roads Network
Reaching up to Scotland and following the Northwest European Region and countries that have a border to Mediterranean Sea, Roman Road Network is 85.000 kilometers long. Due to political and structural reasons, it is not possible to follow all of these roads. Our aim is to complete approximately 50% of the total road network by including as many countries as possible.
The opening celebration of "Journey Along the Rome Road" to be organized in Antalya
A welfare event which will be attended by large groups of people will be organized in Antalya through the contributions of İzmir Goethe Institute and German Consulate of Antalya in spring of 2012 for "Journey Along the Roman Road". It is planned that the event, which will last three days long, takes place in company of concerts, various readings and film runs prepared by famous directors in order to see the team off to the journey officially.
A similar event that will be organized approximately 18 months later at a point in Europe which has not yet been determined will also allow for a situation assessment.
A visual introduction of the journey documented with photos will be presented at an event to be organized in İzmir in order to celebrate completion of the project again like a festival after the journey ends.
We believe that your institution will display interest in "Culture and Intimacy Journey Along the Roman Road" with a sense of social responsibility and we expect your support to announce it to bigger audiences.
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