Ecomuseum Bistra - restoration of cultural heritage and modern concepts of heritage management

With the aim of renovating and reconstructing the old school building in Poljanica Bistranska, and its conversion into a modern and modernly equipped cultural and tourist center, on 15 February 2021 a Grant Agreement was signed as part of the Call for Proposals in the direct grant award procedure. for the strategic project "Renovation of the old school building and cultural and tourist revitalization through the ITU mechanism - ECOMUSEUM BISTRA".

The beneficiary of the grant, ie the project applicant, is Municipality of Bistra, and project partners Association Ekomuzej Bistra i Zagreb County Tourist Board.

The total value of the project is HRK 11.979.148,74, and the total awarded grant amounts to HRK 10.110.430,40. The project implementation period is from September 1, 2020 to September 1, 2023. The project was co-financed by the European Union from the European Structural and Investment Funds through the mechanism of Integrated Territorial Investments in the Urban Agglomeration of Zagreb.

Ecomuseum Bistra - from the old school to the modern cultural and tourist center

The old school building in Poljanica Bistranska is an individually protected cultural property, entered in the Register of Cultural Heritage, and is one of the few preserved school buildings from that period in the Zagreb County that has largely retained its recognizable features, including layout, structural elements, design exterior, as well as parts of the interior of the space, and in addition to architectural, has great cultural and historical value.

Due to its values, the building was chosen as the seat of the future communication and heritage center of the Bistra region. When planning and designing the revitalization of the old school building in Poljanica Bistranska, all aspects of sustainability were considered with special attention: social, economic and environmental aspects.

With the implementation of the project, a tourist information center with a souvenir shop and communication spaces for visitors will be established on the ground floor of the building. On the first floor in the hallway there will be an exhibition of Bistra's art photographs and works of art by Bistra's artists with motifs of the Bistra region, and the other four rooms on the first floor will have a permanent museum multimedia and interactive exhibition Bistra 1209 in accordance with the museological concept.

In the attic of the building, office premises, HUB (workshops, chat rooms) and an information and documentation department will be arranged in which documentation and sources important for local history will be stored. In designing the museum exhibition, the "green model" will be applied in the elaboration of museological and artistic elements of the exhibition, which refers primarily to the selection of themes and the way in which they are interpreted.

The Ecomuseum Bistra project is conceived as an integrated project whose purpose is to enable sustainable and participatory management of the entire heritage of the Bistra region based on ecomuseum postulates and to encourage the development of cultural and tourist facilities in the northwestern part of Zagreb County, along the slopes of Medvednica the banks of the river Krapina in the west.

Contents and activities in the revitalized building of the old school will be organized with the aim of meeting the cultural and social needs of the inhabitants of the municipality of Bistra, and no economic activity will be performed in the Ecomuseum Bistra. By using part of the renovated building for purposes related to the promotion of the municipality of Bistra as a tourist destination, as well as the establishment of a tourist information center, the tourist attractiveness of this area for visitors, especially from the City of Zagreb, only twenty kilometers away from Bistra. Following the above, the result of the project implementation will be reflected in the increase in the number of visits to the cultural and tourist center Ekomuzej Bistra in 2024.

In conclusion, the implementation of the Ecomuseum Bistra project will provide an innovative, creative, integrated and effective "green" model of heritage management and will establish a new tourist destination near Zagreb ("Zagorje Gate"), whose offer will be based on professional interpretation of cultural and natural heritage, with special emphasis on traditional culture and local customs and products.