Pilgrimage in the City

Uman hosts the first training within the ReHerit project to develop inclusive approaches and practices of reconciliation in managing shared heritage in Uman.

Efficient heritage management for the development of local communities and for deeper understanding and comprehension of significance of the multicultural past of cities is an important task for present-day Ukraine. Today, heritage, especially local, is one of the least efficient areas for sustainable development of Ukrainian cities. With only few exceptions, urban communities and authorities insufficiently address heritage, and fail to channel its capacity into cultural and economic growth of their cities. However, even some of the most successful cities in this area face challenges in providing for sensitive, efficient, inclusive, and sustainable heritage management.

Uman, as an important place for Polish, Jewish, and Ukrainian history, is by far the brightest cases in terms of challenges and huge capacity of cultural heritage for local development. As a world known pilgrimage site for Hasidi, one of the best known private Polish towns with the renowned Sofiyivka park, an important center for Cossack history, today, the town is a sample of contested heritage and divided history. This diverse and rich heritage can be a powerful local asset and a model to solve complicated issues related to conceptualization of heritage, and to its management on a different scale: on local, national, and international levels.

A series of training sessions in Uman aims at discussing and developing the most complicated and significant cases of shared heritage in the town, at identifying the most problematic areas, at suggesting efficient mechanisms for solutions to conflicting situations, and approaches to heritage management based on the values of diversity, tolerance, and shared new application.

The first training refers to issues and subjects related to pilgrimage of the Hasidi to Uman. Trainers and participants will learn about various samples for efficient establishment of communication between local community and pilgrims. The case of Uman will be considered specifically, highlighting most challenging issues and searching for solutions to situations causing tensions within the town.

Trainings to develop inclusive approaches and practices of reconciliation in managing shared heritage in Uman is part of the biannual project "ReHERIT: Common Responsibility for Shared Heritage".

Organizers:

Center for Urban History
Laboratory of Urban Space
Office for Culture of Uman City Council