Valorising cultural heritage and fostering sustainable tourism by LIVING the common heritage on the DANUBE LIMES as basis for a cultural route

The overall objective of Living Danube Limes is to provide a solid basis for the establishment of a 'Danube Limes Cultural Route' and to support the inscription of the entire Roman Danube Limes on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Prior to the start of the project, the western section (with cultural sites in Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary) and the eastern section (with cultural sites in Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania) of the Roman Danube Limes have been inscribed on the UNESCO Tentative List of World Heritage Sites.
In July 2021, the western section of the Danube Limes (in Germany, Austria and Slovakia) is designated as a transnational World Heritage Site, together with the Lower Germanic Limes (Germany). They follow other sections of the Limes, such as Hadrian's and Antonine Walls (Great Britain) and the Upper German-Raetian Limes (Germany), which are all grouped together in the joint transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Frontiers of the Roman Empire'.

Living Danube Limes strengthens the close cooperation between the countries of the Danube region across all borders and highlights the exceptional universal value of the Danube Limes through transnational communication and living history activities, non-invasive physical visibility measures at pilot sites in all Danube countries and digital applications. The aim is to underline the importance of the transnational cultural heritage of the Danube Limes and to make it tangible for the general public and policy makers. The partner consortium has extensive expertise in the field of UNESCO World Heritage, including the development of management plans for cultural heritage sites. Living Danube Limes aims to contribute to the preservation and sustainable use of the common heritage and to support the nomination process in the other partner countries.

The Characterisation of the Roman Danube Limes identifies those features that characterise the Roman Danube Limes in its respective natural, infrastructural and social environment, both in its individual sections and as a whole. In order to obtain as complete and authentic a picture of the Roman past as possible, a wide range of sources are combined: archaeological finds, literary testimonies by Roman authors, but also epigraphic, numismatic and papyrological sources. In addition to its geographical shape and historical development, its significance not only as an imperial boundary but also as a unifying element will be examined.

Within the framework of the project, eight representative Roman heritage sites (e.g. watchtowers, military forts, road sections, necropolises, well or poorly preserved monuments, etc.) along the Danube will be selected as pilot sites. Based on national needs and interests, the partner countries will take into account various scientific, economic, touristic, logistic and practical parameters of the respective sites.

The essays of each partner country provide basic archaeological and historical information, an overview of the research history, as well as the outstanding universal value of each selected site.

The report on identifying the potential of historical Roman stories is based on the idea that identification with and respect for the Roman heritage in the Danube Limes region can be enormously enhanced by revisiting Roman stories and traditions that are still alive in the 21st century. By referring to these stories and linking them to the common Roman history of all the modern countries in the Danube region, locals and tourists alike can engage more directly with the Roman past.

The characterisation of the Danube Limes as a unified archaeological and historical site linking all the Danube countries is crucial for creating a common vision and understanding of the Roman heritage and the resulting shared responsibility in the countries of the Danube region. A special feature of the region is that the Danube was a transnational, cultural and economic waterway with high mobility, rather than a strict border in the modern sense.

'The Roman Danube Limes. A Characterisation' is a booklet that characterises the core elements of the Roman Danube Limes, highlights its exceptional universal value and presents the state of archaeological and historical research.

The Limes Guide is a tourist information source that lists all known Limes sites and provides further information (historical, architectural, geographical, tourism-related) on the historical sites along the Danube Limes. The Limes Guide consists of 10 volumes, written in English as well as in the national language of the respective Limes section.

The development of this strategy aims to integrate and interconnect museums along the Danube and facilitate a coordinated approach to knowledge dissemination, physical and virtual reconstructions, visibility activities and living history events.

The cluster approach is a tool to help museums identify potential new market opportunities, learn from best practices and become more competitive and innovative.

The objective of this strategy paper is to create a new model of cooperation between museums in the Danube Region in order to increase the visibility of the Roman heritage and its tourism potential and to facilitate the mutual exchange of knowledge and resources. It focuses on the common activities of the museum cluster, such as promoting transnational cooperation between museums, using common tools for information exchange, developing a common communication strategy, organising events and exhibitions, and outlines the cluster map and value chain.

In addition to physical reconstructions and visibility measures, the Living Danube Limes project is also creating virtual reality (VR) reconstructions at selected pilot sites. These contribute to the learning opportunities for the general public at the pilot sites by creating a vision of a complete Roman environment. The aim of the VR reconstructions is to increase the tourist appeal of the sites by presenting additional visual information that was previously unavailable at the sites.

The reports 'Pilot Actions - Implementation of Virtual Reality (VR) Reconstructions' summarise the activities for presenting and testing the created VR reconstructions at the pilot sites in Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania.

Archaeological sites have great potential to transfer historical knowledge and create a better understanding of cultural identity if they are well managed in an authentic and sustainable way. Successful and targeted knowledge transfer requires a well thought-out and sustainable concept for a variety of presentations and activities that engage visitors with the site and its history, which in turn has a positive impact on tourism and economic performance.

The Roman City of Carnuntum, an associated project partner, can be cited as a best practice example in this context. For this reason, a best practice workshop will be held in Carnuntum for those responsible for the pilot sites in order to raise awareness of the idea of sustainable use of archaeological sites as tourist destinations and at the same time to create an effective medium for knowledge transfer. The concept paper gives an insight into the activities of the workshop, which includes living history events, physical and virtual reconstructions and their use to reach defined target groups at each site.

Die Concept Papers "Learning Interactions - Roman Festivals" der Pilotstandorte geben einen Überblick über die Living History Veranstaltungen, die im Rahmen der Connecting Cruise entlang des Donaulimes stattfinden.

The concept papers 'Learning Interactions - Roman Festivals' of the pilot sites provide an overview of the Living History events that will take place along the Danube Limes as part of the Connecting Cruise.

The main objectives of these events are to raise awareness of the project, to raise awareness of the Roman Danube Limes and the shared Roman history, to demonstrate the potential of Roman heritage and relics for sustainable and environmentally friendly tourism development, and to emphasise the importance of protecting and conserving cultural heritage.

The Concepts for Green and Sustainable Tourism in the Danube Region form the basis for environmentally sound tourism and cultural development in the region, promoting sustainable tourism solutions, strengthening previously underdeveloped areas and at the same time addressing the serious problem of negative overtourism. The concepts link museums and visitor centres along the Danube and, where possible, across the Danube.

The aim is to increase the time tourists spend in the region and create added value for the local population. The environmentally friendly tourism infrastructure links the pilot sites and, in the long term, all Limes sites along the Danube, as well as other tourist highlights and cultural heritage sites in the region, to create a holistic cultural experience of the Danube region and to promote transnational exchange and sharing of the common heritage of the Danube Limes, always with the aim of a future cultural route encompassing all Danube countries:

• Guideline: Sustainable Tourism Concepts: contains a collection of best practice examples, a broader definition of sustainable tourism that highlights and explains its meaning, and guidelines for appropriate approaches to implementing sustainable concepts that are adapted to different regions and respect local, regional and national traditions.

• Guideline: Green Tourism Solutions: presents a compilation of best practice examples of ecotourism and develops strategies to transform outdated and environmentally damaging tourism systems into ecotourism concepts.

• Guideline: Cornerstones of a possible Future Cultural Route in the Danube Region: outlines the key points of a possible future cultural route in the Danube region and presents ideas for its best possible implementation.

The common cultural heritage of the Danube Limes will be highlighted through a sustainable, archaeologically based approach to reconstruction. This will be done through tangible and intangible, low or high-level measures at pilot sites with original infrastructure. In this way, transnational exchange and knowledge transfer will be promoted and the local living history initiatives and events carried out within the project, which contribute significantly to local identification with the common Roman heritage at the Limes, will be interlinked. Small-scale physical reconstructions and visualisation activities will be carried out at the eight pilot sites.

The eight papers of the Pilot Actions summarise the different efforts and activities undertaken to increase the visibility and communication of the Roman past at each of the national pilot sites of the project.

The development of the Living Danube Limes App and its web-based version is one of the core elements of the project, as it increases the visibility of the entire Danube Limes region. The app aims to direct tourism activities along the Limes to areas which are less commonly known, but which will gain considerably in visibility, attractiveness and accessibility as a result of this project. It connects the heritage sites and museum clusters with the local infrastructure and economy, thus contributing to the creation of a more sustainable tourism away from cruise tourism. In addition to historical information and characterisation of heritage sites, it provides information on existing (tourism) infrastructure and images.

The paper 'Developing and harmonising digital infrastructure solutions' summarises the activities to develop a common digital infrastructure through the mobile app and the web-based Living Danube Limes database.

 Learning interactions in the form of an international winter school, a workshop on improving the visibility of the Roman Danube Limes and a workshop on the Danube Cultural Route will ensure the transferability and sustainability of the project results. They improve the involvement of stakeholders at all levels and the dissemination of project results. The thematic framework of the Learning Interactions includes the topics of sustainable and green infrastructure development, the future tourism development of the Danube region through a Danube Limes Cultural Route and protection measures for our common cultural heritage:

• Concept Paper: Winter School on Cultural Property Protection, protecting and evacuating museums and archaeological sites during natural catastrophes: The overall objective of the Living Danube Limes Winter School is to develop and organise an online course for heritage and cultural protection experts, stakeholders, but also students and the interested public, in order to share the expertise of the project partners and other experts with stakeholders at local, regional and national level. The Winter School will focus on the development of low-cost and effective plans for the protection and, if necessary, evacuation of museums and archaeological sites in the event of natural disasters.

•     Concept Paper: Workshop: Visibility Measures & Physical Reconstruction on Archaeological Sites: Describes approaches, structure and objectives of implementing visibility measures, as well as basic aspects of implementing measures, regardless of the geographical situation of a cultural heritage site.

• Workshop on Cultural Resources of the Danube Region Route: A workshop with international experts will develop the cornerstones of a future cultural route that will encompass the entire Danube region and link it through the Roman heritage along the Danube Limes.

The aim of this report is to propose principles for standard measures to protect the cultural heritage concerned from the effects of natural disasters, excessive wear and tear caused by tourism, or the consequences of man-made hazards.

Conservation standards and disaster preparedness measures will be developed that are specifically tailored to the needs of archaeological sites and museums with finds from the Roman period along the Danube.

Measures and plans for the protection of the cultural heritage will be developed for each partner country. Locally adaptable plans and transnational management plans for the protection of cultural heritage in emergency situations will contribute to the long-term protection of the Roman heritage along the Danube. Climate change and man-made disasters make it necessary to address the challenges of transnational cooperation and protection of cultural heritage in preparation for, during and after disaster events.

The aim of carrying out visibility measures and physical reconstructions at archaeological sites according to the concept of "living history" is to preserve all objects that convey historical information to visitors. The analysis of certain basic criteria (e.g. natural features, traditions, landmarks, ...) and the identification of appropriate measures are essential for any intervention. The catalogue "Physical Reconstruction & Visibility Measures" focuses on measures for the visualisation and physical reconstruction of the Danube Limes with its importance as a territorial strategic border and its geostrategic quality. In addition to a selection of proposals for the Romanian pilot site of Sacidava, it offers a collection of best practice examples, inspired by relevant art and architectural installations, as a source of inspiration for visibility measures that can be developed at local, regional, national and transnational levels.

The project's holistic approach of building on the unifying power of the shared Roman heritage and the Danube itself to empower all residents to sustainably promote, appreciate, use and conserve their heritage is reflected in the Proceeding Book, which deals with archaeology and history, museum and visitor management, heritage conservation and soft tourism. Outstanding examples of sustainable use of the Roman heritage are presented, including risk assessment and sustainable protection measures for its elements, as well as ideas and measures to improve the visibility of the often invisible archaeological evidence. Another focus is on the strong partnership that links the entire Danube region from Germany to Romania and combines the knowledge and experience of experts in the above-mentioned fields.