In the summer 2005 the Directorate General for Education and Culture at the European Commission supported our idea of cooperation among three cultural institutions which also work in the field of hand-made lace on a common project within the programme Culture 2000. Partners in the project Land of lace were the Provincial museum of Gorizia - the Museum of Fashion and Applied Arts, the Museum Rauma from Rauma in Finland and the Municipal museum in Idrija, Slovenia.

Culture 2000 is a EU programme which aims to stimulate the cooperation among European representatives of culture and thus contribute to forming a common European space. The programme financially supports international cultural-artistic projects with a European dimension which involve a cooperation of subjects from at least three countries. The programme thus contributes to promoting culture in the sense of the cultural heterogeneity as well as in the sense of a common cultural heritage of the European nations.

Our project was registered by the Municipality Idrija and the previously mentioned institutions were the co-organisers within the project. The aims that we had set were numerous and meant for a long-term implementation. We were aware of the fact that it is impossible to make everything within one year, but it is a beginning and a starting point for continuing in the future, too. We wanted to enable various ways of access to the unique collection of the European cultural heritage in the field of hand-made bobbin lace. We also wanted to research the origins, compare laces from different European hand-made lace centres and link these centres together and pave the way to a common dialogue, preservation and promotion of the European cultural heritage. To achieve as much as possible we arranged three main activity groups – accomplishment of the early phase of arranging a permanent contemporary exhibition under the title 'Idrija lace and it's position among the European laces' in the Municipal museum in Idrija, organising events within the Idrija Lace Festivals 2005 and 2006, as well as the preliminary activities for establishing of the Idrija Lace Centre in Idrija.

New experience, knowledge and information, gained from the project in the last year are precious to every one of us. Despite the fact that each lace-making town, its tradition and preserved achievements can be very different and specific, we could nevertheless get many common perceptions and ideas. The results of our work shows that it would be sensible to continue the same in the field of researching the cultural and ethnological heritage, on searching new, innovative and attractive ways of representing European history and cultural heritage, as well as in the field of tourism, education and contemporary design.

Mateja Bizjak



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The project and this website were composed with the cooperation of the following experts:
In Municipal museum Idrija, Idrija, Slovenia:
- Ivana Leskovec, graduate of ethnology and history, acting director of the Municipal museum Idrija
- Mirjam Gnezda, graduate of ethnology and cultural anthropology, museum curator
- Marija Terpin, graduate of history and teacher of Slovene language, museum curator
  In Provincial museums of Gorizia - the museum of Fashion and Applied Arts, Gorizia, Italy:
- Dr. Rafaella Sgubin, museum principal
  In Rauma Museum, Rauma, Finland:
- Miina Jokela, MA of humanistic sciences, museum curator
  Expert project partners:
- Prof. Thessy Schoenholzer Nichols, expert in antique clothing and lace, professor at Florence University, Florence, Italy
- Marianne Stang, teacher of English and French languages, expert in lace, Germany
  In the Development Agency of Idrija and Cerkno:
- Mateja Bizjak, graduate of communication studies, "Land of lace" project leader for the Municipality of Idrija