Preserving Local Heritage for the Next Generation

When we talk about heritage, we often think of monuments: churches, palaces, old town walls. These deserve protection, but some of the most precious parts of our heritage cannot be seen from the street. They live in people: in the way a grandmother prepares a traditional dish, in a song sung at a family celebration, in the hands of a craftsman who learned his trade from his father.

This intangible heritage is fragile. When the last person who remembers a song or knows a technique is gone, it can disappear within a single generation. In a city like Rijeka, where so many families came from elsewhere, much of this memory has never been written down at all.

Our heritage projects begin with listening. Volunteers, many of them young people, sit with older residents and record their stories, with their permission and in their own words. We photograph objects, document recipes and crafts, and, where possible, invite tradition bearers to teach what they know in small workshops.

Heritage walks bring the stories back into the streets where they happened, while cooperation with museums and archives helps ensure that what we collect is stored properly and made available to researchers and the public.

Our long-term goal is to create an open digital archive of local culture, so that anyone, whether a schoolchild in Rijeka or a descendant of an emigrant family on another continent, can explore and learn from these memories.

Do you have a story, a photograph or a skill that belongs to Rijeka's living heritage? We would be honoured to hear from you.