The first day of the International Summer School on Conservation and Interpretation of Heritage took place online on 21 August and the fieldwork took place between 28 August and 2 September, 2023. Students and lecturers from Switzerland, Croatia and Slovenia have participated in the school.
The Summer School is organized by the Department of Archaeology and Heritage and by the Institute of Archaeology and Heritage of UP FHŠ under the auspices of the UNESCO Chair in Interpretation and Education for the Promotion of Integrated Approaches to Heritage, in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), the Škocjan Caves Park, the Faculty of Arts in Zagreb, the Slovenian Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and the Regional Unit Nova Gorica. The school was financially supported by the Slovenian National Commission for UNESCO.
The school was established as a “sister school” to the already existing International Summer School of Conservation-Restoration, which will take place for the third year in the Church of St. Helen in Gradišče near Divača. This year, the Interpretation School is dedicated to the design of a special thematic itinerary on medieval churches and their precious frescoes in the villages of Gradišče, Naklo and Famlje, and their natural and cultural environment. The young experts and their mentors enjoyed guided tours of the frescoes in the churches. The Mayor of Divača, Alenka Štrucl Dovgan, said, that they are immensely grateful for the recognition of the Church of St. Helen and its history by the organizers of the summer school. A new scattered museum of medieval frescoes will be created under the auspices of the school in the coming years.