The joint project of PI “Raudondvaris Manor” (Lithuania) and Bauska Castle Museum (Latvia) “Historic Road: Raudondvaris – Bauska (LLI-498)”, financed by “Interreg V-A Latvia-Lithuania Program 2014-2020”, with the contribution of Kaunas district and Bauska municipalities, has been completed. During the project implementation period from 2021 January 1^st until 2022 December 31^st the partners – Raudondvaris Manor and Bauska Castle Museum managed to make both cultural heritage objects more attractive to visitors, generate larger flows of them, enrich both the material base and the artistic, entertainment, educational field, exchanging good practices, establishing a strong cooperative relationship.

Dreams turned into concrete goals

At the final conference of the “Historic Road: Raudondvaris-Bauska (LLI-498)” project held at Raudondvaris manor, Maris Skanis, the director of Bauska Castle Museum, recalled how Snieguolė Navickienė, the director of Raudondvaris Manor, contacted him and invited him to visit one of the most prominent Lithuanian Renaissance manors in the Kaunas district, to get acquainted with its history and ongoing activities, and at the same time to present the Bauska Castle Museum in more detail and to consider the possibility of implementing a joint project together.

After looking at what and how our colleagues in Latvia and Lithuania live today, it became clear that the two tourist attraction centers operating in neighboring countries – Bauska Castle Museum and Raudondvaris Manor – are united by similar challenges, the main of which are regional competition with big cities and seasonality, which determines that tourists the influx provided during the warm season is significantly depleted in the autumn and winter months. It became clear that the project could establish measures to smooth out seasonal fluctuations by creating activities that entertain visitors in the cold season.

The fact that the implemented joint project and cultural partnership would provide an opportunity for the renewal of the museum complexes of both countries, the acquisition of missing tools and new equipment needed for modern cultural heritage objects, the sharing of good practices, the exchange of art collectives, the organization of events, etc., also appeared attractive.

After evaluating the prospects and possibilities, the vision of the joint project “Historic Road: Raudondvaris – Bauska (LLI-498)” and the application for support from “Interreg V-A Latvia-Lithuania Program 2014-2020” were born.

At the end of the year dedicated to the implementation of this project, at the final conference held at Raudondvaris Manor, it was celebrated that the tasks set by the joint project of Raudondvaris Manor and Bauska Castle Museum were fulfilled.

An impressive one-year harvest

The aim of the project was to increase the number of tourists coming to the Kaunas district and the Bauska region in the autumn and winter seasons by creating artistic, educational and sports activities aimed at attracting visitors with different interests, history and heritage lovers.

After becoming partners, Raudondvaris Manor and Bauska Castle Museum aimed to increase the number of visits in both regions by at least 20 thousand visits. After summing up the results, it became clear that this figure was reached within a year of implementing the joint project. Visitors willingly participated in the organized activities both at the Raudondvaris manor and at the Bauska Castle Museum.

The total estimate of the project is EUR 785,875, of which EUR 667,993 was allocated by Interreg V-A Latvia-Lithuania Program 2014-2020, EUR 60,206 by Kaunas District Municipality, EUR 57,675 by Bauska Municipality.

During the implementation of the “Historic Road: Raudondvaris-Bauska (LLI-498)” project, both cultural heritage objects were improved. “Interreg V-A Latvia-Lithuania Program 2014-2020” financing, with the contribution of Kaunas district and Bauska municipalities, made it possible for Raudondvaris Manor to purchase an outdoor stage with sound and lighting equipment, an LED screen, a skating rink and its refrigeration equipment. Bauska Castle Museum – ancient lighting elements, replicas of ancient instruments, sound equipment, LED screen, stage podests, bars for windows, metal information boards, stands for cannons, 17th century cannon carriage replica and 17th century replicas of musketeer and officer costumes.

During the project “Historic Road: Raudondvaris-Bauska (LLI-498)”, a strong cultural partnership was established between the Raudondvaris manor and the Bauska Castle Museum.

At the same time, new thematic educational programs “Baltic treasures”, “Artificial lighting in the Renaissance castle”, outdoor exposition “XV-XVII centuries Artillery”, were created. An ice-skating rink with free lessons was launched, a friendly competition of Bavarian curling between Latvian and Lithuanian youth teams was organized, a historical festival “Castle Day” was organized, presenting the culture of manors, cooking, crafts, and arts.

Workshops of artists and craftsmen, renaissance music concerts, ancient dances and historical costume presentation evenings – these activities, implemented during the ongoing project, involved performers and artists not only from Lithuania and Latvia, but also from Poland, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

The final chord is a tourism publication

A tourist guide illustrating the activities and results of the project “Historic Road: Raudondvaris-Bauska (LLI-498)” has been prepared and published in three languages – Lithuanian, Latvian and English – intended to introduce tourists to the partners of the project and the region of Bauska (Latvia) and Kaunas district (Lithuania) that they represent.

In this tourism publication, named after the project “Historic Road: Raudondvaris–Bauska”, special attention is paid to the activities of the autumn-winter season, which are offered by the partners of the project – Raudondvaris Manor and Bauska Castle Museum.

The publication also contains information about other natural, historical and cultural heritage objects, catering establishments, their services and products located near Raudondvaris Manor and Bauska Castle Museum. These are objects that can be visited throughout the year in both regions.

Tourism publications “Historic road: Raudondvaris–Bauska” are distributed in Raudondvaris Manor, Bauska Castle Museum, Kaunas district and Bauska region tourism information centers. The electronic version is available on the websites of the project partners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• The Interreg V-A Latvia – Lithuania Programme 2014-2020 aims to contribute to the sustainable and cohesive socio-economic development of the Programme regions by helping to make them competitive and attractive for living, working and visiting. Official website of the Program: www.latlit.eu
• This project is funded by the European Union: www.europa.eu
• This information has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this information are the sole responsibility of PI “Raudondvaris Manor”  and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.