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The first phase of Kalevala into the New Millennium project: Viekäämme syville verkot – etemmä ehättäkäämme
Start date: Jun 12, 2001, End date: Jun 11, 2004 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The Karelian cultural heritage is one of the most valued native cultures in Europe. Th e integral purpose of the project was to create a network between White Sea Karelia and the area of Interreg III A Karelia, accounting for and illustrating the unique cultural values of the Karelian folk song areas and retaining their cultural heritage through the help of organisations and communities cherishing the Karelian cultural heritage, and to expand the international dimensions related to the latter. Th e intention was to develop concrete procedures available for the network to guarantee the sustainability of the native culture of White Sea Karelia, both in the material and psychological sense. Th e project wanted to support, among other things, the creation of a digital archive of the Karelian cultural heritage, in order to preserve the disappearing traditions. Also, the project aimed at protecting the material culture of the villages of White Sea Karelia in both Karelia and Finland by, for example, making restoration plans and building designs as well as documenting textile traditions. Th e project also strived to support the development of cultural tourism to White Sea Karelia from the Interreg area. Achievements: The Kalevala epic and Karelian culture were made more widely known both through the aid of the project itself and in cooperation with other parties and projects. The project involved, among others, organising exhibitions and participating in the Lannrot, Arhippa Perttunen, and Runeberg Symposia, the Jaakko Rugojev seminar and Praasniekka Festival events, in addition to organising runic song concerts. Cultural travel routes in White Sea Karelia and the respective services were developed in cooperation with the Arhippa Perttunen Foundation. Several places had restoration plans drafted as well as drawings of traditional houses of White Sea Karelia area, including the drawings of the Hietajrvi traditional house, with the help of photographs and memories of the local people. In order to preserve other material heritage of White Sea Karelia, research work was carried out, mainly on the present state of the textile traditions of White Sea Karelia. The project brought about an innovative indexing system for image material and net-based audio archives, directly accessible on the Internet, supplemented by research excursions to Karelia. The web archive can be found on the home pages of Juminkeko at www.juminkeko.fi /arkisto. Due to lack of resources, it was not yet possible to include material in the audio archives during the project The project also published several books (mostly as joint publications with a Karelian party) and 2 CD discs about the heritage archives. The various outcomes of the project turned out to have a deepening effect on as well as concrete advantage to cross-border cooperation on matters concerning Karelia. The project managed to map out the various parties preserving the Kalevala tradition in Finland and the Republic of Karelia and to identify the special requirements and cooperation possibilities of each partner for cross-border cooperation. The project gained a lot of publicity both in Finland and Karelia. The networking achieved by the project created possibilities for new kinds of models of cooperation. Extension time was applied for and granted to the project, the purpose of which was set to creating continuity to achieve concrete results.
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  • 76%   551 917,48
  • 2000 - 2006 Euregio - Karelia  (FI-RU)
  • Project on KEEP Platform

2 Partners Participants