On September 22nd and 23rd, 2020, the closing conference of the Monumental 9 project was held in Nikšić, Montenegro officially announcing the end of the project activities.
The outcomes of Monumental 9 included online trainings for young local greeters, vloggers and bloggers as well as, most importantly, the creation of 3 pilot tours to promote memorial tourism – the first in Konjic, Jablanica, Mostar and Nikšić; the second in Brezovica, Kruševo, Niš; and the last in Prijedor, Šid and Užice. An interactive and friendly website containing audio, visual and written narratives of the nine magnificent WWII monuments in question was also created, giving the possibility to explore the Balkan adventure of the project stakeholders, and can be visited at www.monumental9.org.
The values at the core of the project will now see a follow-up with the new CulTours activities funded by the Western Balkan Fund, which aim to create a mobile application for the promotion and dissemination of local cultural heritage.
Monumental 9 was supported by the Regional Cooperation Council through the Tourism Development & Promotion Project’s Grant Programme, and funded by European Union. Implemented by the Local Democracy Agency Montenegro as lead partner, its consortium involved LDA Mostar, LDA Kosovo, LDA Zavidovici, LDA Prijedor, LDA Knjazevac, LDA Subotica & ALDA Skopje and drew on the cultural heritage monuments dedicated to WWII in the Western Balkans.