FORTMED is the International Conference on Modern Age Fortifications of the Mediterranean coast. This conference took place on November 10th, 11th and 12th 2016, at the Dipartimento di Architettura (DiDA) of the Florence University (UNIFI).

From the CHwB Kosovo office, Senat Haliti attended the conference and together with Rand Eppich presented the paper “Interpretation at Fortified Sites in the Mediterranean: The Case of the Prizren Castle, Kosovo” (authors: Senat N. Haliti, Kaltrina Thaçi and Rand Eppich).

The paper describes the work of Kosovo Foundation for Cultural Heritage without Borders  and the Archaeological Institute of Kosovo (Kosovo Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport) and the efforts to create an integrated interpretation plan for Prizren Castle. The castle is currently undergoing restoration and two key aspects are improving interpretation and developing a management plan.

The paper describes the methodology which including secondary and primary research into other approaches, holding multi-level stakeholder meetings, conducting a series of interactive student / professional workshops and involving experts with multiple evaluations. The results demonstrate that interpretation and management plans are integral parts of the conservation of fortifications and must be considered before and during interventions.

Beside presenting, the authors had the chance to meet other professionals in the field of cultural heritage and established contacts for potential cooperation in future project.

The full paper and other papers presented on the conference, you can find on the conference proceedings.