“Local Government for Heritage” is a competition recognizing municipalities for exemplary development and implementation of municipal heritage protection programs. Its main objective is to motivate local governments to develop and implement heritage protection programs, which are mandatory for municipalities under the Act on the Protection and Care of Monuments, and to promote good practices in this area. Bolesławiec City Hall: – The winner in the urban municipalities category was the city of Łódź. Bolesławiec, Gdynia and Żyrardów received honorable mentions in the urban municipalities category.

Why was the City of Bolesławiec recognized?

The jury recognized the local government for:

  • recognizing the potential of the municipality’s cultural heritage and consistently implementing a heritage protection program understood as a strategy for managing this heritage;
  • a comprehensive approach to the city’s cultural heritage, consistency and strong involvement of the local government in implementing the program’s provisions, taking the city’s size into account;
  • strong links between the heritage protection program and other strategic documents, including those concerning spatial planning and municipal financial management.

National Heritage Institute:

An analysis of the document and the implementation process of the Municipal Heritage Protection Program for the City of Bolesławiec for 2014–2018 made it possible to rate highly the fulfillment of municipal responsibilities in the field of heritage protection and care. This process is carried out with substantial financial expenditure by the city, highly competent municipal employees, and the commitment and creativity of the municipal institution that is the Museum of Ceramics.

City officials:

It should be emphasized that the management of Bolesławiec’s tangible cultural heritage is the result of active cooperation among departments of the city office and municipal government institutions. The coordinating role rests with the mayor, who supervises the activities of the following departments in this area: the Property and Spatial Management Department (including the Spatial Management and Information Division) and the Public Procurement and Municipal Investments Department.

They also add:

It is worth recalling that in 2006 the New Old Town program was developed. It provided for comprehensive conservation and renovation activities in Bolesławiec Old Town, based on a mechanism of joint governance and shared responsibility between the urban municipality and housing communities. Today, Bolesławiec has approximately 700 sites eligible to apply for grants for the renovation of historic monuments. Further applications are submitted every year and, following a positive assessment, gradually expand the revitalized area. Among the urban municipality’s own investments involving historic monuments, a huge project to revitalize and restore the function of the 19th-century bathhouses stands out, along with renovation work on the Renaissance town hall building, including the renovation of the tower roof and the interiors of the lower floor.

For many years, the Urban Municipality of Bolesławiec has consistently pursued a policy of strengthening the city’s economic, cultural and tourism position based on Bolesławiec ceramics. The city office:

Activities in this area, coordinated by the mayor, are carried out by three municipal cultural institutions—the Bolesławiec Cultural Center – International Ceramics Center, the Museum of Ceramics and the Municipal Public Library – Knowledge Center—as well as the Department of City Development and Promotion. For many years, Bolesławiec has also cooperated with associations of ceramic cities in Italy, France, Spain, Romania, Germany, Portugal and the Czech Republic, and in particular with the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation “Cities of Ceramics.” In 2015, the Urban Municipality of Bolesławiec initiated and became a founding member of the Association of Ceramic Municipalities of the Republic of Poland, whose objective is to promote and popularize Polish ceramics internationally. In 2017–2018, as part of the association’s activities, a series of exhibitions promoting Bolesławiec ceramics was organized in Italy: in Vietri sul Mare, at the Polish Institute in Rome, in Ancona and in Faenza, as well as a series of exhibitions presenting Italian ceramics in Poland: in Bolesławiec and at the Italian Cultural Institute in Kraków. The next step in building an international cooperation network is efforts to include Bolesławiec in the European Route of Ceramics, one of the cultural routes certified by the Council of Europe.

The main partner for cooperation and the organizer of numerous projects and activities in the field of cultural heritage education and promotion is the Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec. The museum’s active cooperation with the Urban Municipality of Bolesławiec, with the involvement of numerous partners in Poland and abroad, makes it possible to implement many international projects co-financed by the European Union or other sources. These projects have included numerous investments—renovations of museum buildings, modernization of permanent exhibitions, and the purchase of equipment and multimedia—as well as so-called soft activities: exhibitions organized in Poland and abroad, multilingual publications, international conferences, and many series of museum lessons and workshops. The Urban Municipality of Bolesławiec provides financial support for these projects by securing its own contribution in the budget and pre-financing expenses in projects settled on a reimbursement basis.

One of the most important projects promoting local heritage was the creation and subsequent expansion of the cross-border tourist route “Via Fabrilis,” presenting traditional crafts and sites associated with them along the Czech-Polish border. Particularly valuable was Bolesławiec’s inclusion in the Council of Europe’s international Cultural Routes: Destination Napoleon and European Route of Ceramics. One of the greatest challenges currently facing the Urban Municipality of Bolesławiec is the implementation of the project “Poland and Norway on the European Route of Ceramics: Including Bolesławiec and Porsgrunn in the International Network of Cities with Ceramic Traditions.” As part of the project, one of Bolesławiec’s most valuable historic monuments—the neo-Gothic Pückler Palace—will be revitalized and converted into the new headquarters of the Museum of Ceramics. The project received funding from the EEA Financial Mechanism under the Culture Programme and will be carried out jointly with the Norwegian city of Porsgrunn in 2021–2024.