The Interpretation Centre “Vlach Trails” (Vlaški puti), founded with the aim of promoting the tradition of the Valdarsa (Susgnevizza) area and the Wallachian language, continues to enrich its offer.

It recently received a donation of 20 thousand kuna from the Department of Culture and Territoriality of the Istrian Region. According to the coordinator of the public institution, Viviana Brkarić, the amount made it possible to introduce audio guides in Italian and German, which were added to those in Croatian and English. In addition, to increase the visibility of the Center and for promotional purposes, special materials were created with which the entrance door was decorated and a welcome sign for the Center was created. One of the goals that will continue to be worked on this year is to increase the number of visitors in accordance with the principles of sustainability, as well as to increase the income from visits and to expand the activities for guests by introducing additional content.

The Interpretation Centre is part of the concept of the Ecomuseum, which bears the same name, which represents a place of valorization and presentation of the social and traditional culture, as well as the history of Valdarsa and its surroundings through the idea of ​​cultural landscape. The Ecomuseum promotes the preservation of tradition, culture and natural resources of the area with the aim of creating a new tourist and cultural product through the Interpretation Centre as a starting point on the one hand and attractive thematic trails along which visitors can learn about the rich natural heritage of the Monte Maggiore Natural Park on the other.

Children's stories in Wallachian

New projects have also been implemented within the work program of the Association “Spod Učke”, which is committed to the protection of the Vlach language, a language at high risk of extinction, of which the initiators of the foundation of the Centre in Valdarsa, Viviana Brkarić and Valter Stojšić, are members. The Association has produced a cartoon in Vlach of the famous Aesop’s fable “The Cricket and the Ant”. Titled in the target language “Čârčâku ši furniga”, the work includes illustrations by Stojšić, who also took care of the animation, and is available at https://youtu.be/Y0kTaglhap4

As part of the project “(Ne)skrivena Istra” (Istria (ig)nota), in which the tradition of oral storytelling merges with cinematographic art, an audio story of the Brothers Grimm’s work “The Seven Ravens” was created, entitled in Wallachian “Šåpte korbi”. The illustrations were created by Leona Runko, the animation was done by Valter Stojšić, and the text, as in the case of Aesop’s fable, was interpreted by Viviana Brkarić. The story can be found at https://youtu.be/sNQmI0Qlc6s.

The Association “Spod Učke” implements its projects with the support it receives from the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Istria County, the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the Municipality of Kršan and the Electrical Energy Company (HEP).