Exploring UNESCO World Heritage in Latvia: History, Culture and Sustainability

Description

Cultural and natural heritage have an essential role in shaping identity, memory, and collective belonging, and Latvia offers a unique example.

This course uses Latvia’s UNESCO World Heritage sites as a starting point to stimulate curiosity and critical thinking, showing how cultural and historical landscapes, architecture, science, and living traditions interact in meaningful ways.

Participants will begin by exploring the historic center of Riga, known for its exceptional Art Nouveau architecture and well-preserved medieval city structure.

Here is where, through guided analysis and field-based activities, they will examine how cities form and live by their identity. The course will also include a deep focus on the concept of “heritage”.

By touching on intangible cultural traditions, such as the Latvian Song and Dance Festival, it will be highlighted how living traditions, collective performances, community participation, costume, choreography, and landscape contribute to national identity and global cultural diversity.

In addition, participants will also be introduced to the Struve Geodetic Arc, a transnational scientific heritage site that connects Latvia to a much broader European framework: a global history of measurement, science, and collaboration that shows how scientific heritage can be made engaging and accessible in every educational context.

Special attention will then be given to contemporary challenges in heritage preservation, including sustainability, climate change, and tourism management.

Practical sessions will introduce participants to digital preservation tools such as GIS mapping, photogrammetry, and 3D modelling that, together with collaborative workshops, will help design sustainable tourism and education plans for UNESCO sites.

Engaging in role-playing games, case analysis, group projects, and collaborative problem-solving tasks, participants will explore how heritage professionals balance preservation with public access and community engagement.

By the end of the course, having learned how to combine site exploration with structured reflection and project-based learning, participants will leave equipped with practical and tried-and-tested strategies to integrate UNESCO heritage into educational contexts across different subjects and age groups.

Learning outcomes

The course will help participants to:

• Explain the mission of UNESCO, the world heritage criteria, and Latvia’s cultural sites;
• Describe Riga’s historic architecture, urban development, and cultural influences;
• Understand the role of intangible cultural heritage, including the Latvian song and dance tradition, in shaping national identity;
• Describe the scientific and transnational importance of the Struve Geodetic Arc;
• Evaluate current challenges in heritage conservation, including sustainability, tourism management, and climate change;
• Design educational activities that integrate cultural and natural heritage into classroom practice;
• Apply principles of responsible tourism and environmental stewardship to heritage contexts.

Tentative schedule

Day 1 – Introduction to the course and Latvia’s global heritage

• Introduction to the course, the school, and the external week activities;
• Icebreaker activities;
• Presentations of the participants’ schools;
• Icebreaker activity – “Heritage Around Me”: connecting participants’ personal and national heritage;
• UNESCO World Heritage Convention and inscription criteria;
• Latvia’s UNESCO sites: cultural, natural, and scientific significance;
• Discussion: What makes heritage “of outstanding universal value”?

Day 2 – Riga’s urban layers and architectural identity

• Overview of Riga’s urban evolution and cultural influences;
• Focus: Architecture, urban development, and the layered history of the capital;
• Guided discovery walk – an exploration of Riga’s “layers of history”: Gothic, Medieval, wooden suburbs, and Art Nouveau;
• “Architecture Treasure Hunt”: working in small teams, participants document and interpret urban features;
• Reflection on how cities reflect political change and cultural exchange.

Day 3 – Intangible and natural heritage

• Living Traditions Circle: music, crafts, and seasonal rituals;
• The Latvian Song and Dance Celebration: symbolism, collective performance and intergenerational transmission;
• Demonstration Lab: introduction to folk songs, patterns, and circular formations;
• The Struve Geodetic Arc: scientific history, rediscovery and preservation;
• Discussion: how to make scientific heritage engaging in the classroom.

Day 4 – Protecting the past for the future

• Environmental stewardship: cultivating awareness of environmental protection, sustainability, and responsible interaction with nature;
• How individual and collective actions impact ecosystems, cultural landscapes, and heritage sites;
• Heritage at risk: climate change and tourism pressures;
• Principles of sustainable tourism and community engagement (while still maximizing visitor learning);
• Digital tools used for digital preservation: GIS mapping for site inventories, photogrammetry for recording architectural details; 3D modeling to visualize lost or damaged structures; Building Information Modeling (HBIM); Virtual reality (VR);
• Design workshop: developing a sustainable tourism and education plan for a Latvian UNESCO site.

Day 5 – Reflection and competence consolidation

• Synthesis of learning outcomes;
• Group discussion: transferring heritage education into participants’ contexts.

Day 6 – Course closure and cultural activities

• Course evaluation: round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussion;
• Awarding of the course Certificate of Attendance;
• Excursion and other external cultural activities.

Download or share

Get weekly recaps on new sessions!