Description:
This grassroots project, facilitated by the Pirkanmaa Provincial Museum, encourages citizens to 'adopt' monuments of cultural and historical significance in their environment, to care for them and return them to use. While the adopters do not own the site, they do take on the role of managers in taking responsibility for its upkeep and monitoring its condition. As caretakers of these monuments, they also contribute to raising awareness in the local communities about their heritage by researching the history of the site and holding events there. As the monuments have often been left vacant for many years, this initiative helps to restore their visibility within their communities and greatly enhances their value. 'Adopt a Monument' has grown rapidly and has enjoyed tremendous popularity in Finland. New monuments are being added all the time and it has started to gradually spread throughout the rest of the country, an indication of its great success. An interesting and very relevant aspect of this project is its focus on bringing these cultural heritage sites and immigrants to Finland closer together by providing meaningful, short-term activity to asylum seekers in a bid to foster understanding of Finnish culture. This is another good aspect of this remarkable initiative, particularly timely and of great relevance everywhere in Europe.