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Rasa Viederyte
Klaipeda University, Institute of Baltic Region History and Archaeology
Regional Administrator of Lagomar project
 Lagoons of the Baltic Sea form a unique maritime landscape for a
lot of thousand of years in the history of mankind. Lagoons become the interface of local,
regional and international interests. Though these three lagoons (Szczecin, Vysla and
Curonian) are at the border of European Union they are rather problematic, undeveloped and
rather unstudied.
In summer of 2005, 18 partners from Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Kaliningrad region made
a group of joint activities - to investigate cultural and natural heritage of the southern
part of the Baltic Sea. The main activities of the Project had a code name Lagomar
and were connected with challenges and perspectives of regional development. They were:
development of cultural and natural information sources of lagoons and international
application of those information sources as well as structuring of information and
analysing maritime cultural landscape from the point of view of historic aspect.
It is expected that the investments into studies will help to better develop tourism in
the Baltic Sea lagoons. Having analysed scientific research results, information submitted
by the museums and tourism projects prepared by each country we can clearly distinguish
that the significance of Project activities is great and predetermines the development of
tourism in those territories.
The chosen
main objective of the Project - is the systematisation of the collected information about
traditional and volatile interface of the mankind and the sea. The created data base
system allows to structurise and input information and gives references to whole-text
sources of information in other data bases. The created data base will help the museums to
more effectively prepare tourist routes and exhibitions.
Since December of 2007 year curious seekers of historical information are able to use the
accumulated knowledge in the newly created international data base by the address www.lagomar.de.
During the implementation of the Project, the scientists of Klaipeda University created a
photo catalogue and with the help of the workers of Lithuanian Radio and Television shot a
documentary film, besides, new expositions are prepared in the objects that are visited by
tourists.
The applicant of the implemented Project is Rostock University (Germany). The Project Natural
and Cultural heritage in the Southern Baltic Sea: challenges and perspectives of regional
development was successfully financed from the INTERREG III B program funds. For the
implementation of the activities of Lagomar Project 2 million Euros were allotted
from EU and it was shared by 18 project partners from the institutions of Lithuania,
Poland, Russia (Kaliningrad Region) and Germany. Universities of Klaipeda, Kaliningrad,
Greifswald and Rostock, museums of Klaipeda, Kaliningrad and Gdansk, settlements situated
near lagoons, institutions of Neringa, Silute, Zelenogradsk, Stutov, Polis and Volyne were
invited to take part in the Project. Tourism organisations took part in the Project too.
The implementation of the Project lasted 30 months.
The
specialists of information and communications technologies in Klaipeda and Rostock
Universities paid special attention to interdisciplinary scientific cooperation. It is
also important that this Project not only united the scientists of different countries but
also created possibilities to exchange "know-how" induced development of regional borders
and activated international cooperation among the countries of the Baltic Sea region.
Lagomar project motto is: "The key to history is the key to the
future".
If one could clear out how the lagoon regions were developed during the history of
mankind, what was the interface of a man and the sea we should be able to understand a lot
of things, how to communicate in those regions of Europe without linguistic, political and
ethnic limitations in the future.
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