On 18 and 19 October 2019, Etz Hayyim Synagogue in Hania, Crete, hosted the partners of the Heritage Contact Zone consortium for their 4th partner meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting the partners were introduced to the history of the Jewish community on Crete during a guided tour of Etz Hayyim Synagogue and the historic Jewish neighbourhood of Hania. The tour highlighted the role of Etz Hayyim as a heritage site shedding light on the multifaceted and multifaith past of the island of Crete.
During two working sessions the partners focused on a preliminary review of the project: Based on a series of workshops hosted by the project partners in preparation of five local exhibitions, a toolkit for small heritage organisations dealing with contested heritage was drafted. The toolkit reflects the experience and insights of the project partners and is meant to assist small heritage organisations in developing projects that create heritage communities and engage the public in creative ways.
In the evening of Friday, 18 October, the partners had the opportunity to participate in the Erev Shabbat service at Etz Hayyim Synagogue along with other guests. After that they were invited to a sneak preview of the exhibition “Parallel Points of View”, Etz Hayyim’s contribution to the series of five local exhibitions envisaged by the Heritage Contact Zone project. The exhibition was officially opened to the public on 20 October for a week.
After the end of the partner meeting on 19 October, the partners were invited to a concert by the Greek bank Klezmer Yunan at Etz Hayyim Synagogue. The concert was part of the two-week celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Rededication of Etz Hayyim Synagogue.