Kraków was happy to celebrate the Solidarity Day of World Heritage Cities together with the youngest inhabitants.  This year we were addressing school pupils, for whom an educational series “Heritage with Lajkotek, or a journey into the future of our past” has been developed. A set of 10 educational notebooks together with a notebook for a teacher, commissioned by the Municipality of Krakow, can be downloaded free of charge in PDF format (for printing) on the Municipal Educational Portal (https://portaledukacyjny.krakow.pl/zalacznik/396827).  The goal of the project was to bring the topic of heritage closer to the people of Krakow. And convince them that care for the heritage is not only the duty of city authorities and relevant institutions, but it is also citizens responsibility. Educational booklets are to support teachers and educational institutions with knowledge and games on the heritage.

To introduce this new educational tool the Municipality of Kraków together with Museum of Kraków organized workshops for children of lower primary classes, promoting the educational series “Heritage with Lajkotek”. Lajkotek is a name of nice, funny cat narrating about history, traditions and heritage.

The starting point for the discussion about heritage was Krakow and the family home. The basic notions of heritage and an introduction to different kinds of heritage were presented on the examples of terms known by pupils. Then the children did simple exercises in searching for their own heritage, tried on a kontusz costume, and learnt about the elements of a Krakow crib.  The workshop also included tasks from the educational notebooks and guessing games. It turned out that the young people of Krakow know a lot about the heritage of their city. The workshops were an opportunity to develop their knowledge and make new discoveries, and – which was their main goal – to make them curious about the treasures of the past and the traditions we cultivate today. Since cultural heritage is an important part of our everyday life, and is crucial to our sense of identity and future development.

Workshops were very much appreciated by pupils and teachers so also in future there are to be continued with participation of different Kraków’s schools.