A new Moldovan-French partnership in the field of culture was established by the Agency for Monument Inspection and Restoration, the Vendée Department of France and the Embassy of France in Chisinau for a three-year period. Within this partnership, students of the State Teacher Training University “Ion Creanga” will be trained by French experts in cultural heritage, management and tourism and will make fact-finding visits to France.
In a news conference at IPN, Agency for Monument Inspection and Restoration director general Ion Stefanita said this cooperation will offer opportunities of learning from the experience of France, especially to young people who are in the process of professional formation in the field of cultural heritage. In the recent past, they have spoken more about cultural patriotism in Moldova and more restoration projects have been launched. But it is not enough to restore the heritage only. This should be animated, developed and promoted.
Ambassador of France to Moldova Pascal Le Deunff said that today we can speak about exemplary cooperation between the Republic of Moldova and France, based on multiple cultural projects, as the cultural heritage is an important sector for both of the countries.
Francois Bon, adviser in the Vendée Department, said this small department in northwestern France is interested in cooperating with the Republic of Moldova and in sharing its experience of conserving and developing the cultural heritage. Transmitting knowledge about the heritage to the young people is one of the objectives.
Claudia Visan, of the Francophone University Agency for Moldova, which is a partner of the project, noted that this project envisions the formation of young specialists of the Teacher Training University. In this regard, the Agency will offer financial support to French experts who will come to give lectures to students.
Marc Badel, of the Vendée Department, said that besides teaching courses to students, the project envisions the designing of a tourist brochure to promote the heritage of Soroca. This will be in two versions, Romanian-French and French-English.
Constantin Ciorba, pro-rector of ”Ion Creanga” University, said the project comes to solve two important problems, namely the keeping and looking after the national heritage and the training of staff. “High-quality education is not possible without education by values. A real generation of educated citizens will appear only when the people will know to keep and promote the national cultural values and only this way we will be able to perceive the universal values,” stated Ludmila Armasu-Canter, chair of the Scientific Council of ”Ion Creanga” University.
