To improve the sustainable use of Nikopol-Turnu Magurele cross-border cultural heritage by developing, implementing and promoting an integrated joint approach for investing in sustainable tourism.

Total budget of the project = 5,816,165.49 euro, out of which 4,943,740.66 ERDF

Lead beneficiary (LB): Nikopol Municipality, Bulgaria

Beneficiary 2 (B2): Turnu Magurele Town, Romania

Start date: 31.03.2017

End date: 30.12.2023

Duration: 81 months

• construction works for restoring Turnu Magurele fortress;
• constructing Nikopol archeological park with access road to Cliff Church 3 stakeholder workshops for developing 9 integrated tourist products/services;
• 1 joint marketing strategy;
• 1 joint information web portal and smartphone application;
• 5 info terminals;
• 2 clubs for historical restorations;
• 1 large-scale cross-border festival;
• information and publicity materials.

Programme outputs:10,000 visits to supported sites of cultural and natural heritage and attraction (COI); 2 integrated tourism products; 7 integrated tourism services; 1 common strategy

Programme results: 2,800 tourists overnights in the CBC region

The project was finalized on 30.12.2023 and the following results have been reported:

LB: the works on the road to the Cliff Church and the works for the construction of the Open-air Museum - Archaeological Park "Piers of the Time"were finalized. The protective wall and the works on the museum is finished. The museum is in the process of opening for visitors.

B2: the restoration of the Turnu fortress in Turnu Magurele was completed and is open for visiting.

Within the project so far the following equipment and services have been delivered:

- A joint marketing strategy have been elaborated and can be found at the following adress: https://thebridgesoftime.com/?page_id=6918&lang=en

- A trilingual online portal “The bridges of time” and a smart phone application have been developed and can be found at https://thebridgesoftime.comand the smart phone app , respectivelyGoogle Play Store under the name “The bridges of time”;

- 100 pieces of household costumes from the ancient era which will be used by the 2 clubs for historical restorations have been purchased.

- 2 clubs for restoration of the historical events have been established, one by LB and one by B2 and a training has been performed for the Romanian and Bulgarian club members with a duration of 200 hours.

- A four-day joint camp at the two clubs for ancient and medieval historical events in Turnu Magurele (Romania) and Nikopol (Bulgaria) was organized during the period 21-24.09.2023 in Nikopol and Turnu Magurele.

- The 3-day cross-border festival “The Bridges of Time” was organized in the period 06-08.10.2023 in Nikopol and Turnu Magurele. On 6^th of October 2023 the festival was organized in Turnu and during the period 07-08.10.2023 in Nikopol.

- A workshop with tour operators and other relevant stakeholders for development of joint tourist products and services and assessment of marketing strategy was organized during the period 27-28.11.2023 in Nikopol Municipality.

More information are available at: https://thebridgesoftime.com, and also on the mobile application The Bridges of Time.