Borderland Atlantis
cross border cultural trail
A two-year project of cross-border cooperation between partners from Poland, Lithuania and Russia which aims to create a common cultural routes between Sejny and Krasnogruda, Kėdainiai and Kaliningrad. Working with young people and local institutions the project explored the places and objects that are important culturally. The project developed exhibition and print materials in Polish, Lithuanian, Russian and English, celebrating the histories of the area.
The project brought together young people to work with artists and cultural experts who investigated the route, designing and making materials for publications and exhibitions through a series of creative workshops.
In each of the three locations, these workshops covered cultural heritage, photography, ceramics, poetry, archaeology, theatre, music, visual arts. Together they examined the common cultural heritage of the region, as well as its landscape.
The project was supported from the Lithuania-Poland-Russia Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2007-2013 is co-financed with funds of European Union.
Athanasius Kircher’s map of Atlantis, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. From Mundus Subterraneus 1669, published in Amsterdam. The map is orientated with the south at the top.
The legendary island (or continent) of Atlantis was first mentioned by Plato in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written in 360 BC. The myth of Atlantis, an ancient advanced civilisation that was destroyed, has inspired many visions and interpretations, both utopian and apocalyptic.
The central question the project poses to young people is: if civilisation were to collapse what would you seek to preserve.
Jest coś, co chciałabym/chciałbym ocalić…
Which places, people, habits, activities, songs and images are particularly important for the culture of your region and which ones you need to save for the future?
Both the publication guide and the exhibition provide support material for teachers and local cultural tour guides who participated in the project. These were aimed at courses in the field of raising awareness about the neighbours on the other side of the border, the cultures of national minorities and religious traditions of dialogue and tolerance of this Polish-Lithuanian-Russian triangle.
For participants, the programme provided opportunities of education, travel and networking with partners in other countries, while reinforcing their identity and ties with the region and the place from which they originate.
Project Partners
Regional Museum in Kėdainiai, Lithuania
Kaliningradski association of writers, Kaliningrad
Centre “Borderland of Arts, Cultures and Nations”
Participants are drawn from the following organisations:
- I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Grzegorza Piramowicza w Augustowie
- Gimnazjum nr 1 im. Jana Pawła II w Sejnach
- LO im. Szymona Konarskiego w Sejnach
- III Liceum Ogólnokształcącego im. A. Lityńskiego w Suwałkach
- Szkoła Podstawowa im Henryka Dobrańskiego „Hubala” w Sejnach
- Šviesioji Gimnazjum w Kėdainiai
- Atžalyno Gimnazjum w Kėdainiai
- Šėta Gimnazjum rejon Kėdainiai
- Atžalyno Gimnazjum w Kėdainiai
- Muzeum krajowy w Kėdainiai
- Kaliningrad regional organisation of writers
- BFU “Imanuel Kant”, Kaliningrad
- Gimnazium nr.2, Gorievs, Kaliningrad
- School nr. 7, Kaliningrad
- School nr. 49, Kaliningrad
- School nr.44, Ganzejskaya ladya, Kaliningrad
