Living Heritage Journeys Project

The Living Heritage Journeys is a collaborative project to explore meaningful ways of integrating intangible cultural heritage into sustainable tourism experiences, among diverse partners from five EU countries. It is a multi-country initiative supported via the Creative Europe Programme.

Visit the project website, which is updated continuously during the project period.
Take the opportunity to sign up for the Newsletter

Through these collaborations, the project seeks to empower various target groups and audiences (living heritage practitioners and communities, heritage workers, tourism professionals, and others) to develop tourism experiences that safeguard living heritage, fostering a deeper appreciation of cultural heritage.
Read more about the project goal and methodology

The co-creative teampartners

Each project partner in the team takes care of specific tasks and work packages to realise the project. Each partner also collaborates on a pilot case about living heritage and tourism in the different countries.

Read more about our project colleagues:

– Thomas More, Belgium
– Workshop intangible heritage, Belgium
– Muzeum Krakowa, Poland
– Batana, Croatia
– Associazione Giochi Antichi, Italy
– Berättarnätet Kronoberg, Sweden

The startup work within the project

The project Living Heritage Journeys spans over four years, 2024-2027. Sagobygden is participating as Berättarnätet Kronoberg, the non-profit organization that manages Sagobygden.

-Sagobygden has conducted a survey to explore what makes a place attractive to visit and how to develop living heritage as a tourist destination. The questions were distributed via flyers and personal meetings. A QR code linked participants to a questionnaire.

-Sagobygden organized an initial workshop, on 26th of September, with invited officials from the three municipalities Ljungby, Älmhult, Alvesta that include Sagobygden and Destination Småland. On the agenda: follow-up on the feasibility study regarding Sagobygden as a future destination. Presentation of the survey on tourism and living heritage.

-Sagobygden organized a full day of workshops, with lectures, and creative discussions on October 18. Invited are representatives from businesses, politicians, officials, the tourism industry, associations, organizations, and individuals connected to the theme “Living Heritage – A Future Asset for Tourism?

To this day an environmental analysis has been produced as one of the bases for discussion. Lecturer, School of Economics Linne University, holds a workshop session of the open space model based on the participants wishes and questions.

– A third and final workshop was held on December 10 via Zoom. It was an open conversation about storytelling and tourism, as well as Sagobygden’s development from the beginning to today. Challenges and surprises were discussed, along with what we take with us into the next phase. Participants included members who helped build Berättarnätet Kronoberg, staff, and partners.

–Logotype – With the help of a local artist, each partner has created a hand-embroidered logo that links to their cultural heritage. In our case, the oral storytelling tradition. Our artist is Maria Ehrenberg, who embroidered the logo based on a painting by Kjell Sundberg. The name of the work is: The power of the word.

The Pilot in Sagobygden

Living heritage practices and the communities that carry them are the beating heart of this project. Five pilot projects are being co-created as living labs to test creative methodologies, tools and approaches for integrating living heritage into tourism in meaningful and sustainable ways.

Sagobygden chose to explore how legendary places could be experienced in new and more accessible ways. We asked ourselves: How can we help visitors not only hear a legend, but also feel closer to the story and gain a deeper understanding of the place to which it belongs?

During spring 2026, three of Sagobygden’s legendary places were given new life through new features in the Sagobygden app. Using audio tracks, quizzes and AR films, Sagobygden and its partners wanted to create a more vivid and engaging experience out in the landscape.

In close collaboration with the experience company OnSpotStory, the project partners spent the spring testing, adjusting and developing these new features. It has been an exciting process – and sometimes a real challenge!

On 30 May 2026, Sagobygden and its partners organised a spring launch of the app’s new features at the legendary site of Agundaborg.

With these new features, the team hopes to engage the whole family – from younger visitors to older generations. A visit to a legendary place should be an experience where everyone can discover, listen, explore and have fun, based on their own interests and abilities.

Throughout the summer of 2026, the partners have continued to invite people to discover the three upgraded legendary places. Among other things, they have created a competition designed both to spark curiosity about the sites and to encourage visitors to share their experiences through the project survey.

The concept is simple: visit a legendary place, download the app, answer a few questions about your experience and take a selfie at the site. The winners will be drawn after 30 September.

Read more about the project:
Link to project homepage for Living Heritage Journeys

Link to projectpage on LinkedIn

Link to projectpage on Facebook

Link to projectpage on Instagram

Please contact us if you are interested of more information:
kontakt@sagobygden.se