The Ars and Labor Foundation is a legal entity that promotes projects of public interest in the field of conservation and culture.
Mission
The Ars et Labor Foundation was established to promote the conservation of historic, artistic and cultural heritage of Istria and perform its valorisation for economic purposes. It intends to facilitate the creation and development of cultural and artistic projects in the Istrian territory in collaboration with the existing entities. The Foundation also aims to endorse cultural activities which directly and indirectly concern said activities outside Istria too, including the promotion of Istrian history and traditions as the meeting place of peoples, cultures and civilizations.
Istria is an exquisite land of hills and the sea, with landscapes lined with olive groves and vineyards, rich in history and art dating back to 2000 years ago, the era of the Histri and the Roman settlement, with finds from the Early Middle Ages to the Venetian era. It is among few regions that can boast such unique and compelling countryside, art and history.
Why start in Vodnjan?
Vodnjan is the ideal place for the implementation of pilot projects.
It is an old, beautiful and neglected town. It has a vast and important archaeological, his-toric, artistic and architectural heritage, for the most part abandoned and dilapidated. Vodnjan is a small town perched on a hill situated in the predominantly agricultural terri-tory, in the vicinity of Pula and the coast, facing the Brijuni Islands.
The beautiful but abandoned Trgovačka Street used to be the hub for a sustainable arti-san and industrial experiment. Let us not forget the Voivoda master shoemaker’s work-shop or Sottocorona’s silk factory, or today’s Infobip company.
Vodnjan is the ideal centre for project activities and alternative tourism combining culture and food.
These are some of the activities that may become projects:
- Opening workshops for manufacturing sustainable solar roof tiles and the Centre for Research and Development of energy efficient materials in the protected historical core.
- Opening a multi-purpose Intercultural Office and the International Cultural Centre at the headquarters of the Ars et Labor Foundation. In collaboration with experts, we are working on a Centre for Project Planning (not only European) in the field of conservation and cultural activities. The activities will be directly and autonomously managed by the Foundation, cooperating with all entities ready to participate in cultural and economic undertakings of this type supported by various EU and private funds.
- Setting up a house of ideas. The Foundation wishes to be a hotbed of ideas open to entrepreneurial individuals with clear ideas about how to valorise the territory and create a microeconomy that will contribute to the area, steeped in culture in its broadest sense.
This is how Vodnjan and Istria will become engines of recovery of its own historic role, continuing to expand its work experience on renovation projects aimed at the revitalisation of abandoned city spaces. It is a project that the Ars et Labor Foundation intends to carry out in collaboration with all interested parties in compliance with valid regulations and laws.