22/04/2024
CREATIVE COURSE IN THE CITY ON A GRAIN OF SALT
By Branislav Lukić Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
The city of Tuzla hosted 12 participants from
Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for an IE CIG
course.
Tuzla, the city on a grain of salt, is in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and is one of the oldest settlements
in Europe with continuity of life. The oldest stilt
houses settlement in Europe was found in Tuzla,
which dates back to the Neolithic (Younger Stone
Age). Other stilt house settlements found in Europe
only date back to the Iron Age. The name of the city
derives from the word ‘tuz’, which means ‘salt’ in the
Turkish language. This city is one of the largest cities
in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is a very important
cultural, educational and economic centre of the
country. Some say that two ores, salt and coal, are the
greatest wealth of Tuzla, but that is not true because
the greatest wealth is its citizens - the people who
live there.
From 4-8 March, Tuzla hosted 12 participants for an
IE Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) training course.
It was led by IE Certified Trainer Ivana Zrilić from
Croatia. This course was run as part of the cross-
border cooperation project ‘Old railways for new
experiences’ financed by the European Union as
part of the cross-border cooperation programme
of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Serbia. The project is
jointly implemented by the LINK entrepreneurial
centre Mostar in cooperation with the municipality
of Banovići, BIPS Belgrade and FORCA Požega.
All the participants agreed that, along with the
excellent IE course, the beauty of the city of Tuzla
and its hospitality will remain in their thoughts.
The positive energy that reigned over all five days
of the course showed that cohesion is one of the
fundamental values of this training. The theoretical
part of the course was very well balanced – just
enough in the classroom for the background we
needed, and the main focus was on the development
of our interpretation skills. Although there were days
that were rainy and very cold, we still got out to
work in the field. It brought us even closer as a team,
noting that until this course none of the participants
knew each other. The wealth of diversity should
also be highlighted here, as the participants were of
different generations, genders, professions, nations,
religions and life experiences. This IE course really
brought us all together.
In researching the phenomena of Tuzla to interpret,
the participants visited the following diverse
range of destinations: Pannonian Lakes, City Park
with a monument to Tvrtko I Kotromanić, Square
of Freedom, Salt Square, Salt Spa, Atelier Ismet
Mujezinović, International Gallery of portraits, Center
of Literature, Monument to the Miner of Husino,
Monument to Meša Selimović and Ismet Mujezinović,
Tuzla goat monument, Bazaar fountain, Gazi Turali-
beg’s (Polish) mosque, Cathedral of the Assumption
of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Franciscan church
and monastery of St. Peter and Paul.
It was a really intense week with a motivated and
excellent team of participants. We acquired skills
that will be of great importance in our further work
as IE CIGs. “The whole of Tuzla milked one goat” was
the message during the working week, and for some
new meeting and socialising I am sending a message
- “See you at Meša and Ismet”.
Branislav Lukić Luka is a multimedia artist, academic
painter, writer, photographer, designer and guide.
He is also an NGO activist. You can contact him at:
[email protected]