European inventory of
societal values of culture

Marcelić – Fortress of culture Šibenik: From cultural heritage management to sustainable social development

Marcelić, S. (2023).  Fortress of culture Šibenik: From cultural heritage management to sustainable social development.

This case study presents the development of cultural policies aimed at sustainable social development in the Croatian coastal city of Šibenik, which has experienced a transition from a socialist industrial centre to a de-industrialised city whose economy is oriented primarily towards tourism. However, unlike other major cities in the Adriatic area, Šibenik has used some of its historic resources to develop cultural programming aimed at sustainable social development. The city is surrounded by a network of large Renaissance fortresses that were sitting largely unused during the city’s economic depression at the outset of the post-socialist period. An ambitious project to revive them (with an emphasis on cultural development) was put in place in the early 2010s. Between 2014 and 2020, 16.6 million euros were invested in three major fortresses (with a strong EU participation of 8.1 million euros), turning one of them into a concert venue and another one into an educational campus. In 2016, the city of Šibenik established a new public institution, named the Fortress of Culture, whose initial role was to manage cultural and economic activities in the newly revived fortresses. However, the relatively brief past six years of its existence have shown that, in addition to heritage management, the newly formed
institution has also served as the central platform for further development and diversification of cultural activities in the city.