*Article* **Soviet Heritage(scape) in Sillamäe: Documenting the Potential in an Emerging Tourism Destination**

**Saara Mildeberg \* and Jaanika Vider**

Centre for Landscape and Culture, School of Humanities, Tallinn University, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia **\*** Correspondence: saarah@tlu.ee; Tel.: +372-5590-3472

**Abstract:** In 2014, the National Heritage Board of Estonia began the procedure for declaring the town centre of the former Soviet secret uranium town of Sillamäe in Northeast Estonia a heritage conservation area. The process is expected to be finalised in 2023, making it the first area where Soviet architecture would be under protection in Estonia. By approaching the town theoretically and methodologically as a heritagescape where components of tangible landscape are used to create a distinct place of the past, looking at how the town's official development policy relates to the existing representations of the past in the town's memory institutions, and interviewing local stakeholders, this article provides a broader and more nuanced understanding of Sillamäe and its tourism potential. Sillamäe as heritagescape offers tourists the chance to experience a curated version of the Soviet era and contemplate on the legacy of nuclear industry, while remaining in the safety of a resort town in the periphery of the European Union.

**Keywords:** Soviet heritage; heritagescape; cultural tourism; industrial tourism; Northeast Estonia

#### **Citation:** Mildeberg, S.; Vider, J. Soviet Heritage(scape) in Sillamäe: Documenting the Potential in an Emerging Tourism Destination. *Societies* **2022**, *12*, 127. https:// doi.org/10.3390/soc12050127

Academic Editors: Andreea-Loreta Cercleux, Jörn Harfst and Oana-Ramona Ilovan

Received: 1 July 2022 Accepted: 7 September 2022 Published: 12 September 2022

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**Copyright:** © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

#### **1. Introduction**

*"20 years ago, when people passed Sillamäe—nobody could see that [central] part of the town. They would all only notice the Brezhnev-era district, right. "This isn't a town, it's* . . . *Are you joking, what are you talking about? We have driven [past Sillamäe] to Narva and back, and to St. Petersburg. It's such a horrible town. [. . . ] There's nothing there."*—an independent tourism entrepreneur in an interview in Sillamäe, 14 September 2021.

In 2014, the National Heritage Board of Estonia began the procedure of declaring the town centre of the former Soviet secret uranium town of Sillamäe in Northeast Estonia a heritage conservation area. The procedure, which is based on the cooperation of heritage experts, state authorities, the local government, and local residents, is expected to be finalised in 2023. Once completed, Sillamäe town centre will be the first area where Soviet architecture would be under protection in Estonia. In this article, we use Sillamäe as a case study in order to examine the changing status of Soviet heritage in Estonia and its relevance for tourism. The town's complex identity is derived from its history as a holiday site for St. Petersburg's elites in the 19th century, as the secret elite town of the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and today as a Russian-speaking town in the industrial region of Ida-Virumaa, which has been described as "Oil Shale Land", symbolising the Soviet myth of progress [1] or a deliberately forgotten utopia [2]. Studies of changes in this part of Estonia have focused on the establishment of mono-industrial towns [3,4] and on the valorisation of the oil shale industry legacy, specifically on the recultivation and tourism potential of artificial landforms [5,6]. Our research adds to the existing scholarship a complex case study in which visions of a resort, unique Soviet architectural heritage, painful histories, and present day fears of marginalisation meet in one place.

Estonian Heritage Conservation Act defines a heritage conservation area as "an area, a historical settlement or a part thereof or a cultural landscape developed under the common influence of the nature and human activities" which "may consist of buildings [. . . ] and civil engineering works dating from one or several periods together with the archaeological layer, natural objects, street network, roads, land parcels and structure of buildings and plots characteristic of the area" [7]. The exact area to be included in the Sillamäe Conservation Area is still under negotiations, offering an opportunity to look at the town as a larger heritagescape and explore its potential before the contents and the borders of the Sillamäe Heritage Conservation Area are set.

Despite a large portion of Estonian cultural landmarks, such as castles, manors, and churches being of foreign origin [8], the conservation and restoration of Soviet-era architecture has thus formed a marginal part of heritage protection activities. A similar tendency has been observed in Lithuania, where the Soviet era is first and foremost associated with large-scale industrialisation and its side effects—destroyed landscapes, pollution, lowquality products, and huge industrial complexes—which are not regarded "heritageable" from a national point of view that favours the master narrative of a rural and agrarian country [9]. Soviet heritage can therefore be called "dissonant heritage" [10], or even "undesirable heritage", where the physical remains of the past offer up an identity that many of those in the present wish to distance themselves from, even while at the same time recognising it fully as a part of their history [11].

The status of Soviet heritage in Estonia, is closely linked to the social and cultural changes that accompanied the Soviet regime. After WWII, deportations in the 1940s were followed by the creation of collective farms and large-scale industries, the products of which were mostly exported to other areas of the Union. Prisoners of war labour and construction battalions were used to re-establish war-torn settlements, especially in Northeast Estonia, the Ida-Virumaa region, which had largely been destroyed as the frontline between the east and the west. In heritage conservation discourse in Estonia, Soviet heritage has been a controversial topic since 2004, after the Heritage Conservation Board commissioned architectural historian Mart Kalm to compile a systematic manual for the conservation of architecture designed in the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (ESSR) [12]. The manual was preceded by Kalm's seminal overview of the 20th century architecture in Estonia [13]. Lack of attention granted to Soviet heritage in Estonia prior to this can be compared to the German response to Nazi heritage: calculated neglect, or "trivialisation" in the former German Minister of Culture Hermann Glaser's words [11]. The Estonian approach has been described as "silent revenge" on the Soviet era through its material heritage: the most visible and most vulnerable manifestation of the past with the possible and plausible explanation of a general national-ideological background that has simply preferred some periods to others [12].

Post-Soviet transformation of the political system allowed individual countries to de-communise—de-sacralise, cleanse, reinterpret, and re-signify—urban space, including industrial areas, which, as massive conglomerates of labour, had been a socialist *idée fixe* during the communist era [14]. The question of the future of Soviet heritage, or more specifically, Soviet monuments, resurfaced forcefully in 2007 following the conflict-ridden relocation of the 2-metre "Bronze Soldier" statue from Tallinn town centre to a military cemetery, and again in 2022 when, in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, the government decided to relocate the Tank T-34 monument from Narva to the Estonian War Museum in Viimsi. In both cases, WWII monuments proved to be "polysemic, symbolising liberation, aggression and occupation" to the people living in Estonia [15] and embed conflicting identities and narratives of the past. In a country where roughly 69% identify themselves as ethnic Estonians, 24% as ethnic Russians, and 7% as others [16], it may be convenient to claim that most people identify themselves also with the post-communist, post-Soviet narrative, but as apparent from the public reactions to the removal and relocation of the "Bronze Soldier" and the tank, not everybody agrees: both events were widely covered in both press and social media by comments defending or condemning the decisions and their execution. Beyond the interpretation and appreciation of art and history, for a democratic society, there is another elephant in the room: destroying the heritage of

the preceding regime would be not be only denying history, but repeating a communist practice [17].

The National Heritage Board's decision to declare Sillamäe town centre a heritage conservation area can be seen as an important symbolic act, a paradigm shift in a region where Soviet heritage has put democracy to the test. Soviet heritage, which for a long while was delegated to the "profane" or dissonant category, something ignored or actively shunned, is now coming under official protection, thus again competing for the title of "sacred". Adding to the research and studies of Soviet heritage by Estonian historians, ethnologists, and heritage experts that have dealt with memorial sites [18], kolkhoz architecture in rural areas [19,20], art in military bases [21], and other elements across the country [22], we examine the varied heritagescape of Sillamäe, asking how the planned heritage conservation area and the town's development plans relate to the town's varied past and how its history is locally viewed and understood. Examining both the town's representation and the experience of being there, we argue that creating a coherent tourism image of Sillamäe has been a struggle between three main narratives: the uncomplicated history of a resort town, a mysterious industrial hub, and the best-preserved example of Soviet urban planning in Estonia. This is the first academic article to juxtapose different periods distinguishable in the history of Sillamäe with their tangible representations, focusing on the challenges of transitioning from a semi-closed socialist utopian town to a neoliberal and open tourism destination. Our multi-layered approach also introduces the perspectives of practitioners to the question of how less ideologically marked Soviet spatial heritage is valued in Estonia.

The article is divided into the following five parts: (1) an overview of the materials, methods, and conceptual framework used in our research and analysis; (2) results of the research, including an introduction to Sillamäe and the wider Ida-Virumaa region; (3) results of the research; (4) discussion of the results, featuring local stakeholders; and (5) conclusion.

#### **2. Materials, Methods, and Conceptual Framework**

This research was partially conducted in the framework of the EU HORIZON 2020 project Social and Innovative Platform On Cultural Tourism and its Potential Towards Deepening Europeanisation (SPOT). Analyses of policy documents on the local, regional, and national levels as well as field research including tourism surveys and interviews with stakeholders in the tourism sector were conducted as part of this project and inform our research.

In autumn 2020, Tallinn University conducted a survey among the inhabitants, visitors, and tourism entrepreneurs in Ida-Virumaa to map the current situation of cultural tourism in the region, followed by a round of stakeholder interviews in autumn 2021. Interviews were also conducted with the representatives of the regional Ida-Viru Tourism Cluster and Estonian Tourism Board. In total, 14 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in September and December 2021. For this article, five interviews are the most relevant. One indepth interview with a representative of Sillamäe Museum and a local independent tourism entrepreneur were carried out at Sillamäe Museum. Four interviews were conducted online, with the following stakeholders: (1) the Town Government's Information and Marketing Specialist (in office 2018–2021), (2) a representative of the Ida-Viru Tourism Cluster, and (3) two representatives of Visit Estonia, the national tourism board at Enterprise Estonia.

In addition, participant observation fieldwork was carried out in Sillamäe in October 2020 and in February, June, July, and August 2021 (in total, over two months in the field), during which numerous unofficial conversations were held with the town's inhabitants and tourism stakeholders from the region. S.M. visited the town and its museum several times, participated in the Sillamäe Town Days celebrations in 2021, participated in the Heritage Conservation Area Working Group's meetings online, and attended the in-person consultation about the heritage conservation area with Sillamäe residents on 21 October 2021. During fieldwork, the heritagescape approach was applied as a method and conceptual

framework to analyse "how a site uses the components of its tangible landscape to create a distinct place of the past" by following three simple guidelines: boundaries, cohesion, and visibility [23]. A tourist destination is always framed by a specific, tourist gaze [24] and it is easy for the visitor to get stuck in the vicious cycle of circulating references, reproducing the same image that drew them to the place all over again [25]. The visitor's expectations, experiences, and relationships are influenced by specific behavioural patterns and cultural (re)presentation, even when they acknowledge and document their status as a guest [26]. Rather than assessing whether the site offers a "real", "good", or "bad" version of the past, the heritagescape approach allows one to notice challenges, assess the latent potential, and envision alternatives.

During fieldwork, the town museum emerged as a significant case study that embodies the possibilities, challenges, and conflicts of Sillamäe as a heritage and tourism destination. The museum is envisioned as a future "cultural, visitor, leisure and informal education centre that commits to the collection, preservation, research, exhibition and popularisation of the culture and history of the area" in the Sillamäe Town Development Plan 2022–2026 [27]. However, museums are never neutral. They are sites of memory that always tell only a part of the story, biased towards the preferences of the curator and the perception of the viewer, as they work "with the perceived and transformative power of objects that have been extracted from their original environment and re-inscribed into a symbolic landscape" [28].

#### **3. Research Context: Ida-Virumaa**

This chapter is divided into three sub-categories. Firstly, an introduction to the Ida-Viru County provides the broader context for the case study. Secondly, complexities surrounding Sillamäe are explained, tracing its extraordinarily fast development and special status back to natural resources. Thirdly, the contemporary idea of tourism as an economic diversifier in Ida-Virumaa is challenged through examples of its effect on the development of identity elsewhere, paving way for the application of the heritagescape method to reveal alternatives to the authorised discourse.

#### *3.1. General—Ida-Virumaa*

Sillamäe is the third largest town in Ida-Virumaa, the north-easternmost of Estonia's 15 counties. It is a region that covers 2972 km<sup>2</sup> and is situated on four terrain types: the coastal plain of the Gulf of Finland, the Viru limestone plateau, the Alutaguse lowland, and the coastal plain of Lake Peipus. Located in the periphery of the European Union and bordering Russia, it is home to approximately 138,000 people living in 7 towns, 12 smaller urban settlements, and 175 villages [16].

A defining feature of the region is its oil shale industry. The "brown gold", which is still mined in Ida-Virumaa today, has a long history in Estonia with the first written reports of oil shale findings dating back to 1777. The rise of the region's international reputation both as an industrial hub and seaside destination began with the establishment of the Baltic Railway (Baltisk (Paldiski) Tallinn—St. Petersburg railway line), completed in 1870. While the Russian Empire had little interest in the industrial exploitation of the novel source of energy, the railway links served the strategic interests of the Imperial fleet and economic interests of the Baltic German landholders and grain traders [29]. Passenger services were not the priority, but the railway connection to larger cities played its role in the Baltic seaside becoming a popular tourism destination among Russians—for example, before World War I, the leisure resort Narva-Jõesuu had 10,000–14,000 visitors per year [30]. Visits by foreigners continued in the early 20th century and even between the world wars, despite political obstacles [29].

The first oil shale factories were established in 1916 to help Russia survive the post-war fuel crisis by providing alternatives to coal [1]. During the first independent Republic of Estonia (1918–1940), local energy production became a matter of honour: although it was established with the support of foreign investors, it was the first industry that the country could call its own. Systematic research into oil shale and its products ensued.

During World War II, shale oil was used by the occupying Germans until Estonia fell under the Soviet occupation. During the Soviet era, the share of heavy industry in Estonia increased considerably and when shale gas became the main energy source in St. Petersburg and towns in Northern Estonia, the demand for oil shale increased as well. Soviet Union's heightened attention to the energy sector and high centralisation resulted in pre-planned monofunctional settlements that had fundamentally different relations to their wider surroundings than the organically growing urban settlements in capitalist societies based on private interests [31]. The post-war boost of the oil shale industry affected the construction, development, and appearance of settlements restored in Ida-Virumaa after World War II: war-torn villages were clustered into industrial towns and new buildings were constructed to accommodate planned mass industry and associated workforce transferred to Ida-Virumaa from other Soviet states. This led to an 'urban anomaly' [3] in comparison with the rest of Estonia, where similar changes were happening on a much smaller scale.

Tourism was not an immediate priority after the war, so the "industrialisation" of tourism only started in the early 1960s [29]. Under Soviet rule, summer culture was reorganised along with other aspects of life. In the tourism sector, a sharp distinction was made between tourism and recreation. This was manifested in infrastructure: pioneer camps and sanatoriums accessible with special permits were built in seaside resorts and hiking trails were established for independent holidaymakers in sparsely populated rural areas [29]. The Baltic coast remained a popular destination for Soviet citizens, attracting people with its lengthy coastline, natural beauty, calm of the hinterland, cultural heritage of medieval towns, and reasonable vicinity to industrial centres, placing third in popularity after the Crimea and the Caucasian coasts [29].

#### *3.2. Sillamäe Exceptionalism*

While also defined by industry and Soviet history, Sillamäe followed a slightly different trajectory to the rest of the region and therefore occupies a somewhat exceptional position in Ida-Virumaa today. The town's uniqueness results from its location at the Baltic Sea and the geological composition of its ground and the Soviet interest in nuclear power, which is manifested in a well-preserved example of Soviet urban planning.

Sillamäe was first mentioned as a tavern called Tor Bruggen in 1502, along with the nearby Türsamäe, now a part of Sillamäe, in 1520. In the 17th century, Sillamäe and Kannuka were fishing villages. Türsamäe enjoyed a slightly higher reputation: in addition to fishermen's homes and facilities, it also hosted a manor (Türseli manor). In the late 19th century, Sillamäe and Kannuka became small resort villages among others, treasured for their tranquillity, refreshing sea waters, and the smell of pine trees. In 1928, to the dismay of holidaymakers, industrialisation arrived in the area in the form of an oil shale distillation plant established in Türsamäe by the Estonian Oil Consortium belonging to Swedish capital [32]. Oil shale was imported from the nearby Viivikonna mine and, from 1935, most of the oil produced was exported to Germany via Tallinn [33].

In World War II, the region, including Sillamäe, was heavily damaged. Almost the whole settlement, including the distillation plant was destroyed. The war in Europe ended in May 1945, but already during the 1944–1945 winter, a group of geologists from Moscow were sent to the area to research the possibilities of producing uranium from the black dictyonema shale. The first tests were conducted in Narva and, initially, the administrative centre of the production was intended to be set up there, but in 1947, importance was shifted to the objects in Sillamäe [3]. On 6 August 1946, the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a decree to establish a uranium mine and metallurgy factory on the site of the former oil shale distillation plant [32]. The uranium factory began its work in late 1948 [32].

The planning of the Sillamäe factory influenced the development of the whole region [3]. International importance of nuclear technology during the Cold War gave sites of nuclear production and the accompanying settlements a special status not only locally, but in the allunion context. Similar importance has been observed in relation to 1950s "plutonium cities" in the USA [33,34]. Nuclear urbanism, or "urbanism without an outside" [31], was a specific mode of planning, which embedded nuclear sites into a "Cold War planetary infrastructural totality" characterised, firstly, by high risks and responsibility that accompanied such production; secondly, by institutional and normative isomorphism that was the result of a controlled distribution of workforce and strategic technologies; thirdly, by the exclave sociospatial condition compensated to the dwellers through comfort and resulting in a specific kind of belonging and identity; and finally, the impossibility of full de-industrialisation due to high standards for dismantling nuclear facilities and but also their waste management requirements [31].

While Türsamäe on the western bank of the Sõtke river formed the industrial part of Sillamäe, Kannuka on the eastern bank formed its residential area. The residential area was planned according to an all-Union standardised project designed from 1946–1947 at Lengiproshaht, the Leningrad division of the State Design Institute of the USSR Ministry for Coal Mining [35]. The planning of the nuclear town included a large reorganisation of the local population, replacing native Estonians with highly skilled Russian-speaking newcomers, who, with their lack of Estonian language skills would pose no threat to the Soviet regime locally. Due to the high priority of the factory, the town was built relatively quickly and exceptionally completely, before the architectural principles changed in the mid-1950s [35]. In September 1950, the population of Sillamäe exceeded 10,000 [3]. By that time, Sillamäe had become a unique town in Estonia, featuring "70 two- and threestorey residential buildings, 280 one-storey residential buildings, a hospital complex of 12 buildings, several crèches and kindergartens, a high school, House of Culture, two cinemas, office building for the Executive Committee, several shops and canteens, and other objects" [3]. Due to secrecy, instead of the settlement's name, different code names, such as "paint factory", Combine No. 7, Factory No. 7, Enterprise P.O.B. 22, Enterprise P-6685, or simply Plant No. 1 were used to refer to it [32]. The use of the dictyonema shale was discontinued from 1 July 1952 due to it being less efficient compared to richer ores imported from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and elsewhere [32]. Even though this decreased the importance and secrecy of the town, the ongoing construction works continued and Sillamäe was better supplied than other towns [33,35].

In the early 1950s, four- and five-storey apartment buildings were added to the area by the sea to accommodate the quickly growing population of the intensively developing settlement [35]. Sillamäe was officially declared a town in 1957, with a comprehensive list of facilities that a Soviet town should have: "a town committee, police department, marriage registration office, a specialised court, prosecutor's office, special department of the KGB, military fire control unit, medical sanitary care department, sanitary epidemiological station, pharmacy, a House of Culture with 400 seats, a cinema with 600 seats, high school for up to 300 pupils, adult high school for up to 300 pupils, college for up to 300 students, the party's district committee, Komsomol's district committee, children's club, a stadium, sporting pavilion, dance ground, park, sauna, mechanised laundry, photo studio, sewing workshop, a retail chain that completely satisfies the inhabitant's needs, bread factory, hairdresser, post office, radio broadcasting unit, savings fund, juridical consultation, kolkhoz market, and a television centre to retransmit TV from Leningrad currently under construction" [3].

Uranium production was again reorganised in 1977, when plants were also established in Czechoslovakia and Hungary and the transport of radioactive raw materials across Europe ceased to be necessary; a new production complex was added to the factory in Sillamäe and production concentrated on pre-processed uranium ore [33]. In addition, a rare metals factory and a rare-earth metals factory were established in 1970 [33]. In December 1989, all uranium-related activities in Sillamäe ceased due to political changes that eventually led to the end of the Soviet system [36]. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, privileges permitted by Moscow also disappeared. Plant No. 7 was privatised and nowadays, the town continues to host a metallurgical factory, a rare metals factory, and a rare-earth metals factory. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the town was officially

opened to visitors but has been losing inhabitants ever since: the population of Sillamäe has decreased from 20,280 people in 1989 to 12,386 in 2021 [37]. The legacy of the population reorganisation lives on; about 97% of the town's inhabitants today are Russian-speaking. The uranium-related activities, and the later metal processing in Sillamäe left behind a specific kind of legacy: a one kilometre long and half a kilometre wide tailings pond on

privileges permitted by Moscow also disappeared. Plant No. 7 was privatised and nowadays, the town continues to host a metallurgical factory, a rare metals factory, and a rareearth metals factory. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the town was officially opened to visitors but has been losing inhabitants ever since: the population of Sillamäe has decreased from 20,280 people in 1989 to 12,386 in 2021 [37]. The legacy of the population reorganisation lives on; about 97% of the town's inhabitants today are Russian-speaking.

*Societies* **2022**, *12*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 19

The uranium-related activities, and the later metal processing in Sillamäe left behind a specific kind of legacy: a one kilometre long and half a kilometre wide tailings pond on the slippery clay soil, at the edge of the Baltic Sea, separated from it only by a dam. The side products and leftovers of chemicals used in these activities have been pumped into a waste depository; some of the waste contains radioactive metals [33]. The tailings pond itself is not unique—there were other similar cases in Eastern Europe, Germany, Sweden, and USA—but its vicinity to the sea was [33]. Deemed unstable and posing a risk to the sea due to erosion processes that were damaging the dam [38], the tailings pond was remediated between 1999 and October 2008. This meant stabilising the dam with reinforced concrete stakes jammed into the clayey soil, collecting radioactive soil from the surrounding area and adding it to the waste in the depository, modelling the shape of the waste pile with oil shale ash, isolating the pile with weatherproof covering, including a final layer of soil that would protect the pile from freezing and would facilitate the growth of grass that was sown on the hill (the roots of bushes or trees could ruin the layer that protects the construction against water) [33]. The cover is supposed to last one thousand years. During the remediation works, an industrial harbour was built at the far end of the tailings pond and opened for international navigation in 2005. the slippery clay soil, at the edge of the Baltic Sea, separated from it only by a dam. The side products and leftovers of chemicals used in these activities have been pumped into a waste depository; some of the waste contains radioactive metals [33]. The tailings pond itself is not unique—there were other similar cases in Eastern Europe, Germany, Sweden, and USA—but its vicinity to the sea was [33]. Deemed unstable and posing a risk to the sea due to erosion processes that were damaging the dam [39], the tailings pond was remediated between 1999 and October 2008. This meant stabilising the dam with reinforced concrete stakes jammed into the clayey soil, collecting radioactive soil from the surrounding area and adding it to the waste in the depository, modelling the shape of the waste pile with oil shale ash, isolating the pile with weatherproof covering, including a final layer of soil that would protect the pile from freezing and would facilitate the growth of grass that was sown on the hill (the roots of bushes or trees could ruin the layer that protects the construction against water) [33]. The cover is supposed to last one thousand years. During the remediation works, an industrial harbour was built at the far end of the tailings pond and opened for international navigation in 2005. The remediation was a joint project between Estonia, Nordic countries (Finland, Swe-

The remediation was a joint project between Estonia, Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, and later Norway), Germany, the USA, and the European Commission; total cost was 312 million Estonian kroons or 20 million Euros financed by the European Commission, NE-FCO, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Estonia [33]. At the end of the remediation project, a memorial stone was placed on top of it (Figure 1). den, and later Norway), Germany, the USA, and the European Commission; total cost was 312 million Estonian kroons or 20 million Euros financed by the European Commission, NEFCO, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Estonia [33]. At the end of the remediation project, a memorial stone was placed on top of it (Figure 1).

**Figure 1.** "Sillamäe jäätmehoidla saneerimine 1999–2008" (Rehabilitation of Sillamäe waste depository 1999–2008). Memorial stone to the remediation of the Sillamäe tailings pond. Photograph: Saara Mildeberg, 2.07.2021. **Figure 1.** "Sillamäe jäätmehoidla saneerimine 1999–2008" (Rehabilitation of Sillamäe waste depository 1999–2008). Memorial stone to the remediation of the Sillamäe tailings pond. Photograph: Saara Mildeberg, 2 July 2021.

*3.3. Changes and Development*

#### *3.3. Changes and Development*

Oil shale extraction in Estonia peaked in the 1980s and decreased in the 1990s due to post-Soviet restructuring of the industry. Depletion of mines and the economic changes related to the collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in a sharp decrease in production. People migrated from Ida-Virumaa, leaving entire districts empty and shrinking towns such as Kukruse, Viivikonna, and Sirgala into villages.

To encourage the positive development of Ida-Virumaa and promote the region's industrial heritage, the Estonian Regional Development Strategy for 2014–2020 suggests utilising the "[. . . ] remaining resources of mining and industry, and abandoned mining areas and industrial buildings in tourism and other functions [. . . ] through recreational and cultural services and local marketing" [39]. Although the Regional Development Policy for 2021–2024 [40] does not address tourism again, the idea of tourism in the region is ever present. As described earlier, Ida-Virumaa coastlines and its summer resorts were already popular among the Russian elites in the 19th century, and in the Soviet period, sanatoriums built in resort towns, such as Narva-Jõesuu were made available to visitors with special permits [29].

To take advantage of the tourism potential of Ida-Virumaa's peculiar scenery, improve the region's image and develop local tourism, a unified marketing campaign was launched in 2017 by the Ida-Viru Tourism Cluster, a tourism development and marketing group run by the Ida-Viru Enterprise Centre. The campaign published online (https://idaviru.ee/, accessed on 30 August 2022) introduces Ida-Virumaa as an adventure land: a concept that includes seaside spas, history museums in mining towns, water and winter sports centres in and around repurposed mines, and the sparsely populated swamp and forest landscapes that are attractive to independent hikers.

Tourism can encourage local entrepreneurship and promote ideas of sustainability and cultural exchange; however, as a field that heavily relies on exoticism and traditions, it can also damage local identities. Desire for primitive and exotic "others" in the imaginary geographies of great nations has now also turned to self-exoticism, reproducing hierarchies of cultures and nations within, while also claiming their agency and sovereignty [41]. Tourism can motivate remembrance activities through social and material encounters in areas characterised by difficult heritage, such as in the case of the international gathering of military vehicles at the former military base Borne Sulinowo, Poland [42], but can also have a problematic influence on the development of local identity. Local identity begins to depend on tourism when tourism providers select elements of nature and history to promote and assign values no longer based on personal experiences but rather on universally learned and universally understood narratives based on stereotypes and illusions about the area and its past. Socio-economic dependency on tourism can lead to the emergence of new, commercially motivated communities, such as in the case of Setomaa, Estonia [43], and the emergence of "tourism landscapes": material realities that cater to visitors but exclude local interests, or unsuccessful tourism landscapes, as described in the case study of Paldiski, Estonia [26]. In extreme cases, such as that of the Sápmi land touristification, the landscape ends up being stripped of all meanings related to its past and future, endangering Indigenous lands [44]. Complex memory and identity politics in Sillamäe and Ida-Virumaa more broadly mean that here, too, tourism development must be approached with nuance, taking into consideration how it will impact local identity.

The Planned Sillamäe Heritage Conservation Area will focus on the nucleus of the town: the first set of residential buildings built in the 1940–1950s, with two public buildings built in the same style have already been declared as cultural monuments in 2001: the House of Culture and the Cinema Rodino (Figure 2). Since institutional researchers, experts, and tourism professionals often provide an external interpretation to local characteristics thereby creating and circulating idealised and exoticised stories [26], then there is a danger that the heritage conservation area will impose a particular, external image onto Sillamäe. Examining the town as a broader heritagescape enables an exploration of its potential before the contents and the borders of the heritage conservation area are set.

*Societies* **2022**, *12*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 9 of 19

**Figure 2.** Proposed borders (green line marks the conservation area and blue line marks the protected zone), buildings (red, orange, and yellow designate different categories of protection), and cultural monuments (dark blue) of the Sillamäe Heritage Conservation Area. Estonian Heritage Conservation Board, 2022. **Figure 2.** Proposed borders (green line marks the conservation area and blue line marks the protected zone), buildings (red, orange, and yellow designate different categories of protection), and cultural monuments (dark blue) of the Sillamäe Heritage Conservation Area. Estonian Heritage Conservation Board, 2022.

#### **4. Results 4. Results**

This section is divided into two sub-categories. First, the roles of heritage and tourism are examined in the Town's Development Agenda, revealing the importance of the museum for the town's official tourism development plans. Secondly, the heritagescape approach is applied to the town centre, looking at and beyond the planned heritage conservation area and documenting the current state of affairs in the museum as a multifunctional memory institution. This section is divided into two sub-categories. First, the roles of heritage and tourism are examined in the Town's Development Agenda, revealing the importance of the museum for the town's official tourism development plans. Secondly, the heritagescape approach is applied to the town centre, looking at and beyond the planned heritage conservation area and documenting the current state of affairs in the museum as a multifunctional memory institution.

#### *4.1. The Town's Development Plan 4.1. The Town's Development Plan*

According to paragraph 37, section 1 of the Local Government Organisation Act, each municipal district—town or parish—in Estonia is required to have its own development plan and budget strategy to better integrate and coordinate the development of different spheres of life, including long-term trends, needs, current problems and opportunities in (at least) economic, social, cultural, and natural environments, and the health of the population [45]. These development plans set the strategic goals and their expected impact for the period of their effectiveness. According to paragraph 37, section 1 of the Local Government Organisation Act, each municipal district—town or parish—in Estonia is required to have its own development plan and budget strategy to better integrate and coordinate the development of different spheres of life, including long-term trends, needs, current problems and opportunities in (at least) economic, social, cultural, and natural environments, and the health of the population [45]. These development plans set the strategic goals and their expected impact for the period of their effectiveness.

The Sillamäe Town Development Plan 2022–2026 [27] is the guiding document for Sillamäe for the coming years. According to a SWOT analysis, the main goals of the town are to increase coherence with other regions in Estonia, while also internationalising its economy. In addition to increasing the number of people with Estonian citizenship and Estonian language skills, improvement and diversification of the quality of services to improve the reputation of the town as a tourism destination and the development of the necessary infrastructure, are seen as some of the key activities required to increase Sillamäe's chances of cooperation and competition in the region (p. 31, [27]). Next to more The Sillamäe Town Development Plan 2022–2026 [27] is the guiding document for Sillamäe for the coming years. According to a SWOT analysis, the main goals of the town are to increase coherence with other regions in Estonia, while also internationalising its economy. In addition to increasing the number of people with Estonian citizenship and Estonian language skills, improvement and diversification of the quality of services to improve the reputation of the town as a tourism destination and the development of the necessary infrastructure, are seen as some of the key activities required to increase Sillamäe's chances of cooperation and competition in the region (p. 31, [27]). Next to

locally oriented necessities, such as improving living and learning environments and water and canalisation infrastructure, solving traffic problems, and ensuring environmental

more locally oriented necessities, such as improving living and learning environments and water and canalisation infrastructure, solving traffic problems, and ensuring environmental sustainability and availability of public services and social security for the townspeople, international attraction plays a great role in Sillamäe's vision for 2030. Related goals are to become the logistical centre for both freight transport and tourism flows in Ida-Virumaa, develop an internationally attractive business environment, and become a wellknown tourist destination in the Baltic Sea region, where the town's architectural heritage combined with new buildings ensures the high quality of the urban environment and encapsulates the town's identity (p. 32, [27]). Tourism is included in the first section on developing employment and entrepreneurship, and in the second, on culture. In the category of employment and entrepreneurship, tourism is a potential that can be realised through seaside and harbour development, and existing attractions in town. Tourism development would diversify entrepreneurship in the town, and help develop the service sector and infrastructure, which would also benefit local inhabitants (pp. 36–37, [27]). In the category of culture, tourists are seen as consumers of the town's cultural objects and events (p. 55, [27]).

The employment and entrepreneurship section prioritises the seaside area and emphasises the need to develop experience, leisure, sports, and urban and cultural tourism, including exhibiting Soviet history and offering "the milieu, products and activities characteristic to the era" (pp. 36–37, [27]). The overall appearance of the town centre, its buildings, and the urban seaside with its promenade are prioritised. Areas that are deemed to require renovation are the central square with its House of Culture and town hall, and the memorial sign on the square opposite of the town hall. Entrances to the town should be decorated with sculptures. Particular attention is given to Sillamäe Museum (renovation and fitting out its surroundings) and its special exhibition ('temaatiline näitus') in the House of Culture, as the museum is argued to have the potential to function as "cultural, visitor, leisure and informal education centre that commits to the collection, preservation, research, exhibition and popularisation of the culture and history of the area, using new technologies, and would grant access to all visitors through developing a modern support infrastructure, thereby also supporting the development of tourism." (p. 37, [27]).

The culture section emphasises the already existing infrastructure of cultural activities. Among others, attention is drawn to activities, development, and modernisation of the Sillamäe Museum, Sillamäe House of Culture, Sillamäe Library, hobby schools, and youth centres. A proposal is made to develop a theme park based on the exhibition of Sillamäe Museum to "preserve and exhibit the town's culture" (p. 56, [27]); this theme park has already confirmed funding to be received by 2022. In addition, new items should be acquired to the museum's collection and both the exhibition on the Soviet period and the museum's activities should be expanded. The activities of the thematic museum on the House of Culture should be broadened. The "development of tourism routes (street signs, opportunities to use the Internet, information boards, parking and leisure areas, observation decks, town decorations (incl. graffiti)), historical objects into tourism products—restoration of sculptures on Mere puiestee and the town park, creation of other works of art and small architectural objects, and emphasising of the sea theme" are listed as a concrete action plan. In addition to the town square, the seaside, and the museum with its surroundings, the area around river Sõtke, and public green spaces are emphasised in this section as important aspects that add to the milieu of the town (pp. 55–58, [27]).

The notion of heritage ("pärand") is mentioned in the section on international cooperation, where Soviet heritage along with its architecture and military industry is listed as a unique characteristic of the town (p. 67, [27]). The main target groups for industrial and tourism cooperation are Kotka and the Hamina region in Southern Finland, across the Gulf of Finland (p. 67, [27]). On this note, a ferry line already opened between Sillamäe and Kotka in 2006, but it was discontinued in 2007 due to economic reasons.

#### *4.2. Sillamäe as a Heritagescape 4.2. Sillamäe as a Heritagescape*

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The formation of a heritagescape is guided by three principles: boundaries, cohesion, and visibility [23]. In Sillamäe, two physical boundaries immediately delimit the research field: the geological break lines that have influenced the development of the town, namely the river Sõtke and the Baltic Clint. The river Sõtke in the east is an obvious boundary between the residential and the industrial part of the town; however, this boundary is challenged by another guiding principle: visibility. The newly established seaside promenade in the residential part of the town offers a clear view of the factory's two operational chimneys and a serene hill covering the tailings pond and stretching far into the Baltic Sea (Figure 3). However, the remediated waste depository is not the first thing a visitor notices. From west to east, another boundary, the Baltic Clint splits the town in two: the upper town and the lower town by the sea. Entering the town from the direction of Narva or Tallinn, the visitor has no other option than to approach the town from its cliff-top side where the highway runs; currently, the port of the town is not open for passenger traffic. The formation of a heritagescape is guided by three principles: boundaries, cohesion, and visibility [23]. In Sillamäe, two physical boundaries immediately delimit the research field: the geological break lines that have influenced the development of the town, namely the river Sõtke and the Baltic Clint. The river Sõtke in the east is an obvious boundary between the residential and the industrial part of the town; however, this boundary is challenged by another guiding principle: visibility. The newly established seaside promenade in the residential part of the town offers a clear view of the factory's two operational chimneys and a serene hill covering the tailings pond and stretching far into the Baltic Sea (Figure 3). However, the remediated waste depository is not the first thing a visitor notices. From west to east, another boundary, the Baltic Clint splits the town in two: theupper town and the lower town by the sea. Entering the town from the direction of Narva or Tallinn, the visitor has no other option than to approach the town from its cliff-top sidewhere the highway runs; currently, the port of the town is not open for passenger traffic.

**Figure 3.** View from the promenade (opened in late 2020) to the western, industrial side of Sillamäe across Sõtke river. Industry on the left, waste depository in the middle, harbour on the right. Photograph: Saara Mildeberg, 9 August 2021. **Figure 3.** View from the promenade (opened in late 2020) to the western, industrial side of Sillamäe across Sõtke river. Industry on the left, waste depository in the middle, harbour on the right. Photograph: Saara Mildeberg, 9 August 2021.

In terms of its coherency, Sillamäe consists almost entirely of buildings from the Soviet era. However, one can distinguish three main architectural styles associated with different Soviet periods. Stalin-era neoclassical buildings from the late 1940s and 1950s form a nucleus, which is surrounded by five-storey silicate brick "khrushchyovkas", named after the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, and lastly, mostly in the eastern part of the town, large, five- to nine-storey red brick residential buildings were built during the Brezhnev era from the 1970s–1980s (Figure 4). Buildings from the 1940s–1950s have re-In terms of its coherency, Sillamäe consists almost entirely of buildings from the Soviet era. However, one can distinguish three main architectural styles associated with different Soviet periods. Stalin-era neoclassical buildings from the late 1940s and 1950s form a nucleus, which is surrounded by five-storey silicate brick "khrushchyovkas", named afterthe Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, and lastly, mostly in the eastern part of the town, large, five- to nine-storey red brick residential buildings were built during the Brezhnev era fromthe 1970s–1980s (Figure 4). Buildings from the 1940s–1950s have received the most attentionand can be considered a unique heart of the heritagescape, forming its own boundary and

ceived the most attention and can be considered a unique heart of the heritagescape, forming its own boundary and excluding other architectural styles. Those buildings are also

excluding other architectural styles. Those buildings are also characterised by cohesion, which the National Heritage Board of Estonia wishes to emphasise by declaring the area a heritage conservation site. The most ambitious plans of Stalinist urban planning in Estonia (Viru Square, Tallinn Cultural Centre, and Central Square of the Pärnu region) were never finished in their time [8]. Today, only Sillamäe and Kohtla-Järve have town centres built after the canonical planning principles of Stalinist architecture. Although currently there are single buildings under protection in both towns, their value and meaning as heritage objects largely depends on the recognition ensembles that surround them. characterised by cohesion, which the National Heritage Board of Estonia wishes to emphasise by declaring the area <sup>a</sup> heritage conservation site. The most ambitious plans ofStalinist urban planning in Estonia (Viru Square, Tallinn Cultural Centre, and CentralSquare of the Pärnu region) were never finished in their time [8]. Today, only Sillamäeand Kohtla-Järve have town centres built after the canonical planning principles of Stalinist architecture. Although currently there are single buildings under protection in bothtowns, their value and meaning as heritage objects largely depends on the recognition ensembles that surround them.

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**Figure 4.** Brezhnev-era red brick buildings in the eastern side of the town. Photograph: Saara Mildeberg, 9 August 2021. **Figure 4.** Brezhnev-era red brick buildings in the eastern side of the town. Photograph: Saara Mildeberg, 9 August 2021.

Continuing the journey along Kesk Street towards the old town centre, a visitor would notice a town hall building with a sharp spire. According to town guides, the town hall was built to look like a Lutheran church to convey an image of Sillamäe as just another Estonian town to anyone approaching from the sea. Across the town hall is a park with one of the few sculptures in town. Renaldo Veeber's "Man and Space", also known as "Peaceful Atom", depicts a promethean man carrying an atom and stands in the exact location where a statue of Stalin used to stand between 1951–1963. "Man and Space" was unveiled on 5 November 1987, to celebrate the town's 30th anniversary. Considering that the uranium-related activities that rendered the town a secret were still ongoing, the reference to atoms was bold. The sculpture is also exhibited in the museum as a small scale model, but there he reaches out his hands with a slate in a reference to the site-specific resource that laid the foundation to the industrial town. In the northeast corner of the park, our visitor encounters one of the first public buildings in the town: Sillamäe House (or Palace) of Culture. The establishment, built in the Stalinist neoclassical style, is still Continuing the journey along Kesk Street towards the old town centre, a visitor would notice a town hall building with a sharp spire. According to town guides, the town hall was built to look like a Lutheran church to convey an image of Sillamäe as just another Estonian town to anyone approaching from the sea. Across the town hall is a park with one of the few sculptures in town. Renaldo Veeber's "Man and Space", also known as "Peaceful Atom", depicts a promethean man carrying an atom and stands in the exact location where a statue of Stalin used to stand between 1951–1963. "Man and Space" was unveiled on 5 November 1987, to celebrate the town's 30th anniversary. Considering that the uraniumrelated activities that rendered the town a secret were still ongoing, the reference to atoms was bold. The sculpture is also exhibited in the museum as a small scale model, but there he reaches out his hands with a slate in a reference to the site-specific resource that laid the foundation to the industrial town. In the northeast corner of the park, our visitorencounters one of the first public buildings in the town: Sillamäe House (or Palace) ofCulture. The establishment, built in the Stalinist neoclassical style, is still functioning as thelocal cultural hub and also hosts the special exhibition of the Sillamäe Museum.

functioning as the local cultural hub and also hosts the special exhibition of the Sillamäe Museum. The buildings in Stalinist neoclassical style create a historic milieu without reference The buildings in Stalinist neoclassical style create a historic milieu without reference to the hardships and terror associated with the Soviet regime; therefore, it is not possible to regard them as dark heritage [46]. Dark heritage has its place in the region, but not in

to the hardships and terror associated with the Soviet regime; therefore, it is not possible to regard them as dark heritage [46]. Dark heritage has its place in the region, but not in Sillamäe. The local museum could be the place where such narratives are discussed, but museums in the Ida-Virumaa region are thematised and segregated based on their focus. Sillamäe represents the history of the forbidden paradise; the manor in Kukruse is dedicated to the polar researcher, Baltic German Eduard von Toll and his family; Vaivara Museum of the Blue Hills covers the atrocities of the defence battles in 1944; Narva Museum introduces history until the independence of Estonia in 1918, with a special focus on the Swedish time; Kohtla-Nõmme Mining Museum specialises in the region's oil shale industry, providing visitors access to the underground mine; and the Oil Shale Museum in Kohtla-Nõmme showcases equipment, history, and thematic art.

The Sillamäe Museum was established by two local artists in 1995 based on the collections of the oil shale chemical factory. From 1995–2003, the museum with its exhibition hall was run by the House of Culture. Since 2004, the Sillamäe Museum has been run as an independent institution and since 2014, it has been housed in a separate building. The museum works closely together with the town government of Sillamäe, receiving regular funding from the town budget, and the strategic goals of the museum match with what the town expects it to become, prioritising four directions: "mediation and popularisation of cultural heritage", "development of tourism service and improvement of service quality", "collection, preservation and attractive display of the history of the area", "development of museum pedagogy" [47].

The museum's exhibitions are located in two buildings: the main exhibition is in the lower part of the town in a two-storey former kindergarten building at Kajaka 17a, while the Soviet-themed exhibition is in the upper part of town in the basement of the still functioning House of Culture at Kesk 24. The two exhibitions have two different stories to tell about the town. Both geographically and architecturally, the location of the Soviet exhibition gives it an advantage compared to the rest of the museum downtown. The House of Culture that houses the Soviet exhibition was designed by Aleksandr Popov in 1946–1947 and built in 1947–1950. It has been recognised as an architectural monument and the basement of the building, a former bomb shelter, is where the exhibition dedicated to the town's Soviet period is located. The exhibition is divided into four rooms. Two rooms focus on the building itself: the first room examines the history and architecture of the House of Culture and the second displays the bomb shelter's ventilation system along with equipment such as uniforms and gas masks.

The third room is a walk-through room and is the most text-intensive part of the exhibition, hosting a pyramid of the Collected Works by Lenin and the biographical book "Meie noorusaastad" (*The Years of Our Youth*) or "Ka oo . . . " (*How young we were*), compiled of materials from the museum's archive, town library, the archives of the local newspaper "Sillamäe Vestnik", and information found online. The book, published in 2015, is written by and dedicated to the builders of the factory and the town and includes a list of the names of the first people that settled in the industrial town. Although this introduction is written in Estonian, there is only one article, "Sillamäe sünnilugu" (*Birth Story of Sillamäe*) by Vaino Kallas in Estonian, the rest of the materials are "in their original language", i.e., Russian. The biography of Sillamäe in Kallas' article begins in winter 1944–1945, when geologists from Moscow arrived to examine the local graptolitic argillite for uranium oxides, and ends with a mention that the town was a "closed town" from 1947 until 1991. According to the museum representative, the closed-ness tends to be overemphasised, as the town was next to the main road between Tallinn and St. Petersburg. The main reason why people wanted to come to Sillamäe, was because it was better supplied with goods, and it is said that various tricks, such as leaving the car and walking the last few kilometres to town to sneak through the checkpoints, were used to get in.

Two busts of Lenin guard the entrance to the fourth room, where an oil painting of Stalin in front of a freshly ploughed field with transmission towers immediately catches the visitor's eye. This room is mostly object-based but since the music of the TV show shown on loop in the upper corner of the room fills the whole shelter, it sets the mood for the whole exhibition. Some of the items have explanatory signs in Estonian and Russian next to them, but non-Estonian or non-Russian speakers are left completely clueless. This part of the exhibition is especially coherent in its use of known Soviet symbols, but without explanations, the visitor is in danger of getting lost in the colourful bric-a-brac. next to them, but non-Estonian or non-Russian speakers are left completely clueless. This part of the exhibition is especially coherent in its use of known Soviet symbols, but without explanations, the visitor is in danger of getting lost in the colourful bric-a-brac.

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Looking down from the park next to the House of Culture, the visitor is met with a breath-taking view of the sea. A cascade of stairs leads down from the park to the boulevard, Mere puiestee, literally, "the Sea Boulevard" (Figure 5), that continues between decorated residential buildings almost until the sea, to what used to be hinterland at the western border of the Soviet Union, but is now the newly established promenade. The "pearl of Sillamäe" (as referred to by the Information and Marketing Specialist, among others) makes use of the Baltic cliff that cuts the town into two levels. Thanks to the neoclassical architectural style, pale yellow colour, and worn-off look of the residential buildings, one feels like they have remained in the past when walking through the old town after a visit to the Soviet exhibition. The steps were originally decorated with plaster statues and palm trees, uncommon in the northern climate of Estonia. Considered part of the attempt to embody an image of communist paradise on earth [35], these statues are among the ones that are to be restored according to the Development Plan [27]. Looking down from the park next to the House of Culture, the visitor is met with a breath-taking view of the sea. A cascade of stairs leads down from the park to the boulevard, Mere puiestee, literally, "the Sea Boulevard" (Figure 5), that continues between decorated residential buildings almost until the sea, to what used to be hinterland at the western border of the Soviet Union, but is now the newly established promenade. The "pearl of Sillamäe" (as referred to by the Information and Marketing Specialist, among others) makes use of the Baltic cliff that cuts the town into two levels. Thanks to the neoclassicalarchitectural style, pale yellow colour, and worn-off look of the residential buildings, onefeels like they have remained in the past when walking through the old town after <sup>a</sup> visitto the Soviet exhibition. The steps were originally decorated with plaster statues and palmtrees, uncommon in the northern climate of Estonia. Considered part of the attempt to embody an image of communist paradise on earth [35], these statues are among the ones that are to be restored according to the Development Plan [27].

**Figure 5.** The view from the top of the stairs through the boulevard to the sea. The location is sometimes used as a pop-up concert venue, here during the Town Days for the concert of singer Anne Veski. Photograph: Saara Mildeberg, 29 June 2021. **Figure 5.** The view from the top of the stairs through the boulevard to the sea. The location is sometimes used as a pop-up concert venue, here during the Town Days for the concert of singer Anne Veski. Photograph: Saara Mildeberg, 29 June 2021.

Still surrounded by Stalinist buildings, the visitor has to turn left from the boulevard to make their way to the main building of the Sillamäe Museum at Kajaka 17a. Inside this part of the museum, the curators have tried their best to give an overview of the whole recorded history of Sillamäe, that is, from the 19th century until the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the town lost its special status as a nuclear town. The two floors of the building are divided into several exhibition halls that, together with collections not on display, crowd all the rooms of the former kindergarten. The recently deceased treasurer of the Still surrounded by Stalinist buildings, the visitor has to turn left from the boulevard to make their way to the main building of the Sillamäe Museum at Kajaka 17a. Inside this part of the museum, the curators have tried their best to give an overview of the whole recorded history of Sillamäe, that is, from the 19th century until the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the town lost its special status as a nuclear town. The two floors of the building are divided into several exhibition halls that, together with collections not on display, crowd all the rooms of the former kindergarten. The recently deceased treasurer of the museum Alexandr Popolitov's stone and mineral collection fills one of the larger rooms in the right

museum Alexandr Popolitov's stone and mineral collection fills one of the larger rooms

wing on the ground floor, but also leaves space for a tiny and cramped exhibition of various household items of the pre-industrial era. The left wing introduces the international and industrial history of Sillamäe: from the annual visitors of the Russian intelligentsia to the resort town in the late 19th century, to the beginning of the industrial era in the late 1920s, to the new settlers who arrived in and after the late 1940s and their privileged life in the secret nuclear town. Another, smaller room on the ground floor features a reconstruction of a Stalin-era domestic interior. When discussing the museum's collections that are not on display, the representative of the museum explained that the museum also has a collection of paintings of Sillamäe as a resort from its pre-industrial era, when tourists would visit the South Coast of the Gulf of Finland for its refreshing water and the pleasant smell of pine trees.

The rooms on the first floor are reserved for an exhibition of musical instruments, temporary exhibitions and local art initiatives. Again, although there are textual objects here and there, there are very few written clues that connect the images and objects and it is difficult to navigate in the exhibition without a guide. However, this is not a conscious choice, but a misfortune of time and financial resources, as the representative explained. Providing the exhibition with titles and explanations is in process, but lack of staff, especially Estonian-speaking staff, is hindering it considerably.

#### **5. Discussion**

This section is informed by the heritagescape approach and includes the opinions formed by the local tourism stakeholders based on their experiences. The previous sections illustrate that creating a coherent tourism image of Sillamäe is and has been a struggle of identities and different historical narratives. To compare with the town's official development plan and fieldwork location, a local tourism entrepreneur and representatives of the Sillamäe Museum and Town Government were asked about the tourism challenges in Sillamäe. Additional comments were gathered from the representatives of the regional Tourism Cluster and Visit Estonia, the national tourism board. Three key narratives for Sillamäe's tourist identity emerge: the uncomplicated history of a resort town, the bestpreserved example of Soviet urban planning, and a mysterious industrial hub. However, each narrative has its issues for tourism development.

Searching for a marketing strategy, it is important to stand out but also to fit in an attractive and preconceived niche. The town's promotional logo was recently updated to match the town's motto "Sillamäe—the town of fresh sea winds" (*Sillamäe*—*värskete meretuulte linn*) on the commission of the Town's Information and Marketing Specialist. The logo from 2017 featured the industrial area's two chimneys and a seagull and the new one from 2020 includes stylised symbols depicting the town hall, House of Culture, harbour at the end of the promenade, boats, and green areas of the town. In addition, both wavy lines above and underneath the panorama and the alternating colours of the composition are conceptualised as symbols of the positive aspects of a clean and welcoming resort town.

The resort image pursued in the logo and town's motto is however challenged by the seasonality aspect. The local independent tour guide and tourism entrepreneur arrived to the area at the turn of the century and, at first, lived in a nearby farm they had received back through privatisation. They began working in tourism in 1998, at first as a guide in Europe for various tour operators. Then they started receiving guests at their own farm. In 2001–2002, they started spending more time in Sillamäe and bought their first apartment in around 2010. They now own three apartments in town which are rented out through Airbnb and Booking.com. In an interview in Sillamäe on 14 September 2021, they reflect on the journey: *"Finally, I understood that it is very difficult to invest in a thing that works for three months and doesn't work for nine months. There is no point in making big expenses. Luckily, I wasn't granted a loan and luckily, I didn't receive any financial aid, so I couldn't do anything more. Otherwise I would have to pay the loan back now and it would be very* . . . *[. . . ] This is why I went over to [renting out] apartments, at least they are [working] throughout the year"*. With their experience, they propose a national scheme where investments into regions outside of the

main towns—Tallinn, Tartu, and Pärnu—could be tax-free for five years, until the business is truly established.

Focus on the Soviet era could help Sillamäe become an all-year tourism destination, both for domestic and international visitors. Both the local museum representative and the independent entrepreneur agree on this, although their view differs slightly when discussing what exactly makes the town attractive: is it just the buildings, or the people as well? The museum representative argued that 'Russian culture' gives visitors a feeling of being in 'another Estonia' and is the main attraction in Sillamäe. This 'Russian culture', that to them is synonymous with 'Soviet culture', consists of Soviet-era architecture and the segment of population that arrived in the town after WWII. The independent entrepreneur did not fully agree since for them 'Soviet culture' consists exclusively of tangible objects: that 'what was made during the Soviet era'. They offered a parallel with the unimaginable event of singing Soviet songs and waving red flags, while the architecture that was built then still remains and is allegedly gaining value in the eyes of the local people over time.

A point of view presented by the Tourism Board representative in an interview on 2 December 2021 illustrates that there has not only been a shift in the authorised heritage discourse, but also in what the visitors are after. They provide a list of advantages Ida-Virumaa has due to its peculiar history and Soviet heritage.

Ida-Virumaa can:


Heritage is a collective identity manifested in physical objects and accepting heritage sites as landscapes locates them in a fluid, changing space with which people regularly interact, and not just as part of an evolving storyline or developing ideologies [23]. Officially acknowledged heritage status may bring attention to the town but it alone does not guarantee investments and development. The representative of the museum expresses hope that a Heritage Conservation Area could help to reach the critical mass of attention needed for investments and action. The independent entrepreneur is convinced that the younger generation has more enthusiasm to invest in the town and repair the buildings according to the requirements of the Heritage Conservation rules. One of the obstacles in their eyes is the existence of housing associations, where everyone living in the same building has to agree on the repairs.

Currently, there are two buildings under heritage protection in Sillamäe, both since 2001: the House of Culture (Kesk 24) and the former Cinema Rodina (Kesk 11). While the House of Culture has been renovated and is currently being used as a cultural centre hosting various events, the building of the former cinema has been privatised, is out of use, and has no clear future plans. According to the local tourism entrepreneur, it is easier for the owner to pay the fine for neglecting the building than to renovate it. His proposed solution is to set a deadline for the renovations; if the owner fails to meet the deadline, the building should be forcefully sold. Both the independent entrepreneur and the representative of the museum propose a variety of functions for the building that lacks tourism infrastructure, such as accommodation or catering venues due to the special status of the town during its foundation and for decades that followed: a cultural centre, youth centre, event venue, restaurant, etc. Only one hotel exists in the town and some opportunities exist via the Airbnb portal, but nothing for groups of tourists.

The seaside promenade, opened in late 2020, is seen as a potential event location in the future, if or when a passenger terminal is opened at the port of Sillamäe, which currently only functions as an industrial harbour. The independent entrepreneur and the representatives of the Town Government and the town Museum all express interest in creating tours to the industrial area for visitors. Although the privately owned Port of Sillamäe (AS Sillamäe Sadam) supports local cultural life, it is currently not interested in receiving commercial tourists nor discussing the current state of tourism activities in the port. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the area is used by several international companies. In other towns in Ida-Virumaa, the wounds and scars of broken supply and demand connections are still visible as (semi-)abandoned industrial complexes—which are simply too large to host contemporary production and are looking for re-purposing and/or investors—while Sillamäe as a port town with a successfully re-oriented industry is a notable exception. Although its social function has also changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the port occasionally organises tours for its partners and prospective employees and anyone in the town can visit once a year in late June or early July during the Sillamäe Town Days.

On the potential of Sillamäe as an industrial tourist destination, the local independent entrepreneur comments: *"I think the thing is still too raw or too fresh here."* While operational industries are not suitable for or willing to participate in tourism, post-industrial spaces require external funding to be suited for visitors. The former Kreenholm textile factory complex in Narva and the Mining Museum in Kohtla-Nõmme are examples of former industrial spaces that combine architecture and history and draw international attention as elements in global networks of similar objects. In an interview on 15 December 2021, the representative of the Ida-Viru Tourism Cluster also remains sceptical about industrial tourism, but for different reasons, as in the Ida-Viru context, industry "*bears the fossil [fuel] footprint of the oil shale industry"*. Although oil shale is also used in the chemical industry, they do not think this explanation would be sufficient for the younger generation that is critically minded about fossil fuels. However, they are relatively optimistic about providing offers based on education on the use of oil shale for business tourism.

From the three potential narratives for Sillamäe's tourist identity, the uncomplicated history of a resort town and the best-preserved example of Soviet urban planning are the most widely prompted. The narrative of an industrial town with nuclear legacy remains in sight, but unexplored.

#### **6. Conclusions**

The town of Sillamäe in Northeast Estonia has in recent years received attention as the first area where Soviet architecture would be under protection in Estonia. This offers both opportunities and challenges for the local tourism development. Stakeholders on all levels agree that the critical mass of dwellers and entrepreneurs must be backed up on a national level to increase investments in the town. The emerging Heritage Conservation Area is welcomed by the local representatives, as they are already accustomed to relying on the image of a Soviet town. It may, on the one hand, provide the attention needed to overcome marginalisation, attract investments, and challenge the seasonality of tourism in the region. On the other hand, it can force the town into a loop of circular referencing that denies attention to the town as a whole. Sillamäe as a nuclear urbanism site and industrial hub remains underexplored, but even whole Soviet heritage is visible and emphasised in the town and its museum; the lack of explanations leaves its meaning ambiguous and open to interpretations. The heritagescape as a theory and method offers the visitors of Sillamäe a chance to experience a curated version of the Soviet era and contemplate on the legacy of nuclear industry, while remaining in the safety of a resort town. This kind of analysis in the urban planning could provide important insights on how a visitor experiences the place and use this information to better mitigate knowledge exchange between different groups of people.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, S.M. and J.V.; methodology, S.M.; investigation, S.M.; resources, S.M.; data curation, S.M.; writing—original draft preparation, S.M.; writing—review and editing, S.M. and J.V.; visualization, S.M.; supervision, J.V. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research is part of the EU SPOT project, funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 program for research and innovation under grant agreement no. 870644.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** This study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of Mendel University in Brno (protocol code No. 13, date of approval—8 October 2020).

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Data Availability Statement:** Data supporting reported results is publicly accessible at SPOT website under Reports & Outcomes section http://www.spotprojecth2020.eu/reportsandoutcomes (accessed on 6 September 2022).

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**


### *Article* **The Tourism Potential of the Jewish Cultural Heritage in Bucharest**

**Elena Bogan**

Department of Human and Economic Geography, Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, 010041 Bucharest, Romania; elena.bogan@geo.unibuc.ro

**Abstract:** The field of tourism includes its own heritage, through which it is possible to valorize those components of the cultural environment and of the cultural heritage that truly have a touristic valence. The urban interventions in Bucharest during the communist period affected many central historical areas. However, a part of the Jewish architectural heritage continues to last, with the attention on it increasing in recent years with the awareness of its value. The aim of this study is to assess the tourist potential of the Jewish cultural heritage by using an index of tourist attractiveness and a set of values established as evaluation criteria; identifying the heritage values as well as the ways of its development and promotion within the cultural tourism in Bucharest, in the context of preservation, conservation and restoration; identifying new ideas, products or services, respectively improving existing ones.

**Keywords:** Jewish cultural heritage; tourist potential; cultural tourism; tourism product; niche tourism; heritage values; Bucharest

#### **1. Introduction**

Heritage tourism is linked to cultural diversity—past or present, and ethnic minorities have become a significant part of the tourism industry. Heritage can be considered a modern use of the past according to the current cultural, social and economic realities [1], and cultural heritage is viewed as a leading determinant of tourist choices of travel destinations [2–5]. Thus, one of the branches of the modern tourism industry with the most dynamic development is cultural tourism, promoted through heritage sites, which is the main incentive for the development of specific tourism products [6].

In a study carried out in Syracuse, Italy, Corsale and Krakover pointed out that a cosmopolitan and multicultural historical city (Syracuse) specializes in cultural tourism and tends to develop niche products, including Jewish heritage tourism (J.H.T), in order to strengthen and diversify its status as an international cultural destination [7].

Along with cultural tourism, in recent years, ethnic tourism has benefited from continuous development. Numerous studies reveal the positive consequences of ethnic tourism [8–15], with tourists being often attracted by cultural diversity, which also leads to the growth of various tourism products and destinations [16–20].

Multicultural and ethnic tourism is found in those urban agglomerations that are a true mosaic of minority groups. The presence of minority populations has led to the emergence of the phenomena of borrowing cultural elements, or gradual assimilation. However, there are minority groups that have carefully preserved their traditions and passed them on from generation to generation, preserving their cultural identity at the institutional and social level. The best known in Europe are the groups of Jews and Turks. According to Yang and Wall, with the widespread integration of ethnic tourism worldwide, the "consumption" of this product has become "fashionable" [21].

Ethnic tourism is used by many countries to facilitate economic and cultural development but also to help conserve their heritage [21]. Ethnic tourists choose to experience primarily the practices and customs of another culture, which may involve shows, presentations and events or activities that portray or present the lifestyle of local communities.

**Citation:** Bogan, E. The Tourism Potential of the Jewish Cultural Heritage in Bucharest. *Societies* **2022**, *12*, 120. https://doi.org/10.3390/ soc12040120

Academic Editors: Graeme Gilloch, Andreea-Loreta Cercleux, Jörn Harfst and Oana-Ramona Ilovan

Received: 29 June 2022 Accepted: 16 August 2022 Published: 18 August 2022

**Publisher's Note:** MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

**Copyright:** © 2022 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

In a broader perspective, this type of tourism includes the following several components: culture, heritage, anthropological background, urban aspects and other similar types of tourism.

If this type of tourism is properly planned and managed, it can be promoted as a form of sustainable tourism and can be used as a tool for preserving and conserving culture and heritage [22]. The introduction on the tourist market of several niche segments has become a common practice in the tourism industry, with almost every city developing a form of tourism packaged and directed to specific groups, with a specific message. One such example is multicultural and ethnic tourism, which involves addressing certain types of tourists.

Currently, cities, especially in Europe, are engaged in developing their Jewish heritage resources [23–26], as there is a growing worldwide trend towards preserving and developing Jewish heritage tourism [27–30]. Thus, the old Jewish quarters represent a first-hand tourist attraction, such as in Barcelona, where it is the Ell Call district, located in the middle of the Barri Gòtic, or in Madrid, the Lavapide district; in Prague, the old Jewish area, synagogues from Venice's ghetto or the antique judería of Toledo [31], in Vienna, the Judenplats district and in Berlin, the Jewish quarter Scheunenviertel. Paris has the most exclusive Jewish quarter in the Marais, one of the most expensive areas of the metropolis. In Bucharest, the megalomania of an uneducated president generated the policy of destroying everything that was old.

Bucharest continues to offer many cultural and historical attractions and testimonies of bygone times. During the communist period, urban interventions affected many central historical areas, changing names and even the street plot, but the fall of the communist regime did not bring with it a significant change of attitude regarding the architectural heritage, which was affected on one hand by the lack of funds for conservation and restoration and, on the other hand, by the economic pressure that has led to inappropriate real estate developments in these historic areas.

The Jewish community was in the interwar period the largest minority in Bucharest, representing almost 11% of the population. Another fact is related to the ancientness of the Jews in the area; the first testimonies dating before the 16th century, from the area near the royal court, where they worked as doctors or creditors. Over time, the involvement of the Jewish population in Romanian society has been quite important—whether we are talking about the Sephardim coming from southern Europe or the Ashkenazi from the north, with all the difficulties they had to face politically or socially. Corsale, quoting Streja and Schwarz, points out that "the south-eastern districts of Văcăres,ti and Dudes,ti were the heart of the religious and communal life, but Jews settled in all central districts of the city, especially in areas of intense economic growth, and were active in many fields, including commerce and trade, industry, finance, medicine and arts" [32,33].

Interventions during the communist period severely affected this neighborhood, shaken by anti-Semitic events before and during World War II. One of the most significant losses is the Spanish Grand Temple "Cahal Grande", which burned during the legionary events of 1941. The temple, built in 1818 in Văcăres,ti, was the most beautiful synagogue not only in the country but in southeastern Europe. Within a few decades, starting with the middle of the 19th century, several dozen synagogues and houses of prayer were being built, with a predilection around the Văcăres,ti road.

Today, only a few survived the legionary rebellion of 1941, the earthquake of 1977, and, last but not least, the urban restructuring of the communist period. In most cases, the synagogues are owned by the Jewish Community of Bucharest, although there are still buildings that house other functions with private ownership. Of the synagogues left today, some have benefited from restorations and some are still in operation, either constantly or, due to the small number of parishioners, only on the occasion of large holidays.

At present, the traces of Jewish housing are no longer visible in many places. Beyond the specific character of houses with shops on the ground floor, generally located in the central or commercial areas, the Jewish architectural heritage in Bucharest refers to the

synagogue architecture, houses or banks owned by large Jewish owners, shops and schools, which are still clearly recognizable tourist assets [33–35]. It is remarkable not only that these buildings still exist, despite the demolitions, but also that most researchers or visitors to these places are non-Jews, people who want to know about and preserve the memory of Jewish Bucharest.

Knowing the Jewish built heritage is the first and easiest step for knowledge and understanding, and, implicitly, a chance to recover the spiritual heritage values, and, according to some authors, Jewish heritage preservation can be used to revive dialogue with a forgotten past that may also contribute to urban tourism development in the future [27].

#### **2. Methodology and Research Approach**

In order to approach this research topic, it was started from a strictly qualitative aspect. Through the study, the values that can be attributed to cultural heritage assets were determined, and those, in turn, support valorization through tourism.

Culture is an accumulation of information, religious beliefs, means of manifestation of traditional and modern arts, moral practices and customs, tangible and intangible assets preserved and transmitted from one generation to another [36]. Cultural heritage includes a very diverse range of assets that, for the most part, also have tourist values. In addition, by summing up a larger number of values, these assets can become brands for many tourist products, giving them originality, authenticity, attractiveness and better positioning in the tourism market.

The relationship between the concepts of "culture" and "heritage" sometimes makes it difficult to separate the two terms when referring to tourism experiences [37]. Thus, there is a long-standing debate in the literature about the definition and conceptualization of the notion of cultural / heritage tourism, due to the increasing complexity of the concepts of heritage, culture and tourism [38].

The primary research involved unstructured personal interviews with travel agents and local guides, as well as with local stakeholders (associations) relevant to the topic. Field observations were also made to correlate the information obtained with the reality on the ground, as well as for obtaining a better knowledge of the analyzed subject.

The secondary research was implemented by processing data and information from existing official websites, travel agencies and associations, consulting the list of historical monuments, using various databases, to which are added statistical data taken from the National Institute of Statistics (http://www.insse.ro, accessed on 9 March 2022) for the formulation of some final findings.

The maps were made in the ArcGIS program, version 10.6.1, by the author, in Bucharest, Romania, using open-source data from OpenStreetMap, vector data in polygon type shapefile layers for buildings and polyline for the street plot. Moreover, the attractions of cultural, historical and tourist interest of the Jewish community were mapped, using as a basemap the map from OpenStreetMap, available for ArcGIS, and the boundaries of the Jewish quarter in the interwar period versus those of today. In the end, two maps were exported, a general one, at the level of Bucharest, of the traces of the Jewish community, and one at the level of the Jewish Quarter.

The development of heritage tourism assumes the existence of tourism potential that, through its attractiveness, aims to ensure the integration of an area, region or country in domestic and international tourist circuits, in order to valorize this heritage and satisfy the motivations of tourism participants. Mayo and Jarvis considered that attractiveness can be defined as the perceived ability of the destination to deliver individual benefits [39]. In the specialized literature, the tourism potential of specific cultural assets is mainly focused on aspects linked to their value as a heritage asset, from a historical, architectural and artistic perspective [40–44].

The identification, inventory and knowledge of all the components of tourism potential, their grouping in space and then their qualitative and quantitative evaluation, are

necessary in order to establish the development opportunities, the forms of development and the priorities of valorization in tourism that they can generate [45].

The main elements of analysis for the delimitation of areas with tourism potential take into account the following aspects: (a) existence of tourism resources, varied in structure, volume, dimensions and tourism value; (b) concentration of tourism resources in the territory, which determines a certain particularity of this territory; (c) the specifics and dimensions of some components of the tourism potential, and d) the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the tourism resources, which confer a tourism function. These elements lead to outlining some criteria for the delimitation of tourist areas, which regard the heritage as a whole, and which point out its essential and complex elements [45,46].

In practice, several directions for calculating the tourist attraction coefficient have been outlined, which also have some common methodological elements [47–49]. One such method, for example, is that of the simple arithmetic average, which is based on the analysis and taking into account the components of natural or anthropic tourism potential, and the tourism function generated by these resources (cultural tourism, niche tourism, etc.).

Thus, the tourist attractiveness index is calculated, according to some specialists [45,47–49], taking into account the following three categories of elements (factors): the potential offer (natural and cultural-historical resources, practicable tourist activities); the secondary offer (access and accessibility, the material base, the general picture) and the technical resources (potential and means of action, integration into national and international development programs) [47].

The tourist attractiveness index has an important role in determining the tourism value of some regions, areas, tourist resorts or tourist attractions and in establishing (along with other elements) the opportunities and priorities for valorization in tourism [45,47–49].

In the evaluation of the tourist attractiveness index of some cultural heritage tourist attractions, the major components (criteria) of anthropic tourist resources are taken into account; these groups of factors of attractiveness can be divided into component elements that constitute a lower level of tree (subcriteria) [47–49].

In the structure of each element that is part of the Jewish cultural heritage tourist offer, the following factors were included and analyzed: (A) anthropic tourist resources: ethnic quarter, memorial monuments; synagogues and temples; museums; ethnic cemeteries; cultural life, and (B) the technical-material base: food structures for tourism: restaurants, bars, etc., classic or specific (with traditional dishes).

The qualitative and quantitative levels of these components can be assessed using different scales with 3 or 5 scalar intervals. The scale of 3 values is considered acceptable, taking into account the possibility of more objective evaluation of the quality of analyzed components.

The main element that determines the potential and attractiveness of cities to tourists is the architectural value, particularly the one of the historical buildings [2–5]. Architectural value, as well as local urban spaces, is also unique and may enhance the tourist attractiveness of a city [50,51]. The Jewish heritage product embraces a set of specific elements listed in descending order of their appearance as follows: Jewish quarter, synagogues, Jewish museums, memorials and Jewish cemeteries [24,28]. Based on the specialized literature [52], it is appreciated that the component elements of the tourism product participate in a differentiated way in establishing its functionality.

The structure of each element includes a certain number of sub-elements, hierarchically differentiated and appreciated on a scale of values between 0 and 3, depending on quality, originality and competitiveness [48]. The four scalar intervals refer to the following aspects: 0 = for the non-existence of the factor or very low intensity in time and space, unfavorable factor due to physical and moral degradation, pollution, etc.; 1 = low intensity, non-competitive internationally; 2 = satisfactory quality, limited national and international interest; 3 = originality, notoriety, favors the development of international tourism. Within the methodology for evaluating the degree of tourist attractiveness of the elements composing a Jewish cultural heritage tourism product, the global attractiveness index was defined [48], calculated based on the following mathematical formula:

$$q = \sum\_{i=1}^{m} q\_i \times P\_i \tag{1}$$

where *q* = the global index of tourist attractiveness; *i* = 1,2,3, . . . —number of elements; *m* = number of elements taken into account; *qi* = the participation coefficient of each element in establishing the tourism functionality; *Pi* = the partial index of attractiveness whose element "*i*" is calculated according to the following formula:

$$P\_{\bar{l}} = \frac{\sum\_{j=1}^{n} V\_{\bar{l}j}}{n\_{\bar{l}}} \tag{2}$$

where *Vij* = the value assigned to each sub-element "*j*" within the element "*i*"; *n* = total number of sub-elements.

As the value of the sub-elements falls in the range 0–3, it results that the field of existence of the two indices of attractiveness will fall within the same limits, with the following meanings: for the range 0–1 the tourist offer is not significant; for the interval 1–2 the tourist offer has limited value; for the interval 2–3 the tourist offer has a high value, with the area being internationally competitive.

Based on the methodological tools presented, it is possible to evaluate the elements and parameters for each type of tourist attraction. For each cultural heritage tourist attraction, the representative elements for the tourism potential and for the development perspectives were analyzed, according to evaluation criteria described in part 4. The qualitative approach to the tourism potential allowed the identification of the main directions of its valorization.

#### **3. Identifying the Tourist Places of Interest of the Jewish Cultural Heritage**

The subject of this research was approached from a limited perspective, of what was considered more relevant from a tourism point of view, not being included here places and prominent personalities of the Jewish community in Bucharest, which are treated in other broader materials. Following the information and data obtained, as well as field observations and interviews, a number of attractions of interest to tourism were identified and selected, in order to outline a tourism product.

They are divided into the following several groups: The Jewish Quarter of Bucharest is considered a symbolic space (here being the most representative place of the religious institutional system and also a space where Jewish culture is present in a commercial way for both Jews and tourists, as well as for locals); followed by synagogues, museums, memorials, cemeteries, cultural life (theater, cultural and artistic events) and gastronomy. These are briefly presented below.

**Jewish Quarter**. Although the boundaries are debatable (Figure 1), the Jewish Quarter is today only a small part of what used to be the Jewish quarters in Bucharest. The Jewish community itself was very diverse, with people from the Ottoman Empire [53], Spain, Poland or Ukraine.

In 1941, the 102,018 Jews living in Bucharest represented 11% of the city's population, but at the last census, in 2011, only 1333 still lived in Bucharest (Figure 2). The exodus to Israel or the West began due to persecution during the Antonescu regime and communism [35], and the beginning of work for the Civic Center, in conjunction with the extensive process of emigration of ethnic Jews to Israel, which led to the removal of the last enclaves inhabited by the Jewish population in the center of Bucharest [54] (Figure 3).

*Societies* **2022**, *12*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 6 of 21

**Figure 1.** Delimitation of the Jewish Quarter (1939/2022) within the city of Bucharest. Source: author, 2022. **Figure 1.** Delimitation of the Jewish Quarter (1939/2022) within the city of Bucharest. Source: author, 2022. last enclaves inhabited by the Jewish population in the center of Bucharest [54] (Figure 3).

60,000 80,000 **Figure 2.** Demographic evolution of Jews in Bucharest (1899—2011). Source: processed data according to the Censuses of the Romanian population, 1899—2011 and according to the data of the partial Census from 1948. **Figure 2.** Demographic evolution of Jews in Bucharest (1899—2011). Source: processed data according to the Censuses of the Romanian population, 1899—2011 and according to the data of the partial Census from 1948.

**Figure 2.** Demographic evolution of Jews in Bucharest (1899—2011). Source: processed data according to the Censuses of the Romanian population, 1899—2011 and according to the data of the partial Census from 1948. 0 20,000 40,000 1899 1912 1930 1941 1948 1956 1966 1977 1992 2002 2011 Lately, there has been a revival of the old Jewish quarter. The museums of the Jewish quarter can be visited, housed in the renovated buildings of the Choral Temple and the Great Synagogue and also in the renovated building of the Holy Union Temple (since 1978, the museum of the Jewish community, today under the name of the "Nicolae Cajal" Museum of Jewish History and Culture in Romania). In the same area, old connections are reborn between former Jewish buildings and memorials as follows: the new Alexandru S, afran square and the Memorial of the Jewish Victims of the Pogrom in Bucharest (behind the Great Synagogue), the building of the State Jewish Theater, the building of the new

Jewish high school "Laude-Reut" or the Center for the Study of the History of the Jews in Romania, "Wilhelm Filderman". *Societies* **2022**, *12*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 21

**Figure 3.** Distribution of tourist attractions in the delimited perimeter of the Jewish Quarter (1939/2022). Source: author, 2022. **Figure 3.** Distribution of tourist attractions in the delimited perimeter of the Jewish Quarter (1939/2022). Source: author, 2022.

Lately, there has been a revival of the old Jewish quarter. The museums of the Jewish quarter can be visited, housed in the renovated buildings of the Choral Temple and the Great Synagogue and also in the renovated building of the Holy Union Temple (since 1978, the museum of the Jewish community, today under the name of the "Nicolae Cajal" Museum of Jewish History and Culture in Romania). In the same area, old connections are reborn between former Jewish buildings and memorials as follows: the new Alexandru Șafran square and the Memorial of the Jewish Victims of the Pogrom in Bucharest (behind the Great Synagogue), the building of the State Jewish Theater, the building of the new Jewish high school "Laude-Reut" or the Center for the Study of the History of the Jews in Romania, "Wilhelm Filderman". **Synagogues/Temples**. Historic synagogues are heritage sites and, as such, are a resource for tourism [55]. **Choral Temple** in Bucharest is a synagogue of the Jewish Community in Bucharest, being the largest mosaic place of worship in the city. It has an **Synagogues/Temples**. Historic synagogues are heritage sites and, as such, are a resource for tourism [55]. **Choral Temple** in Bucharest is a synagogue of the Jewish Community in Bucharest, being the largest mosaic place of worship in the city. It has an area of 700 m<sup>2</sup> , two floors and a basement. The building was built between 1864 and 1866 and was renovated between 1932 and 1945. It is the most famous tourist attraction, being also a place of worship frequented by the Jewish community. The structure of the project was designed by two Viennese architects; the temple was built in the Moorish-Byzantine style, and it is a faithful copy of the Temple in Vienna. At the beginning of 2008, new works of consolidation, conservation and restoration of the temple were realized. In the courtyard, in front of the temple, there is an impressive monument, built in memory of the Holocaust in Europe. The Choral Temple in Bucharest has been included on the list of historical monuments in the category of historical monuments of national or universal value (Figure 4a).

area of 700 m2, two floors and a basement. The building was built between 1864 and 1866 and was renovated between 1932 and 1945. It is the most famous tourist attraction, being also a place of worship frequented by the Jewish community. The structure of the project was designed by two Viennese architects; the temple was built in the Moorish-Byzantine style, and it is a faithful copy of the Temple in Vienna. At the beginning of 2008, new works of consolidation, conservation and restoration of the temple were realized. In the **Great Synagogue** is a synagogue built in 1846, with an area of 715 m<sup>2</sup> . Since 1991, it has hosted the Memorial of the Jewish Martyrs, and the organization of religious events is prohibited. The synagogue was originally known as the Polish Synagogue, being built at the initiative of Ashkenazi Jewish communities of Polish origin and it is the only place of worship to be built by this community. The architecture of the synagogue is in theneoclassical style. The transformations produced in 1903 following a series of interventions

courtyard, in front of the temple, there is an impressive monument, built in memory of the Holocaust in Europe. The Choral Temple in Bucharest has been included on the list of

gave the building the shape we can still admire today. In the period 2004–2007, the building was renovated again only on the outside. The synagogue was reopened in 2007 and it can now be visited (Figure 4b).

**United Holy Temple** was built in 1836 and has an area of 305 m<sup>2</sup> , a ground floor and two levels. It has a façade with Moorish, Romanesque and post-Byzantine elements. Starting in 1978, in this building was built the Museum of History of the Jews of Romania, redesigned and reopened in 2019 under the name of the Museum of History and Culture of the Jews of Romania. The Holy Union Temple can be visited and has been included on the List of historical monuments in the category of historical monuments of national or universal value (Figure 4c,d). *Societies* **2022**, *12*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 8 of 21 historical monuments in the category of historical monuments of national or universal value (Figure 4a).

**Figure 4.** (**a**) Choral Temple and the menorah monument; (**b**) Great Synagogue; (**c**) United Holy Temple; (**d**) inside of the United Holy Temple; (**e**) Holocaust Museum, inside of the Great Synagogue; (**f**) the Holocaust Memorial. Source: author, 2022. **Figure 4.** (**a**) Choral Temple and the menorah monument; (**b**) Great Synagogue; (**c**) United Holy Temple; (**d**) inside of the United Holy Temple; (**e**) Holocaust Museum, inside of the Great Synagogue; (**f**) the Holocaust Memorial. Source: author, 2022.

**Great Synagogue** is a synagogue built in 1846, with an area of 715 m2. Since 1991, it has hosted the Memorial of the Jewish Martyrs, and the organization of religious events is prohibited. The synagogue was originally known as the Polish Synagogue, being built at the initiative of Ashkenazi Jewish communities of Polish origin and it is the only place of worship to be built by this community. The architecture of the synagogue is in the neoclassical style. The transformations produced in 1903 following a series of interventions gave the building the shape we can still admire today. In the period 2004–2007, the building was renovated again only on the outside. The synagogue was reopened in 2007 **Yeshua Tova Synagogue**, also known as the Mogos, oaiei Bridge Synagogue, was built in 1840 and has an area of 295 m<sup>2</sup> , and is designed in the Moorish style. It is currently the oldest synagogue in Bucharest. Above the entrance, there is an ornament where the Ten Commandments are written. At the same time, the synagogue underwent several restoration works, and in 2007 a special inauguration took place with traditional prayers and dances. Moreover, above one of the main entrances, you can see a stone representation of a seven-armed chandelier and also the Star of David. Today, this synagogue is still functional and can be visited.

and it can now be visited (Figure 4b). **United Holy Temple** was built in 1836 and has an area of 305 m2, a ground floor and two levels. It has a façade with Moorish, Romanesque and post-Byzantine elements. Starting in 1978, in this building was built the Museum of History of the Jews of Romania, redesigned and reopened in 2019 under the name of the Museum of History and Culture of the Jews of Romania. The Holy Union Temple can be visited and has been included on the List of historical monuments in the category of historical monuments of **Faith Temple Hevrah Amuna**, also called the Faith Synagogue, was built in 1926 and has an area of 289 m<sup>2</sup> . The style of the building is predominantly modernist and modest and it is currently insufficiently maintained. Services are still organized here, although the Jewish population in the area is very small. Remarkable to this building is its interior and the central ornament, represented by a circular decorative motif with the Star of David. The temple was included on the list of historical monuments in the category of architectural monuments representative of the local cultural heritage.

national or universal value (Figure 4c,d). **Yeshua Tova Synagogue**, also known as the Mogoșoaiei Bridge Synagogue, was built in 1840 and has an area of 295 m2, and is designed in the Moorish style. It is currently the oldest synagogue in Bucharest. Above the entrance, there is an ornament where the Ten Commandments are written. At the same time, the synagogue underwent **Museums**. **Museum of Jewish history and Culture in Romania** is located inside the United Holy Temple, a building declared a historical monument and was founded in 1978. The museum is offering visitors the opportunity to learn about the history of the Jewish community in Romania, its origins, growth, contribution and influence on the Romanian culture, economy and political life.

several restoration works, and in 2007 a special inauguration took place with traditional prayers and dances. Moreover, above one of the main entrances, you can see a stone

**Faith Temple Hevrah Amuna**, also called the Faith Synagogue, was built in 1926 and has an area of 289 m2. The style of the building is predominantly modernist and modest and it is currently insufficiently maintained. Services are still organized here,

**Holocaust Museum** is located inside the Great Synagogue since 1991. Moreover, there is an excellent and very interesting exhibition dedicated to Jewish martyrs, which contains many exhibits, newspaper clippings and photographs that record the state of the Jewish ethnic group during WWII. Guided tours are available for this museum (Figure 4e).

**Museum of Synagogues**, **Mosaic Worship and Religious Life** is located on the second floor of the Choral Temple; this museum is part of the Jewish Museum Complex in Bucharest.

**Memorials**. **The Holocaust Memorial in Romania**, which commemorates the more than 250,000 Jews who died as a result of their deportation to Transnistria in 1941, is a monument inaugurated in 2009 and located in an area designed to remember the visitors of the martyred Jews (Figure 4f). The ensemble was built on a land area of 2894 m<sup>2</sup> , on the site of a former green space, the public domain of the Municipality of Bucharest. In addition to the Central Memorial, the complex includes the following five sculptures: the Memorial Column, the Via Dolorosa, the Wheel of the Roma, the Star of David and the Epitaph. **The monument in memory of the victims of the Holocaust**, in the form of a menorah, is located in front of the Choral Temple, and **the area designed to commemorate the martyred Jews** is located outside the Great Synagogue.

**Jewish cemetery**. **Jewish Cemetery Giurgiului** is the largest of the three Jewish cemeteries that still exist in Bucharest and the second largest in Romania, after the one in Ias,i. Giurgiului Cemetery is crossed by a railway line, which divides it into two distinct parts. On one side, is the old cemetery, inaugurated in 1929–1930, with artistic funerary monuments. On the other side, there is the new cemetery, added in 1945. On an area of 140,000 m<sup>2</sup> , there are 35,000–40,000 graves, some of which belong to Holocaust victims and Jewish soldiers and heroes from Romania.

**Jewish Cemetery Filantropia** was inaugurated in 1865 and has a rich history, with important personalities of the Jewish community being buried here. On the surface, the cemetery is the second Jewish cemetery in Bucharest, measuring about 94,000 m<sup>2</sup> , of which 80,000 m<sup>2</sup> are occupied by baroque monuments. All the monuments inside the cemetery are impressive, although the vast majority have suffered severe damage due to weather. Several monuments are part of the categories of public monuments, respectively, memorials and funerary monuments, and have been included in the list of historical monuments in the category of historical monuments representative of the local cultural heritage.

**Sephardic Jewish Cemetery**, also known as the Spanish Cemetery, was inaugurated in 1865. It has an area of about 4–5 ha and contains 10,300 graves. In the cemetery are some of the tombstones transferred from the former cemetery on Sevastopol Street (the oldest Jewish cemetery in Bucharest, from the 17th century), which was dismantled during the Holocaust under the Antonescu regime. Here is also an obelisk, a monument in memory of the Sephardic Jewish soldiers who fell for Romania in the First World War.

**Cultural life**. The Jewish community in Bucharest is extremely lively and active. It organizes for members of all ages both educational activities (seminars, conferences, round tables, courses) and recreational ones (parties, trips, participation in international meetings), keeping alive the Jewish tradition.

**State Jewish Theater** was founded in 1941 as the Baras, eum Theater, given that Jewish actors were no longer allowed to play in Romanian theaters. The theater generally operates in Yiddish and is the first professional Yiddish theater in the world, having in Romania 146 years of existence and of uninterrupted activity. It is also one of the few such theatrical institutions in Europe. The shows that are organized here are also sought after by Jewish tourists from all over the world.

**Festivals**. Several such international cultural events are organized every year, such as the following: Bucharest Jewish Film Festival—BJFF; Bucharest Shalom Jerusalem! Festival; Yiddish Language and Culture Festival; TES FEST Yiddish International Theater Festival.

**Artistic groups/ensembles/bands** active in the Jewish cultural field are the following: Hora Bucharest—Israeli and traditional Jewish dance group, Bucharest Klezmer Band—traditional Jewish music, Hazamir Choir of the Bucharest Jewish Community and

the Bucharest Jewish Community Center and the Choir of Children of the Jewish Community Center Bucharest.

**Kosher food places**. Jewish cuisine refers primarily to the culinary traditions that Jews around the world have. Among the places where kosher food is served are the following: Avraham Kosher Restaurant-Cafe, Bereshit Restaurant-Grocery, Moise Kosher House Restaurant-Grocery, Shabbat Dinner RSVP, Kosher Grocery and others.

It is also worth noting the presence of **Mikveh** (a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity) in Bucharest. There are the following two such functional baths: Bucharest Mikvah, within the Jewish Community Center and Mikvah of Bucharest located in District 2 of Bucharest.

#### **4. Results of Evaluation of Tourist Offer of the Jewish Cultural Heritage**

After identifying and selecting the tourist places of interest for cultural tourism, a series of characteristics were outlined that directly express the tourism values of the cultural assets.

A previous analysis of the cultural heritage assets in Romania, with the aim of realizing an inventory, identification and classification, carried out by the author after a consistent experience in cultural tourism research in Romania, has led to the realization of a complex set of 22 values, applied to the natural and cultural heritage, through which a better appraisal of the heritage assets is made [56], from which a set of the following 13 values, suitable for the types of tourist attractions considered, were selected for current research and used as evaluation criteria: (a) Historical and documentary value; (b) Identity and inheritance value; (c) Architectural or artistic value; (d) Esthetical value; (e) Tourist and recreational value; (f) Monument value; (g) Religious and spiritual value; (h) Museum value; (i) Educational and formation value; (j) Emotional value; (k) Symbolical value; (l) Commemorative value; (m) Memorial and author value (Figure 5).

The adapted methodology, proposed by the author, regarding the tourism potential of the Jewish cultural heritage aims to represent a useful element in the outline of new tourism development strategies in the medium and long term. However, overall, this methodology only provides a low, medium and even high-level assessment. Analyzing heritage tourism comparatively with the other types of natural, respectively, cultural heritage, tourism one can also establish its own set of values in the analysis and evaluation of the existing tourism assets, especially since in this case too, one can remember a historical value, identity value, associative and use value, etc.

The existence of a system of heritage values more easily determines the importance of a heritage asset, shows its true value as a whole but also through the elements that compose it and determines its protection status; the more values it holds, the more vulnerable it becomes to the passage of time. Thus, the proposed system of heritage values has the role of influencing urban development policies, giving tourism importance to this heritage. The more a cultural or natural asset has more heritage values, the more it will need better integration in the context of modernizing a city. A large number of such values will determine that a cultural asset is more difficult to demolish and declassify for economic interests, to make a maximum profit for certain terrain. Then, its economic exploitation will be more closely supervised to reduce any constructive or ornamental degradation.

Although the field of tourism has not clearly and comprehensively established its own heritage, determined by certain values—there is only a sum of methodologies related to the approval of land use and urban planning; establishing heritage values is important in suggesting a method of documentation and analysis of values to discern what is or is not heritage, and determines the possibilities of economic valorization. Not all heritage assets should also have the status of monuments, but they can support any local economy [46].

**Figure 5.** The set of values used as evaluation criteria for cultural heritage components. Source: Bogan et al., 2021 [56]. **Figure 5.** The set of values used as evaluation criteria for cultural heritage components. Source: Bogan et al., 2021 [56].

In addition to the heritage components that are the subject of this study, the presence of elements that are part of a competitive tourism product is also considered, such as the following: Jewish cultural life, which includes theaters, international ethnic festivals, as well as ensembles and artistic formations, which have an impact on the tourist offer. A second element that has been taken into account is the presence of restaurants and grocery stores that serve or sell specific foods, kosher, to tourists of Jewish origin (among others), whose number has been growing lately.

The results of the evaluation of the heritage elements (as well as of the other components of the tourist offer of Jewish cultural heritage tourism products) according to the applicable value from the set of values for each sub-element are presented in Table 1.


**Table 1.** Evaluation of the components of the tourist offer of the Jewish heritage tourism product.



The values calculated and assigned for the sub-elements of the cultural heritage components of the tourism product, using the evaluation criteria from the set of 13 values described above, were used to obtain the attractiveness indices according to the calculation method described in the methodology.

These assigned values are based on the author's subjective judgment. These are given subjectively and arbitrarily [24] and rated on a scale of values between 0 and 3, depending on their quality, originality and competitiveness.

The analysis highlights the fact that the component elements of the tourism product participate differently in establishing its degree of attractiveness (Figure 6). Thus, for the **synagogues/temples** component, the highest maximum scores, respectively the calculated value 3, were assigned for its sub-elements (every single synagogue), resulting in a value of a partial attractiveness index of 2.85, being thus the most representative component of the tourist offer. This fact can be explained by the very good condition of conservation and restoration of these buildings, their antiquity and architecture and the fact that they also host museums and memorials, which gives them real tourist value and turns them into potential base points for creating an original tourism product. Corpas and Castillo emphasize that tourism at synagogues can be seen to be a very specific type of cultural tourism for Jewish heritage [57]. Some of them are classified as historical monuments in the category of monuments of exceptional national value, a representative for the Romanian civilization at a global level. *Societies* **2022**, *12*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 14 of 21

**Figure 6.** The participation of each component element in the Jewish cultural heritage tourism product. benefits for the Jewish cultural heritage tourism product and the existing community, **Figure 6.** The participation of each component element in the Jewish cultural heritage tourism product.

sought after by tourists in increasing numbers, as well as by lovers of the history of Jewish communities and their origins in Romania. They also offer, in addition to museum

Not surprisingly, the **museums** component is also representative forthe tourist offer,

**Jewish cemeteries**, with a rich history, tombs of important figures of the Jewish community and monuments classified as historical monuments in the category of monuments of national value, are also a representative component of the cultural tourism product, with a partial attractiveness index of 2.00, which puts them on an equality

**The Jewish Quarter** scored slightly lower, based on the evaluation criteria taken into account, compared to the other components, with a value of partial attractiveness index of 1.80, although many of the tourist attractions are concentrated here (synagogues, museums, memorials, theaters, buildings, etc.). The explanation consists inthe fact that the perimeter of the current neighborhood is very small, with buildings in different stages of degradation, thus offering a lower level of attractiveness, compared to other areas of Bucharest. Some buildings within this perimeter have been classified as historical monuments in the category of monuments of national value. However, private tours include a larger perimeter than the one currently delimited, towards the limits of 1939.

The commemorative **memorials**, with a special symbolic and emotional value, in addition to their educational character, have a partial attractiveness index value of 1.66, relatively high, indicating a real tourism potential, which proves that they can be valorized in guided tours. Although the calculated value of the sub-elements was higher than 1 for the monument value, for the tourist and recreational value evaluation criteria was chosen the unit value was 1. In general, most of these memorials, intended to commemorate martyred Jews, are slightly included in tourist routes to be visited, are often ignored by guides, are not being signaled enough to be visible, and, at the moment, are very little

**Cultural life**, through its cultural events, can become an important part of the strategy of attracting tourists to other cultural heritage components, as well as knowledge of Jewish culture, obtaining a value of a partial attractiveness index of 1.75 through its sub-elements. Jewish cultural events manifested through the internationally renowned theater, international festivals, but also other cultural events, offer numerous

exhibitions, temporary events with various themes.

with museums.

valorized through tourism.

Not surprisingly, the **museums** component is also representative forthe tourist offer, with a partial attractiveness index of 2.00. These tourist attractions are among the most sought after by tourists in increasing numbers, as well as by lovers of the history of Jewish communities and their origins in Romania. They also offer, in addition to museum exhibitions, temporary events with various themes.

**Jewish cemeteries**, with a rich history, tombs of important figures of the Jewish community and monuments classified as historical monuments in the category of monuments of national value, are also a representative component of the cultural tourism product, with a partial attractiveness index of 2.00, which puts them on an equality with museums.

**The Jewish Quarter** scored slightly lower, based on the evaluation criteria taken into account, compared to the other components, with a value of partial attractiveness index of 1.80, although many of the tourist attractions are concentrated here (synagogues, museums, memorials, theaters, buildings, etc.). The explanation consists inthe fact that the perimeter of the current neighborhood is very small, with buildings in different stages of degradation, thus offering a lower level of attractiveness, compared to other areas of Bucharest. Some buildings within this perimeter have been classified as historical monuments in the category of monuments of national value. However, private tours include a larger perimeter than the one currently delimited, towards the limits of 1939.

The commemorative **memorials**, with a special symbolic and emotional value, in addition to their educational character, have a partial attractiveness index value of 1.66, relatively high, indicating a real tourism potential, which proves that they can be valorized in guided tours. Although the calculated value of the sub-elements was higher than 1 for the monument value, for the tourist and recreational value evaluation criteria was chosen the unit value was 1. In general, most of these memorials, intended to commemorate martyred Jews, are slightly included in tourist routes to be visited, are often ignored by guides, are not being signaled enough to be visible, and, at the moment, are very little valorized through tourism.

**Cultural life**, through its cultural events, can become an important part of the strategy of attracting tourists to other cultural heritage components, as well as knowledge of Jewish culture, obtaining a value of a partial attractiveness index of 1.75 through its subelements. Jewish cultural events manifested through the internationally renowned theater, international festivals, but also other cultural events, offer numerous benefits for the Jewish cultural heritage tourism product and the existing community, including increased visits and expenses, repeated visits from year to year, and verbal recommendations to acquaintances through the acquired experiences, thus being able to contribute to the impulse and self-sustained growth, on the whole, of the cultural tourism of Jewish heritage.

**Kosher food places**, through their presence, complete the visitors' experience by offering specific Jewish dishes of very good quality, thus completing the tourist offer. They obtained a value for the partial attractiveness index of 2.00.

**Global attractiveness index value** is situated at the median limit between the two intervals established for the evaluation of the tourist potential, respectively, interval 1–2 (a tourist offer has limited value) and interval 2–3 (a tourist offer has high value and is internationally competitive), having a value of 2.00, which can be considered as a high value and can be appreciated as being at the lower limit of international competitiveness.

Under these conditions, the Jewish cultural heritage tourism has all the chances to exceed the current level of development and to become a type of tourism increasingly sought after and appreciated by various categories of tourists. It may take in the future more complex forms of spatial organization as follows: identity tourism areas, itineraries and tourist routes and thematic networks. Prospective thinking needs to imagine tomorrow's customers, their profiles, their behaviors and expectations.

Poor valorization of this potential can be determined by the following number of factors:


#### **5. Discussion**

Some acknowledgments must be made regarding the valorization through tourism of historical and cultural heritage and also a critical reflection on the appropriateness of such an approach to Jewish heritage sites in Bucharest.

First of all, it is important to point out that tangible and intangible cultural heritage are fragile in its protection and dissemination, and it needs tourism promotion, in order to gain national or even international fame, to show and enhance its value and to make it visible to society.

The deeply problematic notion of "valorization through tourism" (i.e., commodification and monetization) raises several issues. Thus, on the one hand, this type of valorization is suspected of wanting to exploit the cultural heritage solely for commercial interests, which some specialists, such as historians, art historians or architects, naturally oppose with all their might. On the other hand, there are different ways in which "valorization" is understood and used. If the term is used without a clear definition, that will cause a profound mistrust of the specialist sciences. Thus, "a conferring of value upon something" and "the act of making something valuable or useful" meanings of this term were used in this article.

The valorization of cultural heritage can be a very confusing concept because of the value of cultural heritage. It is necessary to distinguish between the intrinsic value of cultural heritage, which is its common memory, common history for a group of people and for society and its instrumental value, which means what cultural heritage is useful for, the economic value that cultural heritage assets produce, which can take the shape of tourism.

The still largely unexpressed tourism potential of Jewish cultural heritage within the development of tourism in Bucharest, along with ongoing and planned practices of revitalization and commodification of Jewish heritage, makes this study appropriate at the moment, and an approach to Jewish heritage rediscovery in Bucharest, including the revitalization and restoration of formerly neglected and decaying neighborhoods and Jewish memorial monuments, is opportune.

Both positive and negative aspects can be identified [23,32,58]. When a majority group, for various reasons, has the power and chance to decide which aspects of heritage should be emphasized and promoted, including ethnic minority heritage, the problems of authenticity, commodification and participation occur [59–62]. This implies that Jewish communities are not always able to keep a central role in decision-making related to the management and promotion of their heritage [32].

The commodification of Jewish sites has been critically analyzed by some authors [63–65], also unrestrained commercialization of Jewish-related sites in Poland and Germany raised significant negative reactions in the Jewish world [65], but, at the same time, rehabilitation and revitalization of Jewish heritage in many European cities have turned decaying and forgotten neighborhoods into vibrant and cosmopolitan urban spaces [19].

Tourism promotion plays a very important role in terms of increasing the visibility of a tourism product, which leads to better knowledge of it, economic growth and benefits for locals. Cultural heritage does not yield a direct financial gain [29,66]. Obviously, the product must have enough tourism potential to attract tourists. Several authors [67–69] define tourism potential as the evaluation of supply, demand, competition, market trends and the characteristics, or "vocation", of territory for tourism activity. Its existence, together with a correct valorization and proper promotion, will lead to the recognition of the tourism product at the national level, but especially at the international level [70].

Ethnic minority groups, present in urban centers, have preserved their traditions very well, conserving their cultural identity at the social and institutional level, thus encouraging multicultural and ethnic tourism.

Multicultural and ethnic tourism can be very beneficial, viewed from the following two perspectives: that of tourists, because they come into contact with new cultures, traditions and people; tourists are often motivated by their desire to see and experience things that they do not have in their familiar environment [17], and that of ethnic communities, because they significantly increase their incomes, promote their culture and thus preserve themselves over time. Archer and Fletcher consider that involving local communities in tourism is likely to promote the economy [71]. The valorization of the existing potential can be performed primarily through the active involvement of the authorities (which currently does not exceed by far the stage of intention) in the restoration, conservation of cultural heritage and promotion of the tourism potential of the area.

The introduction of several niche segments to the tourism market has become common practice in the tourism industry. Jewish heritage tourism is a cultural niche product offered to visitors in many European destinations [24,28,32]. This is the reason why we propose that the tourist offer of Jewish cultural heritage tourism products needs to be included in tourist packages with greater diversity, which should also include niche tourism, so that the tourist has the opportunity to know and carry out more tourist activities.

A visit to one of these destinations can be extremely advantageous, both for tourists who are curious and eager to enrich their knowledge, but also for the visited ethnic communities, who can benefit financially from small tourist investments. Tourists, on the other hand, will gain many unique experiences at the cost of one, as opposed to the cultural tourism of a single nation; they will have the opportunity to try novelties in the field of traditional gastronomy, or the way of celebrating various customs or festivals. *Societies* **2022**, *12*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 17 of 21

> Jewish descendants who want to connect with their historical legacy present a growing opportunity for tourism in Europe [72]. Before the pandemic, Israel was one of the most important sources of foreign tourists spending their holidays in Romania (Figure 7). Romania is one of the traditional destinations sought by Israelis at present, city breaks in Bucharest being inthe top of thepreferences for these tourists. ure 7). Romania is one of the traditional destinations sought by Israelis at present, city breaks in Bucharest being inthe top of thepreferences for these tourists.

**Figure 7.** Evolution of arrivals in Romania of tourists from Israel (2006–2021). Source: National Institute of Statistics. **Figure 7.** Evolution of arrivals in Romania of tourists from Israel (2006–2021). Source: National Institute of Statistics.

In the current tourism industry, all the factors participating in the support and development of this field (economic units, family associations, individuals, state representatives directly or indirectly involved in tourism) must know the national and international trends on which to base cultural tourism planning. Often, national and interna-In the current tourism industry, all the factors participating in the support and development of this field (economic units, family associations, individuals, state representatives directly or indirectly involved in tourism) must know the national and international trends on which to base cultural tourism planning. Often, national and international trends coincide, which makes developments positive on multiple levels [22].

tional trends coincide, which makes developments positive on multiple levels [22]. Overall, there have been many shortcomings in the materials published for promotion over time, so Romania does not currently have a clear, well-defined tourist destination position, and the funds allocated are insufficient, government initiatives are not Overall, there have been many shortcomings in the materials published for promotion over time, so Romania does not currently have a clear, well-defined tourist destination position, and the funds allocated are insufficient, government initiatives are not transparent

transparent enough or known to the private sector and public administrations, and the impact and efficiency of the implementation of promotion programs, participation in

In essence, the promotion includes the following major activities: participation in fairs, profile exhibitions, the printing of general and thematic brochures, creation of websites on the Internet and advertising in the media (radio, TV, international stations). The online environment and especially social media, are relevant for tourist activity because it is an industry based on the transmission of information and the promotion of offers. In an innovative paper regarding sieving tourism destinations, Krakover and Corsale show that "attractions not listed on social media sites are not only hard to find

Regarding the promotion of the Jewish cultural heritage in Bucharest on social media, it is quite diverse and common nowadays. Moreover, thanks to social media, not only that physical tours have started to be organized, but also online ones and tourists are becoming even more interested in those activities, being able to find out information just with a click. In addition, according to Krakover and Corsale, promoting appropriate and appealing narratives, including intangible heritage, could enhance the significance of minor tangible attractions and spread the interest and benefits coming from visitors [73]. Conti and Moriconi point out that cultural tourists actively collaborate by offering opin-

Following the interviews conducted for this research, it was determined that an important role in promotion is played by associations that organize physical tours or monthly online tours, as they are coordinated by experienced guides who are able to provide the most useful information about a synagogue or temple. For people passionate about Jewish history, this type of promotion is the most useful way to gain knowledge

but also devoid of previous visitors' recommendations and scaling" [73].

economic efficiency [46].

ions on tourist destinations [74].

enough or known to the private sector and public administrations, and the impact and efficiency of the implementation of promotion programs, participation in fairs and exhibitions are not carefully monitored and evaluated, according to criteria of economic efficiency [46].

In essence, the promotion includes the following major activities: participation in fairs, profile exhibitions, the printing of general and thematic brochures, creation of websites on the Internet and advertising in the media (radio, TV, international stations).

The online environment and especially social media, are relevant for tourist activity because it is an industry based on the transmission of information and the promotion of offers. In an innovative paper regarding sieving tourism destinations, Krakover and Corsale show that "attractions not listed on social media sites are not only hard to find but also devoid of previous visitors' recommendations and scaling" [73].

Regarding the promotion of the Jewish cultural heritage in Bucharest on social media, it is quite diverse and common nowadays. Moreover, thanks to social media, not only that physical tours have started to be organized, but also online ones and tourists are becoming even more interested in those activities, being able to find out information just with a click. In addition, according to Krakover and Corsale, promoting appropriate and appealing narratives, including intangible heritage, could enhance the significance of minor tangible attractions and spread the interest and benefits coming from visitors [73]. Conti and Moriconi point out that cultural tourists actively collaborate by offering opinions on tourist destinations [74].

Following the interviews conducted for this research, it was determined that an important role in promotion is played by associations that organize physical tours or monthly online tours, as they are coordinated by experienced guides who are able to provide the most useful information about a synagogue or temple. For people passionate about Jewish history, this type of promotion is the most useful way to gain knowledge about Jewish culture. Therefore, associations need to be increasingly more creative about promotion and, very importantly, not repeat themselves from one tour to another.

At the level of tourism companies, the Jewish cultural heritage is not sufficiently promoted, as emerged from the interviews taken by the author, but these tourism companies have Jewish circuits in their composition or, as in the case of promotion through associations, are organized guided tours by bus or even walking with a guide. At the same time, tourism companies can promote the Jewish cultural heritage, especially through social media, by providing various information through advertisements on specially created sites, for the purpose of promotion, or by brochures offered to tourists at the end of a guided tour.

Given the importance of tourism promotion, there is the issue of its efficiency, namely, the few funds allocated that need to be spent properly, in well-organized campaigns in terms of the target group, means used, materials disseminated, etc. In an effective promotion, in order for the promotion to be useful, it is first necessary to take advantage of the Jewish buildings that are still in operation and for those that have a moderate degree of degradation to be restored by allocating funds.

From the point of view of promotion, it is necessary to invest in the online media, which is the environment most accessed by the general public. In addition to the tourist associations that organize guided tours in an online environment, an intense campaign is needed to present the potential of each building. Moreover, the most important events regarding Jewish cultural activities can be broadcast live on the most important television stations to create a link between the public and the Jewish culture regarding traditions, customs, dances, gastronomy and tourist attractions.

In recent years, the concept of "traveling to see different places" has started to lose its meaning due to the globalization process, thus urban tourism management must find new ways of promoting, of offering tourist services that transform the urban area into a different, unique place [75].

One thing is certain: the fact that Jewish cultural heritage tourism is constantly evolving, especially nowadays, when it turns out that the world has begun to be much more interested

in the lives of Jews compared to previous years. Corsale considers that Jewish heritage tourism is a niche segment that gradually turning into a mass tourism experience [76].

#### **6. Conclusions**

Jewish Quarters are a real cultural attraction; they are often valorized through tourism and due to their elements of ethnic cultural heritage, gain by promotion a national or even international fame, valorization of this heritage being important for many societies [22,77]. They have always attracted the attention of a wide range of stakeholders, developing specific tourism that often involves, in addition to culture, ethnic tourism. Russo and Romagosa also highlighted the potential of the Jewish quarters as a means for local and regional development [78].

Based on an inventory of cultural heritage, each country has created its own system for classifying cultural heritage based on accumulated cultural assets and values [46,56]. The process of inventorying cultural assets and of evaluating them in terms of tourism must lead to the diversification of tourist attractions [79]. Thus, a series of facilities can be developed to support tourism and diversify tourist activities.

Very often, it is supported the idea that any attraction or cultural or natural asset can become a tourist attraction, determined by the fact that it can arouse a certain curiosity. In reality, according to some authors, tourists are interested in traveling and paying for those tour packages that offer them the opportunity to visit and live an authentic and unique experience [80,81]. This fact explains why large tourist flows are oriented towards visiting special cultural assets with a reputation gained over time.

In recent decades, the attention of cultural managers has also focused on lesser-known cultural places that are representative of a particular urban community. A route containing the values of the Jewish cultural heritage of Bucharest will bring to light a culture animated by a strong faith, a desire to excel and a need for beauty; a culture that has left its mark on society as an engine of evolution and well-being.

In order to ensure the quality of the cultural and tourist services offered, it will be necessary, at all times, to take into account the particularities and exigencies of the present cultural heritage and those of the local community, in order not to harm the components of the cultural environment. Given that public resources are limited, the support for cultural tourism, in all its forms of manifestation, will have to increasingly rely on the private sector.

This study can be complemented by future development of research focusing on the visits of tourists and consumers of Jewish cultural heritage. Their motivations and expectations, as well as choices and impressions related to their experiences and different aspects of Jewish culture, can thus be compared.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.

#### **References**

