Stone by stone for the future of Ulcinj olive grove

The non-governmental organization Dr. Martin Schneider-Jacoby Association (MSJA) implemented the first Drywall School in Ulcinjska Maslinada, which attracted great interest. Representatives of the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, numerous students of the Faculty of Architecture, local olive growers and experts from Montenegro and the region responded to the invitation to participate in the project aimed at restoring and preserving traditional drywalls.

“By organizing the dry stone wall school, we want to empower local olive growers and point to new models of sustainable valorization of the Ulcinj olive grove. Our goal is to preserve the authentic millennial Mediterranean landscape through the revitalization of traditional skills such as traditional dry stone wall construction. The experiences of countries such as Croatia, Greece and Italy confirm that such sites can become centers of volunteer tourism, thus providing economic benefits without disrupting the natural and cultural integrity of the area. We must preserve this magical synergy of nature and tradition as a lasting heritage of our city,” said the executive director of the NGO Dr. Martin Schneider-Jacoby Association, Zenepa Lika.

The first day of school was dedicated to theoretical lectures. The school was opened by Aleksandra Kapetanović, architect and founder of the NGO Expeditio, who was also the person responsible for the development of the Cultural Landscape Study of Ulcinj's Olive Grove and Valdanos Bay.

“It was a real pleasure for me to participate in this project because I was the coordinator of a team of experts who looked at all the values ​​of this area and proved in fact what was already known about the exceptional value of this area. This type of activity shows how this area should be maintained and preserved in the future. In the study we did, where we covered the entire olive grove, we particularly focused on the exceptional cultural landscape that is very significant for this entire area of ​​the eastern Adriatic, where we have a very large area of ​​old olive groves that have been continuously preserved, from Valdanos Bay all the way to Ulcinj, where we have those old olive trees, those terraced retaining walls and the terraced area that has been proven to be very old, that it has been used for millennia. Of particular importance are the dry stone walls, the supporting walls made of stone that actually protected the land from washing away, protected the space for the olive trees, those dry stone walls were made the same way all the time, only from the stone that was there, without any mortar, without any binder, and that "There are kilometers and kilometers of these walls. It is very important that this drywall construction technique is recognized internationally as an intangible cultural heritage. Initiatives for protection have been submitted in Montenegro and we hope that in the next period it will be formally protected," said Kapetanović.

A lecture on the process of protecting the Ulcinj olive grove and Valdanos Bay was presented by ethnologist Tanja Vujović and an architect Andrea Mugoš from the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage. They also participated in field training.

“Sandstone walls are the foundation of olive groves, they have been our heritage for 1.900 years. It is also a prehistoric heritage, in the same way people took a handful of land from nature for the needs of their economy. This knowledge and skill is being lost, but fortunately Zenepa invited two excellent craftsmen who showed us and the students how it is done. The art of building drystone walls is our intangible heritage and an opportunity for us to obtain information from the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in order to preserve this ancient practice and protect it as a cultural asset of Montenegro. On the other hand, it is important that we are helping the process of preserving these structures. If we want future generations to grow olive trees here, this is one of the best ways to achieve that,” said ethnologist Tanja Vujović.

The drywall school was also supported by guests from Croatia, representatives of the "4 Cities of Dragodid" association.

"It is always nice to respond to the invitation of colleagues from Montenegro. We are in the olive grove for the first time at the invitation of dear Zenepa. The olive grove has great potential for holding future workshops. As part of the school, I held a presentation of the work of our association, as well as a project to restore ponds, a very important ecosystem for our entire region. The students reacted very positively and I hope that as many as possible will come to our workshops," she emphasized. Anita Trojanovic, Master of Landscape Architecture Engineer and President of the “4 Cities of Dragodid” Association.

Archaeologists show what drywall construction looks like in practice Zeljko Starcevic i Sabri Baljeveic, a famous local craftsman.

A large number of students from the Faculty of Architecture responded to the invitation to participate in the Drywall School.

"We hope that this school will grow to a larger scale next year and that we will have the opportunity to host more students because this really means something to them. They study in classrooms, and there are rare moments when they can go out into the field, especially in nature. We hope that this will also be an opportunity to include the dry stone wall on the UNESCO list, because countries in the region have already done so," she said. Dr. Ida Hodžić-Adrović, teaching associate at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Montenegro.

Rastko Ðurišić, a third-year student at the Faculty of Architecture, expressed his satisfaction at being able to learn first-hand from experts how to make drywall.

"A great team of experts and lecturers are helping us preserve this craft. There is no point in letting this tradition die. We are here as students to preserve this practice," said Đurišić.

"Drywall School" was implemented as part of a project by the MSJA organization called 'Creative guardians and the community's voice for the natural and cultural heritage of Ulcinj', which she supported European Endowment for Democracy (EED)This important initiative was additionally co-financed by Global Environment Facility (GEF 7) i United Nations Development Program (UNDP). KV