From July 8–14, 2024, the 13th edition of the summer school took place in Upper Silesia, with post-industrial heritage as its central theme. Participants visited, among other places, the Coal Mining Museum in Zabrze, the Historic Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Góry, and the Nikiszowiec workers’ housing estate in Katowice, and also took part in numerous discussions, meetings and workshops.

Participants from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary took part in the V4 Heritage Academy summer school. The first stop on the itinerary was Kraków. After lectures by architect Věra Kučová, head of the Center for Monuments of International Importance at the National Heritage Institute, and Dr. Łukasz Galusek, Program Director at the International Cultural Centre, they toured the historic city center and the Museum of Engineering and Technology. They then proceeded to the Coal Mining Museum in Zabrze. Traveling through an underground canal, they discovered the secrets of the Queen Louise Adit, toured the Guido Mine, where coal had been mined since the mid-19th century, and the Historic Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Góry, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The next stop on the itinerary was the Nikiszowiec workers’ housing estate in Katowice, which was designated a Historic Monument in 2011.

The V4 Heritage Academy is implemented by the International Cultural Centre as part of the cooperation of the Expert Working Group on Cultural Heritage of the Visegrad Group Countries. The project’s permanent partners are the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Council for the Protection of Monuments of the Slovak Republic, and the Ministry of Construction and Transport of Hungary.