Autonomous Province of Bozen - South Tyrol – Abteilung Generic

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Ladinia

The most important cultural institution which is present in every valley is the Cultural Institute: in Val di Fassa there is the Ladin cultural institute Majon di Fascegn (founded in 1975),in Val Badia and Val Gardena the Ladin cultural institute Micura de Rü (founded in 1976) and in Livinallongo with Colle Santa Lucia and Ampezzo the Ladin cultural institute “Cesa de Jan” (inaugurated in 2005). These three institutes were all founded with the same programme, which includes the following points:

study the language, the history and folk culture on a scientific level
enrich and modernise the language and the culture
found and organise a library and an archive
support teachers of Ladin
provide further education courses
maintain and foster inter-ladin relationships
publish works concerning Ladin language and culture

Starting from the activity of the Ladin cultural institutes other associations and corporations have developed which support and enrich the cultural heritage of the Ladin valleys.
In 1987 for example the Ladin Pedagogic Institute was founded which took over the task of training teachers and providing didactic material.
As far as further education courses for adults are concerned, educational committees were formed in Val Badia and Val Gardena which organise informative evenings, courses and various events in which adults have the chance to further educate themselves and acquire new knowledge.
Also the organisation of public libraries is connected with the activity of the Ladin cultural institutes, especially because of the establishment of centralised libraries with branches in almost every village. The libraries of the Ladin cultural institutes could therefore become specialised linguistic libraries which offer scientific works that are otherwise hardly available.
A great cultural enrichment is represented by the realisation of museums: in Val Badia there is the Ladin Museum Ciastel de Tor, in Val Gardena there is the ethnographic museum of the Cësa di Ladins in Ortisei, in Val di Fassa the museum in Vigo, in Livinallongo the museum of Pieve and in Ampezzo the museum Ciasa de ra Regoles, with a section for palaeontology in the new cultural centre Alexander Hall.
Moreover, the Ladin department for school and culture of the Bolzano Province also has to be mentioned. It was founded in 2001. This corporation fosters cultural activities in Val Badia and Val Gardena: it organises competitions in order to stimulate artists in different sectors and events which have the aim of increasing the knowledge about Ladin language and culture also among the German and Italian speaking population of the province (for example the Day of Ladin Culture or cultural forums which are held annually). Furthermore, since 1998 at the Free University of Bolzano, Faculty of Education there has been set up a Ladin department which is in charge of the trilingual academic training of primary school teachers and nursery teachers.
Next to the Ladin cultural institutes which work to safeguard the Ladin language and culture in every valley, there is the Union Generela di Ladins dla Dolomites, the umbrella organisation of the Unions di Ladins which are present in all the five valleys. Still nowadays, this is the only association or institution which is active in all the valleys to safeguard and foster the Ladin language and culture. Especially with the newspaper La Usc di Ladins it works for the preservation of the language, for the creation of neologisms and for the diffusion of the news in Ladin. Next to the five Unions di Ladins there are numerous other associations which are engaged in the cultural sector (Ert por i Ladins, Uniun Maestri Ladins, Circolo Rovisi, etc.). More detailed information about the cultural associations which are present on the Ladin territory is available at http://www.ladinia.net/.