Experiencing culture without barriers: the Interreg PLACES project presents new initiatives at Fortezza Fort
Family Sunday at the museum with PLACES, focusing on inclusion, digitalisation and an accessible cultural experience for everyone
How can historic sites and cultural landscapes be made accessible to as many people as possible, whilst at the same time offering an exciting, contemporary and sustainable experience? Answers to these questions are provided by the cross-border Interreg project run by the social cooperative independent L., called PLACES – Promoting Landscape, Accessibility and Culture for Experiential and Sustainable Tourism.
Following two years of cross-border collaboration, the PLACES project brings together accessibility, cultural heritage, digitalisation and sustainable tourism. The aim is to create new ways of engaging with culture and the landscape, and to design tourist offerings in such a way that they enable people with different needs to enjoy a self-determined experience. On Sunday 20 September 2026, the project’s findings and new inclusive offerings were presented at Franzensfeste Fortress as part of the museum’s Family Sunday event.
The fortress becomes a space for experiences
The Franzensfeste Fortress is one of four pilot sites in the project. Together with partners from Italy and Austria, new solutions have been developed that not only make visiting easier, but also open up additional opportunities for discovery and experience.
In Franzensfeste, the focus is on, amongst other things, new inclusive information boards and the immersive audio experience “Welcome to Franzensfeste” in the Fortress Church. Also presented were the new cross-border tourism portal PLACES www.places-interreg.eu, the completed digital 360° tours of the four participating pilot sites, the detailed adaptation plans for removing architectural barriers, and the analyses carried out to improve digital accessibility. In addition, the best practice project “kärnten.museum Klagenfurt for everyone” was presented: As part of the PLACES project, the Carinthia State Museum has enhanced its architectural accessibility by introducing an indoor navigation app to enable blind people to visit the museum independently.
“The new initiatives demonstrate that accessibility goes far beyond the removal of physical barriers. PLACES also takes digital and sensory accessibility into account. Information is conveyed in various ways and cultural content is presented in such a way that as many visitors as possible can access it independently", explained project manager Günther Ennemoser from independent L.
Overcoming barriers – in tourism too
PLACES is designed as a cross-border project and brings together partners from South Tyrol, Carinthia, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Alongside the Franzensfeste Fortress, the pilot sites include the Vicenza Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, the kärnten.museum in Klagenfurt and the Cave del Predil Mining Museum in Tarvisio.
The focus is on the joint development of new tourism offerings that combine culture and landscape, whilst taking into account different forms of perception and mobility.
One example of this is the accessible themed trail between Brixen and Neustift, which was designed as part of the project: Ten audio points are situated along the banks of the Eisack – each narrated by a local resident and exploring themes such as art, nature and spirituality. The content is available in German, Italian and English and can be accessed directly at the individual stations via QR codes. In addition, there is information on accessibility for each stage.
Try it out for yourself on Family Sunday
The closing event at the Franzensfeste was deliberately linked to Family Sunday at the museum. Following the official project presentation at 10.30 am in the museum’s bistro, an accessible museum tour was on the programme in the afternoon from 1.00 pm to 4.30 pm. Participants were able not only to learn about the activities developed as part of the project, but also to try them out for themselves.
