Paper short abstract:

It is the aim of this paper to demonstrate, in which way the transformation and invention of cultural heritage (tangible and intangible) transfigures urban space and it is used in the struggle of various social actors for control on social memory.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is based on field work in Zlatograd, a town in Central Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria: a small town, perceived and self-perceived as inhabited by Muslims and Christians. Since 2001, the existing local heritage of historic architecture has been transformed into "Areal Ethnographic Complex": a set of ethnographic exhibitions and tourist atractions. EU funded projects have largely contributed to vertual development of a cultural resource having significant impact onto local economy. Tourist interest in the Ethnographic complex contributed to reorganization of urban space and to formation of second urban center.

The hidden contradictions between various groups of memory have been manifested in the ambitious programme of obliterating Muslim heritage, and rebuilding four Christian chapels, planned to form of a cross in the vicinities of the town. A leading role in this project belongs to the most influential representatives of the local economic and political elite, who are Muslims by origin. Both projects aim to change the symbolic geography of the city and the adjacent area. The conviction has become firmly established among the local elite that cross-border cooperation with neighbouring Greece (from which economic advantages are anticipated) is possible only via emphasizing the Christian symbolism.