Cultural Heritage: İzmir

Name: Cultural Heritage: İzmir
Price: 400 EUR

Why this is Erasmus+ eligible

Structured, multi-day programme (5 days) with a pre-defined schedule and learning outcomes — not a passive lecture format.

Built around interaction: participants engage directly with the trainer and with peers from other countries throughout the course.

Transnational by design — open to participants travelling from outside the host country, a core requirement of Erasmus+ mobility funding.

Aligned with the Erasmus+ horizontal priority: Common Values, Civic Engagement & Cultural Heritage.

This mobility supports the Erasmus+ Key Action 1 School Education objective of "promoting knowledge about shared European heritage and diversity", and the horizontal priority on participation in democratic life, common values and civic engagement, which highlights participants' understanding of their social, cultural and historical heritage. İzmir gives this priority an unusually concrete form: through structured sessions and trainer-led field days around the city's Hellenistic and Roman Agora, its Ottoman-era Kemeraltı Bazaar, and the 19th-century Levantine, Greek, Armenian and Jewish heritage of Karataş and Alsancak, participants gain first-hand material on a city that was genuinely multi-ethnic and multi-faith — material they can bring directly into intercultural dialogue and citizenship lessons.

Overview

İzmir carries a Hellenistic acropolis, a Roman marketplace, an Ottoman clock tower and a 19th-century multi-ethnic port quarter, all in one city. This week reads them layer by layer and turns your own notes into a digital classroom activity.

Monday — you work with your own school’s needs and the question one landmark poses: which part of a shared building counts as “local”?
Tuesday — you work through how art supports communication between cultures, and practise the digital tools you will use in the field.
Wednesday — you read Konak Square, the İzmir Agora (from the outside) and Kemeraltı Bazaar side by side.
Thursday — you visit Kadifekale, the historic Asansör and the Levantine quarter of Alsancak.
Friday — you turn your own field material into a digital trail, quiz or mini virtual exhibit, with peer feedback.

You go home with a digital heritage activity built from your own İzmir material and your own record of two field days. Comfortable walking shoes and sun protection are worth bringing for the field days.

Description

In the 19th century, İzmir was a port city that was home to Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Muslim Turkish and European-merchant (“Levantine”) communities at the same time. This course follows that story, together with the much older layers of the city. Participants work at real historical sites — from the Hellenistic and Roman ruins of the Smyrna Agora, studied from its perimeter, to the Ottoman-era Kemeraltı Bazaar, which is still trading. They experience first-hand the history, art and architecture they’ll bring back to their students.

İzmir has one of the longest recorded histories of any city on the Mediterranean, and its heritage reflects that. A Hellenistic acropolis on the hill of Kadifekale looks down over a Roman-era marketplace, an Ottoman clock tower and a covered bazaar. The bazaar is still selling goods after more than three centuries. The newest layer is the multi-ethnic 19th-century port city, and it is what makes İzmir distinctive in this course series. Much of it was lost in the Great Fire of September 1922 and the population exchange of 1923.

This layer gives İzmir a stronger, more concrete “shared heritage and diversity” story than a single-era city can offer. It is the thread the course follows all week. It is introduced on Day 1. Across Days 3–4 it is documented from the ancient and Ottoman city centre to the historic Karataş and Alsancak districts, where Levantine, Greek and Jewish traces survive alongside what is missing. On Day 5 the material is brought together. The course is built for teachers of any subject — history, art, citizenship, languages — who want a real, well-documented European example of cultural diversity to bring into cross-curricular teaching.

Methodology

From Ancient Smyrna to the Levantine Port City

Days 3–4 trace İzmir's heritage across three layers in one itinerary — Hellenistic and Roman Smyrna (the Agora, Kadifekale's ancient acropolis), Ottoman İzmir (Kemeraltı Bazaar, the Clock Tower) and the 19th-century Levantine port city (Karataş, Alsancak) — so participants can teach continuity and layered diversity, not a single frozen period. The Agora and Kemeraltı are the same thing twice, one dead and one still running — the course's central comparison, transferable to any classroom without needing İzmir at all: what does it take for a place to keep going?

Digital Tools Workshop, Built From What You've Seen

a hands-on session where participants turn photos and notes from Days 3–4 into a real digital output — a short digital storytelling piece, a simple interactive quiz, or a mini virtual exhibit — using straightforward tools they can realistically use with their own students.

Direct Classroom Transfer

strategies for teaching a multi-layered, multi-ethnic heritage city, ready to adapt to participants' own students and curriculum.

Shared Heritage, Layered and Interrupted

sessions connect what participants see in Karataş and Alsancak — Levantine, Greek and Jewish traces in a city whose 19th-century population was Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Muslim Turkish and Levantine together, before the 1922 fire and the 1923 population exchange — directly with the Erasmus+ priority on common values, civic engagement and cultural diversity, giving participants a concrete, historically documented case study of both shared heritage and its loss, rather than an abstract discussion of "diversity".

What you'll take home

Compare two of İzmir's marketplaces — one excavated, one still trading — to explain what keeps a place of continuous use alive, and connect that to how İzmir's Hellenistic, Roman, Ottoman and Levantine-era heritage reflects Europe's complex, multi-ethnic cultural history.

Integrate cultural heritage topics into lesson plans, using digital tools and interactive resources built from a real multi-era, multi-ethnic case study.

Design classroom activities that build students' intercultural awareness, using İzmir's documented 19th-century Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Muslim Turkish and Levantine communities as a concrete historical example.

Connect teaching to the EU's cultural-heritage and common-values priorities using a concrete European example rather than an abstract one.

Reflect on how the İzmir experience can build students' intercultural awareness and active citizenship, and plan how to transfer it into their own school context.

Daily programme

Icebreaker: each participant names one thing their town or region counts as its own — a dish, a word, a building style, a festival — that first arrived from somewhere else
Introducing participants' schools
The EU's role in cultural heritage, opened with a puzzle: İzmir's own Clock Tower was designed by a French-trained architect, commissioned by an Ottoman sultan, decorated in a style borrowed from Islamic Spain — so which part of it counts as "local"?
Europe's cultural diversity and shared identity, previewing the five communities — Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Muslim Turkish and Levantine — whose traces, and whose losses, the course documents in İzmir on Days 3–4
Educational strategies: integrating heritage into lesson plans
Interactive learning strategies using digital tools

Warm-up: in pairs, each participant shows or describes one pattern or decoration from home — on a building, a textile or a plate — and the partner says where they have seen something like it
The role of art in cultural heritage and European identity, worked through the Clock Tower's own puzzle from Day 1: European architect, Ottoman patron, borrowed Andalusian ornament — whose style is it?
How art supports communication between cultures
Workshop: interactive learning with digital tools, virtual tours and online resources
Building sensitivity and responsibility around cultural heritage

Konak Square and the İzmir Clock Tower (Saat Kulesi): an Ottoman-era Orientalist landmark, built in 1901
İzmir Agora (Smyrna Agora Örenyeri) from the outside: the Hellenistic and Roman-era open-air marketplace and civic centre of ancient Smyrna — a marketplace that stopped, and was excavated
Kemeraltı Bazaar: over three centuries of continuous trade — Ottoman-era caravanserais such as the Kızlarağası Han, mosques, churches and synagogues side by side — the same function as the Agora, still running
Field reflection: what it takes for a marketplace to keep going for centuries versus stopping and becoming a dig — the comparison that carries into every site visited this week

Kadifekale (ancient Pagos): the hilltop acropolis of ancient Smyrna, with Byzantine and Ottoman-era additions, reached by taxi or dolmuş from Konak — panoramic views across the Gulf of İzmir
Asansör: the historic 1907 elevator in the Karataş district, built as public infrastructure by a Jewish banker of the city, in a quarter with a large Jewish population
Alsancak and the Kordon promenade: 19th-century Levantine, Greek, Armenian and Jewish heritage in İzmir's former cosmopolitan "La Punta" quarter
Field reflection: collecting material for a heritage-based lesson idea

Designing a digital heritage-based classroom activity — a digital trail, quiz or mini virtual exhibit — using material gathered during the İzmir site visits
Peer feedback and discussion
Course evaluation and reflection
Sharing course documents and records
Awarding the Certificate

Please note: the course fee covers all training sessions and the trainer-led field days in the daily programme, including local transport on those days. Entrance tickets to museums, archaeological sites and monuments — where a site charges admission — are not included and are paid directly by each participant, based on what they choose to visit. Ask us for an estimated on-site budget when you apply.

Please note: sessions run from 09:30 to 15:00, Monday to Friday, with a break for lunch. Timings can shift a little to suit the venue and the group. If you'd like a specific topic covered, let us know when you apply — the confirmed day-by-day schedule is sent to registered participants ahead of the course.

Certificate: we issue the Certificate of Attendance to everyone who's present for at least 80% of the course — tracked with the daily sign-in sheet (see Certificate & assessment).

Equipment: a few of our courses ask participants to bring a laptop — check the day-by-day programme above, or ask us if you're not sure.

Need a formal invoice or proforma for your school's records? Ask us — we issue official invoices with the participant's name and course details.

Materials & tools

Virtual-tour and interactive-map tools for exploring the İzmir Agora, Kadifekale and İzmir's other heritage sites beyond a single visit

Digital image and archive resources for building heritage-based lesson materials, including İzmir's Levantine and multi-ethnic 19th-century history

A printed and digital course pack covering İzmir's ancient, Ottoman and Levantine-era heritage

A simple template for turning a heritage-site visit into a classroom-ready lesson plan

A heritage-based classroom activity template, completed using material gathered during the İzmir site visits and finalised on Day 5

Certificate & assessment

This is a Certificate of Attendance, not an exam-based qualification — recognition comes from completing the structured programme, not from passing a test. The real, lasting value is in the competencies listed above under What you'll take home.

Erasmus Mobility Academy

Certificate of Attendance

Cultural Heritage: İzmir · 5 days · 25 hrs

+ Europass Mobility document

Type your name above — clearly marked "SAMPLE" in the PDF, not an official document.

The real certificate is signed by your trainer and EMA's authorised signatory. Your own signature isn't on this document — it's captured separately, on the Europass Mobility document.

Need to verify a real certificate? Check it online using the serial number and participant's full name, or contact us directly — [email protected], OID E10304561.

Attendance

Tracked using a sign-in sheet with one signature per participant per day (paper or digital). This record is used to issue your Certificate of Attendance and Europass Mobility document. View sign-in sheet (PDF)

Output

Every participant leaves with a completed Dissemination & School Impact Plan — a step-by-step template for applying the course back at your school (see below).

Feedback

An end-of-course evaluation form is sent to every participant after the course ends — a chance to reflect on what you've learned and how you'll apply it, and it helps us keep improving the course for future participants.

Your paperwork

Keep your travel tickets, boarding passes and (if you used green travel) any related receipts — your school or National Agency may ask for these for their own Erasmus+ reporting.

How to prepare

Comfortable walking shoes are recommended for Kemeraltı's uneven historic streets on Day 3; the Day 4 visit to Kadifekale is reached by taxi or dolmuş for this course, not on foot.

İzmir summers (roughly June–September) are hot and dry — sun protection, water and a hat are recommended on both field days.

Practical information

Registration & documents

Not sure how registering works or what paperwork is involved? See our full Registration & Documents guide — from applying to your Certificate of Attendance, in one place.

Invitation letter

Need a formal invitation letter for your school or embassy? Request one — we send it within 2 business days. See a sample (PDF).

Learning Agreement

Prepared by our staff and sent to you and your school once your registration form is submitted — see what it looks like. See a sample (PDF).

Billing & invoicing

We issue official invoices/proformas with the participant's name and course details — ask us. Payment is due in full by bank transfer before the course start date. See a sample (PDF).

Airport transfer

Guidance on getting from the nearest airport to the venue is included in your welcome information.

Accommodation

We can recommend partner hotels close to the venue in the host city — ask us when you apply.

For your school / proposal

School impact

After completing this course, the participating staff member can transfer outcomes directly to their school: a short briefing for colleagues sharing the key takeaways, applying relevant tools or strategies from the programme in their own role, and inclusion of the course materials in the school's professional development resources — turning one person's mobility into a wider institutional gain that supports the school's Erasmus+ objectives. Use the Dissemination & School Impact Plan below to fill in your own — it saves as you go and can generate a one-page summary for your coordinator too.

Prefer a blank, course-independent version of this template? Get it here →

After the course

Participants will receive their Certificate of Attendance and the co-signed Europass Mobility document.

Participants will complete a general course evaluation and event survey.

Participants will receive course materials, videos, photos, and PDF documents in both digital and print formats.

Follow-up support: self-evaluation materials are provided. Depending on the group, an email group may be set up so that participants can keep exchanging ideas.

Use the classroom activity developed on Day 5 as the basis for a short staff-room briefing, sharing how İzmir's layered, multi-ethnic heritage can support cross-curricular teaching in history, art and citizenship — and provide a concrete input for the school's Erasmus+ objectives.

Frequently asked

This course is an eligible training activity under Erasmus+ Key Action 1 (School Education Mobility) — the course fee, travel and subsistence fall within the eligible cost categories. Whether it is covered depends on your own project's approved grant agreement and your National Agency's rules; we provide all the invoices, attendance records and certificates your National Agency requires for reporting.

B1 is enough — you do not need to be fluent. Trainers speak slowly and plainly, every session is built around doing something rather than sitting and listening, and groups are mixed by nationality so people help each other out. A rough test: if you could follow a staff meeting held in English and ask a question in it, you will be fine here.

Absolutely — group bookings of 3+ from one school or organisation receive priority placement, and we can schedule a dedicated session for groups of 12 or more.

This course runs only in İzmir — the daily programme is built around that city, so it is not offered in our other centres.

Tuition, all course materials, your Certificate of Attendance, the co-signed Europass Mobility document and the trainer-led field days across the host city, including local transport on those days — the site visits are the course itself, not an add-on. Admission tickets are not part of the group programme: it is built around sites that are free to enter, and ticketed sites are studied from the outside. If you would like to go inside one, tell us beforehand — we buy the ticket in advance so you do not have to queue or book, and you pay us what it cost; we try to leave room in the programme for that. The İzmir Agora archaeological site on Day 3 is a ticketed site: to go inside it, tell us beforehand and we will buy your ticket in advance. Flights, accommodation and travel insurance are booked separately — we send a vetted hotel list.

You can move to any later session free of charge. Cancellations made 30+ days before the start date receive a full refund; a reduced refund applies closer to the date — see our full Cancellation & Refund Policy for the exact schedule.

This mobility supports the Erasmus+ Key Action 1 School Education objective of "promoting knowledge about shared European heritage and diversity", and the horizontal priority on participation in democratic life, common values and civic engagement, which highlights participants' understanding of their social, cultural and historical heritage. İzmir gives this priority an unusually concrete form: through structured sessions and trainer-led field days around the city's Hellenistic and Roman Agora, its Ottoman-era Kemeraltı Bazaar, and the 19th-century Levantine, Greek, Armenian and Jewish heritage of Karataş and Alsancak, participants gain first-hand material on a city that was genuinely multi-ethnic and multi-faith — material they can bring directly into intercultural dialogue and citizenship lessons. Frame it in your own project's terms — your National Agency's current call will confirm exactly how it applies.

Day 3 (Konak, Kemeraltı, the Agora) is a walkable route with some uneven, cobbled streets. Day 4 uses a taxi or dolmuş up to Kadifekale rather than the steep uphill walk, followed by a tram ride and a walking visit to Karataş and Alsancak. İzmir summers (roughly June–September) are hot and dry, so we recommend sun protection, water and a hat on both days. The pace and stops can be adjusted to your group's needs, so please let us know in advance if any participants have mobility considerations.