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 guided visits to 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.

Source: Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026, Key Action 1 — School Education Mobility.

Overview

This course helps teachers build a deep appreciation of Europe’s shared cultural heritage — and turn that into practical teaching strategies for their own classroom, using digital tools and interactive learning. In İzmir, participants explore real historical sites — from the Hellenistic and Roman ruins of the Smyrna Agora to the still-trading Ottoman-era Kemeraltı Bazaar — experiencing first-hand the history, art and architecture they’ll bring back to their students.

İzmir is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities 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 still selling goods after more than three centuries, and — distinctively for this course series — a 19th-century port city that was genuinely home to Greek, Armenian, Jewish and European-merchant (“Levantine”) communities side by side with its Muslim Turkish majority. That last layer gives İzmir a stronger, more concrete “shared heritage and diversity” story than a single-era city can offer, and it is the thread the course follows across Days 3–4: from the ancient and Ottoman city centre to the historic Karataş and Alsancak districts where that cosmopolitan history is still visible in the streets. 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.

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, Living Diversity

sessions connect what participants see in Karataş and Alsancak — the genuine 19th-century Greek, Armenian, Jewish and Levantine presence in İzmir — directly with the Erasmus+ priority on common values, civic engagement and cultural diversity, giving participants a concrete, historically documented case study rather than an abstract discussion of "diversity".

What you'll take home

Explain 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 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

Ice-breaking and trust-building activities
Introducing participants' schools
The EU's role in cultural heritage
Europe's cultural diversity and shared identity
Educational strategies: integrating heritage into lesson plans
Interactive learning strategies using digital tools

Warm-up team-building
The role of art in cultural heritage and European identity
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 Art Nouveau landmark, built in 1901
Kemeraltı Bazaar: over three centuries of continuous trade — Ottoman-era caravanserais such as the Kızlarağası Han, mosques, churches and synagogues side by side
İzmir Agora (Smyrna Agora Örenyeri): the Hellenistic and Roman-era open-air marketplace and civic centre of ancient Smyrna
Field reflection: connecting today's sites to classroom practice

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 to serve İzmir's Jewish and Levantine community
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 guided visits to heritage sites in the daily programme. 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: classes run in the morning or afternoon at the trainer's discretion, and daily timings can shift depending on the trainer's plan and the group's needs. 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 & digital 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 Cultural Heritage 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 European Development Plan. 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 certificates (Certificate of Attendance + Europass).

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: an email group is created for idea exchange, self-evaluation materials are provided, and participants receive a follow-up check-in after 3 months to discuss progress on bringing İzmir's cultural heritage into their teaching.

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 European Development Plan.

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 or above is comfortable. Trainers speak clearly, materials are written in plain English, and mixed-nationality teams support each other.

Absolutely — group bookings of 3+ from one school 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's own heritage sites, so it is not offered in our other centres.

Tuition, all materials, certificates (attendance + Europass) and the guided cultural programme. Flights and accommodation 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 guided visits to 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, and the Agora is an open-air site with little shade. 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.