‘Kalderimi X2’ consisted of a two-month apprenticeship in traditional stone masonry, aiming to foster a new generation of craftspeople from Greece and other Balkan countries and a twelve-day workshop targeting a broader audience such as architects and engineers, conservators and artists. One of the main goals of this program was to re-introduce the more or less forgotten building technique of ‘kalderimi’ (a particular type of cobbled pathway), whose ‘loss’ has already had a severe impact on the cultural landscape of the Balkan region.

Nine apprentices from Greece, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia worked for two months under the guidance of three highly experienced masons-tutors, on the rebuilding of the old pathway (around 400m long) that leads to the historical Bridge of Plaka; while twenty-two participants from the entire Balkan area joined forces with them during the twelve-day workshop. The initiative was also supported by five volunteers and six more local craftsmen. Moreover, Boulouki was honored to receive five carved stones as a present by the prominent sculptor Theodoros Papayiannis, professor emeritus in the Athens School of Fine Arts, to be embed in the restored ‘kalderimi’.

“Kalderimi X2” was also framed by a series of lectures and presentations given by renowned academics and practitioners from various disciplines, as well as NGO’s from Greece and abroad who shared their approaches towards a participatory understanding of heritage. Moreover, the educational part of this program was enriched by additional ‘hands-on’ seminars and demonstrations on topics such as manual stone extraction, lime and clay mortars. Finally, Boulouki organized a series of open events in which the local communities of Tzoumerka were highly involved, including a photographic exhibition from the archive of Spyros Mantas, an profound researcher of Balkan stone bridges, a film screening of “The Mountain Tears” (2018) followed by Q&A with director Stelios Charalampopoulos and a feast dedicated to the elder stone masons of Tzoumerka and Epirus.