Components: [D] Economic and Territorial Development Targeted audience: - Aims / Content: Manifestation of the role of the Ancient Stadium as a source for sustainable development and to improve the quality of the urban environment in the historic centre of the city. Year / Duration: 2011 - 2017 Online material: http://ancient-stadium-plovdiv.eu/?p=39&l=2 ancient-stadium-plovdiv.eu http://ancient-stadium-plovdiv.eu/filebank/att_12.pdf Bulgaria The Ancient stadium of Philippopolis - Preservation, Rehabilitation and Urban Renewal n 2007, the idea that the Ancient Stadium of Philippopolis should not only be preserved and popularised, but also turn into a stimulus for urban renewal and vitality was promoted. — When working on the cultural heritage area in the Master Plan of Plovdiv Municipality, a team from the Association for Cultural Tourism (T. Krest- ev- team leader, D. Kostov, D. Georgieva, V. Kolarova) suggested a new strategy for solving the problem of the urban archaeology. The strategy suggested a system of public underground spaces - an “Un- derground Museum of Philippopolis”, which would provide a thorough exposure of the urban archae- ology in combination with an implementation of attractive public functions. The Ancient Stadium, as a significant part of this system, was the first stage of this strategy’s realisation. — The project provides preservation and thor- ough exposure of the cultural value of the Stadium; resumption of its vitality by implementing attractive Sources: www.herein-system.eu/strategy-xxi https://ancient-stadium-plovdiv.eu/filebank/att_12.pdf I functions and provisions of access for disadvantage people. — Multimedia technologies are also applied. Through these, virtual relations with the archaeo- logical findings preserved on the site or exhibited at the Regional Archaeological Museum is established. — The project also covers the creation of an audio-visual spectacle “Sound and Light” - a trip through time with a light show and multimedia translations of images and text on LED screens and LCD monitor above the lift -, an information centre with an open terrace, overlooking the stadiumand in the future, a construction of an underground street on an archaeological level which will be connected directly to the fragments of the stadium found in the underground levels of the shops. — Within the framework of this project, an ad- hoc Bulgarian-Norwegian centre for urban archae- ology was created. The idea was to promote the dialogue between professionals, to overcome the lack of communication and understanding between different specialists responsible for the preservation of the urban archaeology in the real living urban environment. An exchange of valuable experience about the whole process of preservation of archae- ological sites has been accomplished between Bulgarian and Norwegian specialists. — All in all, in order to meet the changing de- mands of the town and unravel its cultural and historical potential, the project should be seen as completely open to further development. European Cultural Heritage Strategy for the 21 st century „ Page 79 Photo by: Rosen Christov