In Rhodes Greece took place a unique experiment in community engagement through the #TalkingBuildings methodology, a collaboration between the SINCERE project's partners NetHood and the Service of Modern Monuments and Technical Works of the Dodecanese (S.M.M.T.W.D) of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, with the local actors Synergy Rhodes and Radio Lihnari.

Everything started with an open invitation addressed to the citizens of Rhodes, encouraging them to give a voice to their historic buildings, broadcasted regularly through Radio Lyhnari, and complemented by a Facebook group titled In conversation with the historic buildings of Rhodes or, in greek, "Συνομιλώντας με τα ιστορικά κτίρια της Ρόδου".

The participation was enthusiastic and in addition to various creative, emotional, and individual contributions, a collection of poems and short texts "Historic Buildings of Rhodes: Lights please!" was created by the Creative Reading and Writing Laboratory ΤΟ ΚΟΧΥΛΙ (meaning "The Seashell"). Radio Lihnari produced then a series of audio statements by a selected set of historic buildings of Rhodes, which were broadcasted in the context of the European Heritage Days 2025, and later edited in a short video by Panayotis Antoniadis.

The celebration of the European Heritage Days 2025 included also two open workshops conceived and organized by Maria Bakari from Synergy Rhodes: 1) an experiential walk, where young tourist guides from the Association of Tourist Guides of the Dodecanese introduced selected buildings in the medieval town of Rhodes as #TalkingBuildings followed by a dialogue with the citizens facilitated through a set of predefined questions.

> Watch a short video summary of the experiential walk

2) a participatory citizen workshop, using the World Cafe methodology, facilitated by Maria Bakari at the beautiful garden of the Marc de Montalembert Foundation. The discussion was very engaged, and went beyond the various challenges that discourage citizens in engaging with their built heritage, concluding with a list of concrete action areas.

> Watch a short video summary of the World Cafe

At the end of these inspiring and enriching days with the citizens of Rhodes, Panayotis Antoniadis and Maria Bakari discussed while walking about the details that can make a difference in transforming community engagement to collective action.

> Listen to the discussion, in greek, between Panayotis Antoniadis and Maria Bakari

As an epilogue of this first phase of community engagement through #TalkingBuildings, the Rhodes story was also featured in the European Heritage Days web site.

And the next episodes are already under way, since Radio Lyhnari has launched a new campaign inviting the citizens of Rhodes to participate in MONUMENTA's 20th year anniversary, including "(a) A concise phrase, slogan or question with the #voice of the building or (b) A short #conversation with the building".

The invitation is open until October 10th, and stay tuned to follow the evolution of the #TalkingBuildings process in Rhodes.