Croatian Geoheritage Sites with the Best-Case Study Analyses Regarding Former Mining and Petroleum Activities

Abstract

The revitalization and protection of industrial and natural heritage is an important part of the cultural identity of a society that respects its history and wants to build a prosperous and sustainable future. This paper describes four selected case studies of the successful revitalization and presentation of mining, geology, and petroleum heritage in the Republic of Croatia: a former quarry (Rupnica), two metal mines (St. Barbara Mine and Zrinski Mine) and one site of petroleum heritage (Peklenica and Selnica Petroleum Heritage Park). For revitalization strategy of selected areas, SWOT analysis and TOWS matrix were performed. Sub-strategy ranking was done through five key principles of geotourism. The strong and weak points of revitalized projects are indicated, as well as recommendations for the realisation of future geoheritage projects. This paper describes how a currently poor-mining country, which is intensively developing tourism, can protect, present, and promote its former industrial heritage, which is related to geoheritage. One of the main goals is to encourage all stakeholders to promote industrial heritage based on a simplified form of the mentioned analysis method and matrix.