WDEC 2026 at Pobrežje Cemetery

As part of WDEC 2026, Pogrebno podjetje Maribor, the presiding member of ASCE, has prepared several educational and socially important activities at Pobrežje Cemetery in Maribor, Slovenia.

Cultural Days for Elementary School Students

On 18 May, a cultural day was held at Pobrežje Cemetery for pupils of OŠ Ludvika Pliberška Maribor, followed by a second cultural day on 26 May for pupils of OŠ Toneta Čufarja Maribor. Both events offered students an alternative learning environment in which they explored the history of the city and its inhabitants through commemorative narratives and heritage interpretation, with the help of the mobile app Artour.

The activities enabled pupils to engage with Maribor’s past in a direct and experiential way. They strengthened understanding of cultural heritage, fostered respectful attitudes towards memorial spaces, and encouraged reflection on memory, tradition, and intergenerational connection. The cemetery was presented as a place of learning, calm, and cultural diversity, reinforcing its role within the city’s historical identity.

Bereavement Support Project

On 26 May, the first group meeting within the project “Grief does not heal in isolation; together it is easier to bear” was held in the multipurpose hall of Pogrebno podjetje Maribor at Pobrežje Cemetery, marking the launch of a new series of monthly bereavement support sessions.

The initiative addressed the continuing need for structured support for individuals coping with the loss of a loved one, extending care beyond the funeral period when grief often becomes most intense. It was emphasized that grief should not be understood as something to be “fixed,” but rather as a natural process requiring time, understanding, and a supportive environment.

The programme created a safe space for sharing experiences and emotions and promoted a more open societal understanding of bereavement. The sessions were facilitated by internationally accredited coach and mentor Ana Kordeš, who highlighted the importance of time, space, and compassionate presence in the grieving process.

Slovenian Cemeteries Route Project

The WDEC 2026 focused on the theme Quality Education, in alignment with Goal 4 of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Within this framework, the Association of Significant Cemeteries of Europe, under the presidency of Lidija Pliberšek, Director of Pogrebno podjetje Maribor, together with the Chamber of Public Utilities of Slovenia (ZKGS), launched a joint initiative – the Slovenian Cemeteries Route project.

Inspired by the internationally recognised European Cemeteries Route, the project aims to connect Slovenian cemeteries into a unique cultural and tourist network that preserves memory, promotes heritage, and opens cemetery spaces to a wider public.

As part of the initiative, cemetery managers across Slovenia were invited to identify three key points of cultural or historical significance at each site, including notable individuals, monuments, or distinctive landscape features. The collected contributions will form the basis for a nationwide map of cemeteries interpreted through cultural and historical heritage.

You can find more information about the Slovenian Cemeteries Route project HERE or explore the route through the dedicated application.

Cultural days for schools at Maribor cemeteries

Learning history, geography and information technologies outdoors.

Cemeteries: history and art in stories

Cemeteries offer an infinite number of stories and insights that touch everyone. When we listen to selected stories of the path of symbols of destiny, professional or religious symbols at Pobrežje Cemetery, we become significantly more receptive to learning and understanding history.

The cultural day at the Maribor cemeteries allows students to get to know more than 50 different famous personalities and events related to local, regional, national or European history. The cemetery contains records from the Middle Ages to important contemporaries who left their mark even in this century.

In addition to historical facts, the monuments are described with the meanings of symbols or other details, which help the students to see the artistic value and interpretation.

Cemeteries: geography in just a big enough space

A cemetery is a vast geographical space with many landmarks, which requires an understanding of maps if we want to find a specific monument or point.

However, Maribor cemeteries represent a sufficiently small, manageable, safe, and peaceful space in which we can take time to orientate ourselves. Through numerous details, we get to know dimensions, scales, and basic geographical directions.

Cemeteries: a different use of information technologies

The historical facts and geographical locations of the Pobrežje and Dobrava cemeteries are combined in the ARtour mobile platform, in which many points of interest are located. In addition to discovering locations and reading facts, the platform enables much more:

• creating new own points and routes
• listening and creating audio content
• watching and adding video content
• creating group projects

During the cultural day, students are taught basic behavior and how to create their own points. For talented students, the activities can then be continued at school, when they connect their findings into projects, add audio or video clips.

Students: excited

All cultural days so far have ended with enthusiastic students. Students from Maribor, students from Russia and students from other areas who have already visited us. Of course, they were delighted by the possibility of using modern technologies, but even more so by the fact that they got to know the cemetery in a different light and learned about stories that were unknown to them before.