Connecting Urban Post-War Heritage of Totalitarian Regimes in Europe: the ATRIUM Cultural Route

A number of European cities bear the marks of the dictatorship and totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. The difficulty of dealing with this difficult material legacy has been conceived of as 'dissonant heritage'. The ATRIUM project (2011-213) and the subsequent cultural route which emerged from the project, with their specific focus on the architectural and built heritage of these regimes, are examples of the application of this general interest in dissonant heritage to a concrete situation. This article illustrates the ways in which ATRIUM has approached this dissonant heritage, explains the importance of the involvement of local citizens in the management of this particular heritage and the 'bottom up' and integrated approach which ATRIUM has encouraged and discusses the transnational framework in which the route operates.