Interpretive guiding

The most important features of interpretive guiding are:

• Creating connection: The goal is to help visitors establish a personal relationship with the topic. It is about making the past relevant to the present.

• Thematic: Instead of isolated facts, the tour is structured around a central theme (a core message) that ties all the information together and conveys a deeper message.

• Provocation instead of instruction: The guide acts as a facilitator, encouraging visitors to think for themselves, ask questions, and draw their own conclusions, rather than simply lecturing.

• Connecting the tangible with the intangible: Tangible objects or places (e.g., a trench, a monument, a piece of equipment) are used to convey intangible ideas (e.g., courage, fear, sacrifice, honor, conflict).

• Enjoyable and organized: The presentation should be appealing and entertaining, but also clearly structured so that visitors can easily follow it.

Using interpretive guiding for battlefield guiding

Battlefields are emotionally and historically complex places. Interpretive guiding provides an ethical and effective framework for not only informing visitors, but also deeply moving them and encouraging them to reflect.

1. Develop the central theme (thematic approach)

For each tour, choose a strong, relevant theme that goes beyond the bare facts.