ENVI/CONS   17.08. - 31.08.2019   OH-H09   

Restoration and maintenance

of historical parks and gardens

 ACCOMMODATION:

shared 6- or 8- bed-room in a hostel in the city

LOCATION: Next towns: Erfurt (20 km), 

Jena (20 km) Region: Thuringia

TERMINAL:

Next railway station: Weimar

Next airports: Halle/Leipzig (LEJ, 120 km)

Berlin (TXL, SXF, 275 km)

AGE: at least 18

FEE: 40,00 €

Basics of German are very helpful.

Motivation letter related to the project

and CV + photo required

In the late 18thand early 19thcenturies the small town of Weimar in Thuringia saw a remarkable cultural flowering. Enlightened ducal patronage attracted many leading German writers, composers and artists to the town, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and Franz Liszt, thus making Weimar the cultural centre of Europe at that time. This development is reflected in the high quality of many of the buildings and parks in the surrounding area.

“Classical Weimar” was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1998, the 20th site in Germany to be recognised as World Heritage. “Classical Weimar” comprises twelve individual buildings and ensembles, all of which portray tangible and intangible elements of Classical Weimar’s cultural heritage. Weimar’s City Castle, the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, Goethe’s and Schiller’s residences, the Town Church, the Ducal Vault with the Historic Cemetery and many others are included on the World Heritage List.

Weimar’s historical parks and gardens connect the historical buildings and their surrounding grounds and are a key feature in the “Classical Weimar” collection: the Park on the Ilm with the Roman House and Goethe’s Garden House, Belvedere Park with its Castle and Orangery, Tiefurt Park and Castle and Ettersburg Park and Castle.

The European Heritage Volunteers Project “Parks and Gardens of Classical Weimar” has been taking place since 2011. As in all years since 2012, also the 2019 project will be carried out within the framework of the UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers initiative, which takes place continuously for the longest period.

 Heritage Projects

Traditional Stone Techniques

World Heritage Site Classical Weimar

The project consist of two parts– a practical working partwhich will last 6 hours per day and a study part, which takes place in the evenings and during weekends.

The practical part usually consists of two elements – a park restorationpart on one hand and a maintenance parton the other hand. Due to a rotating system the volunteers have the opportunity to get to know during the project both fields.

The restoration part will take place at the so called "kitchen garden" at the Southern edge of Belvedere Park that had been arranged in the 19thcentury as a combined fruit, vegetable and flower garden. The dry stone wallsas the formative element of the garden are ruinous and shall be protected against progressive decay. Since the dry stone walls are an important habitat for wild bees and other rare insects the restoration needs to be carried out extremely carefully.Plants that damage the walls will be carefully taken away, the walls will be documented, the stones that had fallen down over decades will be collected, their original places determined, smaller areas will be restored and the cap stones will be placed back. The works will be guided by a bricklayer specialised on historic walls and traditional techniques that will provide during the study part more theoretical knowledge in this field.

Another part of the group will carry out maintenance works in other parks and gardens of the UNESCO World Heritage site “Classical Weimar”, thus supporting Weimar Classic Foundation, the responsible site management, in works that can be undertaken only manually, such as cutting long-grass meadows on slopes. At the same time the volunteers will gain a detailed  knowledge about the different parks and gardens of the World Heritage site and the challenges in managing them.

The educational part of the project will inform the volunteers about the background of the project, provide knowledge about historical garden and park architecture, traditional gardening and other related topics and will include lectures and guided tours about “Classical Weimar” as well as excursions to related heritage sites. The opportunity of free entrance to museums and exhibitions will enable in addition individual study.