The site

The UNESCO World Heritage List now includes 1,157 sites worldwide with 51 of them located in Germany. These unique cultural and natural sites are increasingly facing challenges from the consequences of an unsustainable human way of life. This includes climate change as well as the growing global population, scarcity of resources and social inequality. Against this background, the questions of how World Heritage sites can be preserved for future generations and how it is possible to ensure that future generations have the same opportunities for a fulfilling life as those of today are becoming increasingly urgent.

Every year, Germany celebrates on first Sunday of June its UNESCO World Heritage Day. In 2023 the city of Weimar, which comprises two UNESCO World Heritage sites, will host these celebrations on occasion of the 25th anniversary of the inscription of "Classical Weimar" in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Representatives of all World Heritage sites in Germany will gather there under the motto “Our world. Our heritage. Our Responsibility” to explore together questions about climate change and sustainability, and to exchange about what is hidden behind the abstract concept of ecological, social and economic sustainability. European Heritage Volunteers has been invited to contribute to this remarkable event.

The training course

In the days preceding the event, European Heritage Volunteers jointly with the Classical Weimar Foundation conducts a European Heritage Training Course on the topic of sustainable practices of heritage conservation in times of climate change which will include presentations, seminars, practical hands-on activities as well as an excursion and will culminate in taking part in the celebrations of the UNESCO World Heritage Day.

The training course will familiarise the participants with challenges caused by climate change for historic parks and gardens, practically oriented solutions, and sustainable practices in heritage conservation both concerning built heritage as well as cultural landscapes and park and garden heritage.

The importance of preserving the knowledge on traditional techniques of construction will be underlined by a hands-on workshop during which the participants will learn the basics of the traditional technique of construction of dry stone walls, an important example of methods in which heritage can be used as a tool to create a more sustainable relationship between human civilisation and its living spaces. The work will be guided by a stone mason specialised on dry stone walls and traditional masonry techniques and will be supporting the ongoing work that European Heritage Volunteers has been carrying out in the UNESCO World Heritage site “Classical Weimar” since 2012.

The training course was organised by European Heritage Volunteers, in cooperation with Klassik Stiftung Weimar – Weimar Classic Foundation and Institute Heritage Studies.

Due to the shorter duration participants paid a contribution to the European Heritage Volunteers Programme of only 75 €; the additional fee for courses and projects in big cities remains 30 €.