Europa Nostra Board and Awards Jury Meetings take place in Potsdam on 21-23 March
Press release – English │ German
Europa Nostra, the largest cultural heritage network in Europe that has had its national office in Potsdam since the beginning of this year, is convening meetings for the first time in the World Heritage City of Potsdam from 21-23 March. The programme features the meeting of the Board of Europa Nostra, chaired by the Executive President Prof. Dr. Hermann Parzinger; the meeting of the Jury of the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards to select the 2024 winners of Europe’s top heritage award; and visits to iconic cultural heritage sites in Potsdam. The President of the Brandenburg State Parliament, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Liedtke, and the Mayor of Potsdam, Mike Schubert, will welcome the representatives coming from all over Europe as well as local stakeholders to the State Parliament on 22 March. Further meetings are planned, in particular with public and civic cultural heritage institutions from Berlin and Brandenburg.
The entrance of the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation in Berlin-Brandenburg. © Shutterstock / Wirestock Creators
As the national representation of Europa Nostra, Europa Nostra Germany is committed to the cross-border exchange of cultural heritage associations and cooperation for cultural heritage with European or cross-national dimensions, not least in continuation of the impulses of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018. The new office of Europa Nostra Germany was opened on 19 January 2024 in Potsdam in the former Civil Cabinet House, Allee nach Sanssouci 6, thanks to an agreement with the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG).
Media professionals are invited to attend the following events of the programme:
Thursday 21 March 2024
11.00 – 12.30
Visit and Meeting with representatives of the civil society association Winzerberg e.V. in Potsdam, the conservation of which received a European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award in 2018
Venue: Winzerberg, Schopenhauerstraße 23, 14469-Potsdam
Friday 22 March 2024
15.30 – 17.00
Private Guided Tour by Christoph Vogtherr, Director of the Foundation of Prussian Palaces and Gardens of the spectacular historic rooms of the New Palace at Sanssouci
Neues Palais, Am Neuen Palais / Park Sanssouci, 14469 Potsdam
Media registration
Media professionals must register their attendance by sending an email to Dr. Uwe Koch, President of Europa Nostra Germany: europanostra@spsg.de
More information
Europa Nostra
Europa Nostra is the European voice of civil society committed to safeguarding and promoting cultural and natural heritage. Founded in 1963, Europa Nostra is a pan-European federation of heritage NGOs, supported by a wide network of public bodies, private companies and individuals, covering over 40 countries. It is the most representative heritage network in Europe, maintaining close relations with the European Union, the Council of Europe, UNESCO and other international bodies.
Europa Nostra campaigns to save Europe’s endangered monuments, sites and landscapes, in particular through the 7 Most Endangered Programme. It celebrates and disseminates excellence through the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards. Europa Nostra actively contributes to the definition and implementation of European strategies and policies related to heritage, through a participatory dialogue with European Institutions and the coordination of the European Heritage Alliance.
Europa Nostra has led the European consortium selected by the European Commission to run the European Heritage Hub pilot project (2023-2025). It is also an official partner of the New European Bauhaus initiative developed by the European Commission, and is a leading European member of the Climate Heritage Network.
European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards
The European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards were launched by the European Commission in 2002 and have been run by Europa Nostra ever since. The Awards scheme has the support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. For 21 years, the Awards have highlighted and disseminated heritage excellence and best practices, encouraged the cross-border exchange of knowledge and connected heritage stakeholders in wider networks. The Awards have therefore been a key tool to promote the multiple values of cultural and natural heritage for Europe’s society, economy and environment.
Since 2002, independent expert juries, with the help of expert assessors, have selected 618 award-winning projects from 34 countries.
Germany has received 40 awards. Among the remarkable heritage achievements from Germany recently awarded are
- SILKNOW, Horizon 2020 project with German partners (2022, category Research)
- Haus Am Horn, Weimar (2021, category Conservation);
- Epitaphs of the University Church of Leipzig (2020, category Conservation);
- Arolsen Archives Online (2020, category Education, Training and Awareness-Raising);
- RomArchive – Digital Archive of the Roma (2019, category Research);
- Monument Europe (2019, category Education, Training and Awareness-Raising);
- Stewards of Cultural Heritage (2019, category Education, Training and Awareness-Raising);
- Barner’s Sanatorium (2018, category Conservation);
- The Winzerberg – Royal Vineyard at Potsdam-Sanssouci (2018, category Conservation); and
- CultLab3D: Automated Scanning Technology for 3D Digitisation (2018, category Research).
7 Most Endangered Programme
The 7 Most Endangered Programme forms part of a civil society campaign to save Europe’s endangered heritage. It raises awareness, prepares independent assessments and proposes recommendations for action. It also provides a grant of €10,000 per listed site to assist in implementing an agreed activity that will contribute to saving the threatened site. Launched in 2013, this innovative programme is run by Europa Nostra in partnership with the European Investment Bank Institute. It also has the support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
To mark the 10th anniversary of the 7 Most Endangered Programme in 2023, the European Investment Bank released the brochure ‘Saving the Past – Shaping the Future’, which highlights in particular some of the success stories and the importance of partnerships and community engagement. The brochure, produced in close collaboration with Europa Nostra, can be read and downloaded in six languages, including English and German.
Since the launch of the programme, 56 threatened heritage sites from 31 countries across Europe have been selected, including two endangered heritage sites in Germany:
- the Sisters’ House Ensemble, former Moravian settlement in Kleinwelka (listed in 2023) and
- the Historic Centre of Stolberg (listed in 2022).
Europa Nostra Germany
Europa Nostra Germany is the national representation of Europa Nostra. The new office of Europa Nostra Germany was opened on 19 January 2024 in Potsdam, thanks to an agreement with the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation.
“I would like to congratulate Europa Nostra Germany on its new office at the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG). ’Allee nach Sanssouci 6’, what an address! This new and close connection between a civil society association such as Europa Nostra Germany and such an important cultural heritage organisation as the SPSG will bring added value for both sides, but above all it will make the joint commitment to the preservation of cultural heritage even more visible. This task requires a strong commitment from civil society. With the inclusion of the Sisters’ House Ensemble in Kleinwelka/Bautzen on the list of7 Most Endangered Heritage sites in Europe in 2023 and the closer cooperation in the tri-border region of Lusatia, the Czech Republic and Silesia, Europa Nostra Germany has also set important new priorities under its new President Dr Uwe Koch”, stated Prof. Dr. Hermann Parzinger, Executive President of Europa Nostra and President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
From Potsdam, Europa Nostra Germany will actively promote formats for European dialogue on cultural heritage together with Europa Nostra’s Member and Associate Organisations and other institutions and stakeholders in Germany and beyond.
