During an introduction phase in Weimar, Germany, the volunteers will get to know each other and exchange about their cultural and professional backgrounds. They will receive an overview about volunteering projects for heritage, learn on the example of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Classical Weimar" about tangible and intangible aspects of heritage sites as well as about the challenges to preserve, to restore and to maintain heritage sites and will contribute during two days by their own practical work to the restoration and the maintenance of the site. After having moved to Berlin the group will be welcomed by representatives of the German Cultural Heritage Committee that will provide an introduction about the background as well as about the technical aspects of the European Cultural Heritage Summit.During the European Cultural Heritage Summit every two volunteers will be – alternating in shifts of half a day each – responsible for a particular heritage site resp. a historical conference venue and provide the participants of the Summit with background knowledge about the history of the site and its direct surroundings while identifying links to similar buildings, similar quarters resp. similar heritage linked constellations, potentials or challenges in their home countries or in other European countries and so illustrating the European dimension of Cultural Heritage. In addition, they will support the participants of the Summit while recommending them other activities in the frame of the Summit's programme that may fit to their interests.The other half of the days the volunteers will have the opportunity to visit the events of the Summits' programme for free, to establish contacts and to network with other participants of the European Cultural Heritage Summit.
Accomodation & food:
shared rooms with beds, warm showers, toilets
Location & leisure:
The European Cultural Heritage Summit from June, 18th, to June, 24th, under the motto „Sharing Heritage – Sharing Values" will be a main highlight of the European Year of Cultural Heritage. The Summit will engage and mobilise a wide range of public and private stakeholders for an ambitious European Cultural Heritage Agenda and will be attended by highest representatives of European Union Institutions, Member States and civil society organisations from all over Europe. Key policy and public events on Europe and Cultural Heritage, the Award-giving Ceremony for the European Prize for Cultural Heritage and side events organised by European and German organisations and institutions will take place. European Heritage Volunteers will organise a Heritage Volunteering Project alongside the European Cultural Heritage Summit that shall enable young people on one hand to get a close and detailed inside view into the network of organisations, institutions and stakeholders that are active all over Europe in the field of Cultural Heritage, on the other hand to support the organisation of this outstanding event.A group of twelve young volunteers from twelve different European countries – young adults, students and young professionals – are invited to participate in this project.
Requirements:
Motivation letter related to the projectand CV + photo required
Age:
18-35
Location:
Berlin
Language(s):
English, German
Airport:
LEJ: Leipzig Halle (Leipzig, Germany)Vegetarian food will be available
Die Gruppe wird von einer ausgebildeten muttersprachlichen Lehrerin 3 Stunden am Vormittag Deutschunterricht erhalten. Es werden Grammatik und Kommunikation vertieft, je nach Wunsch und Bedarf der Teilnehmer. In der Freizeit sind Exkursionen durch Berlin und in die naehere Umgebung geplant. Es ist vorgesehen, dass die Teilnehmer auch in der Freizeit Deutsch miteinander kommunizieren werden, um den Unterrichtsstoff zu vertiefen. The Group will have German lessons by a native speaker German teacher 3 hours in the morning. You will get the opportunity to deepen your knowledge in communication and grammar, depending on your needs and wishes. In the free time excursions to Berlin and its surrounding area are planned. You are asked to communicate only in German in your leisure time to deepen your new learned skills.
Accomodation & food:
Die Teilnehmer werden in beheizbaren Bungalows auf dem Gelaende der Projekt- und Begegnungsstaette schlafen. In den Bungalows gibt es ein separates Bad mit Dusche und WC. Es werden maximal 6 maennliche oder weibliche Teilnehmer in einem Bungalow wohnen. Bettwaesche bekommst du im Objekt, du brauchst keinen Schlafsack mitzubringen.You will live in heated bungalows with up to 6 girls or boys on the ground of the place where you will have the language course. In the bungalows you will find your own bathroom with a shower and WC. You will get bed linen, there is no need to bring a sleeping bag with you.
During the first week you will attend an intensive German language course in the morning (2 x 90 min/day) where you will learn a lot about the German language itself and be prepared to use German in everyday. Your language teachers are native speakers and have experience in teaching German as a foreign language. For the first week, they are also part of your group. In the second and third week you will help to maintain tombs of war victims in Reinickendorf in the north of Berlin. The victims are German and Non-German soldiers and civilians, for whom this gravesite was built. You and your group will help to renew meadows and free tombs from plants as well as clean concrete frames.
Accomodation & food:
You will stay in a scout camp in Alt-Tempelhof. You will cook together.
Location & leisure:
Berlin has a lot of free time activities to offer, both day and night. In order to enable you to pursue the different interests of the team member, you will have a city ticket at your disposal, which allows you to use public transport in Berlin for free during the time of the camp.
Requirements:
300,- € additional fee for language course and city ticket. This camp is for participants who do not have German language skills.
In the last years with the help of several workcamps there was created a new seminar room and volunteers designed a nice courtyard for recreation and leisure time outside. This year it is planned to build a "campus for nature and youth". Volunteers can help to set up different garden patches for cultivation and as well biotopes for nature conservation. Beside this it is planned to build several housings like a yurt, a tepee and hut in traditional loam construction.As every year, volunteers are invited to get to know the local Perma Culture garden and do some gardening there. While looking after the plants, there this the possibility to harvest fruits. Of course there is also the opportunity to get to know about the idea of a Permaculture with its, plants, animals and environment.Therefore we are looking for motivated young people who are interested in handicrafts, living with nature and gardening/landscaping.
Study part:
How to create a productive garden which grows plants and feeds animals in a way that only a minimum input of energy and resources are required to achieve maximum sustainability to the environment? Interesting ecological and cultural projects and information from your country is very welcome.
Accomodation & food:
The participants are accommodated in the big seminar room. Food will be prepared together in the big kitchen of the seminar house.
Remarks:
Please bring working clothes and a sleeping bag with you.
Location & leisure:
The project will take place in a famous river hill and cultural landscape in the middle of Saxony at the foot of the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), 35 km from Dresden, 15 km from Freiberg.The afternoons and evenings, also weekends are free for personal use: sports, swimming, fieldtrips in the region and to Freiberg. There will be a group of around 5 local German volunteers participating in the workcamp. Good possibility to improve your German language skills. In the last weekend, volunteers will join the summer party of the University in the Farmhouse.
Terminal:
Freiberg, near Dresden. Airports: Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig.
Age:
18-26
Location:
Gossberg / sachsen
Language(s):
English, German
Airport:
LEJ: Leipzig Halle (Leipzig, Germany)Vegetarian food will be available
Making your own films! - You can try it out in this international media camp. „Learning by doing" is the slogan! You can collect ideas and experiment in small groups and after a little introduction into the technical site of things, you will develop your own storyline and sooner than you think, it will be time to shoulder the camera. Short film with yourselves as actors and actresses or documentary – you can choose which story you tell. Let your imagination run free! You will not only learn how to handle a camera, but also how to edit a film with the computer and add sound to it. No prior knowledge is needed, but appreciated. You will be supported by experienced media educators. If you want to have a look at the 4 films produced in the last two years, follow these links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v5vcVpV2I4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZQaPuy4L-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIN6k_QkKVM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGHE-Z2kZGc
Accomodation & food:
You will sleep on air mattresses in a cosy and comfortable youth centre. You will cook together.
Location & leisure:
Your accommodation is located in a trendy neighbourhood in the city centre. From here you can walk through the 1.200 year old Hanseatic city of Bremen (www.bremen.de) with its many sights, cultural offers, a vivid nightlife and many shopping opportunities. On the weekend you can take trips to the North Sea Coast, to Hamburg and other cities.
Requirements:
370,-€ additional fee (has to be paid in cash on the campsite), You can only arrive on Saturday the 14th of July and leave on Saturday the 28th of July. Special requirements: You have to be interested in filming, technology and editing.
The European Heritage Volunteers Project will contribute to the ongoing construction of the Open Air Museum, carry out maintenance measures in the open space areas and support the concept of mediation of the Stone Age period to visitors. The works will be carried out in two or three groups, and the volunteers will have the opportunity to alternate during the duration of the project between the particular groups.Basing on results of archaeological excavations in Northern Germany one group will construct a wooden path through a moor while using techniques that had been used in New Stone Age period.Another group will maintain the archaeological heritage sites in the Stone Age Park while planting hedges and constructing hurdle fences to create a natural "protection zone" around the graves, reconstructing a model of a "construction site" from the Megalith era, repairing paths, cutting grass and similar.Finally, the volunteers will translate the content of information desks in the Open Air Museum into English resp. from English to their mother tongues to make the site more accessible for foreign visitors.The educational programme will consist of a detailed introduction during the first days, an excursion on Saturday and the opportunity to participate at all activities during the "Stone Age Week" that will take place parallel to the second week of the European Heritage Volunteers Project at the Open Air Museum. The "Stone Age Week" under the title "Life in the Stone Age – second European gathering after 5,000 years" will gather around 80 participants from all over Europe as well as from other continents that are active as researchers about Stone Age resp. in the field of museum pedagogic and non-formal education linked to prehistoric era. The participants of the "Stone Age Week" imitate during these days the life in Stone Age to gain realistic inside view and first hand experiences about this era and offer in addition public lectures and presentations about life in Stone Age.
Accomodation & food:
shared rooms with beds,warm showers, toilets,The meals will be prepared together as they are part of the community life, what means that everybody will be responsible for the meal at least once during its stay. So it would be very nice if you could bring typical recipes from home in order to introduce each other to the preparation of food from all over the world.
Location & leisure:
The Stone Age Park "Steinzeitpark Dithmarschen" is an educational structure placed at an archaeological-environmental area of a size of 40 hectares that includes original archaeological heritage sites, environmental open spaces of high diversity and a "Stone Age Village" in the form of an Open Air Museum. Main aim of the institution is to communicate reflected knowledge about the prehistoric relationship between human beings and environment and to wake understanding for other cultures in time and space. The Stone Age Park aims to create in the long run a cultural landscape from the New Stone Age era 5,000 years ago and to communicate the complex connections of landscape development in the Stone Age as well as the results of the prehistoric research towards a wider public. By using a mostly natural – although landscape architectural steered – development process lasting several decades former corn fields will be converted into an area that provides the impression of a landscape of the New Stone Age. In the same time the area with its nine well preserved archaeological sites – large graves, grave hills and "colossus beds" – will offer an attractive space for educational and recreation purposes. Basing on new results of archaeological excavations and using handcraft techniques that had been used during Stone Age era a "Stone Age Village" had been constructed that offers to the visitors various activities illustrating the life in the Stone Age as doing archery, preparing flint stones, sparking fire, baking bread in traditional way and others. The development concept for the open space areas orientates at the prehistoric landscape created by the first rural settlers in the region near the Western coast of the current Northern Germany while using cattle. To re-establish this traditional form of landscape management by extensive pasturing Stone Aage Park started to settle traditional cattle races. The concept of "Steinzeitpark Dithmarschen" is completed by an exhibition area hosting a permanent exhibition about New Stone Age and various changing exhibitions and a regular calendar of presentations and courses in prehistoric handcraft techniques.
Requirements:
Motivation letter related to the project and CV + photo required
Age:
18-35
Location:
Albersdorf
Language(s):
English, German
Airport:
HAM: Hamburg (Hamburg, Germany)Vegetarian food will be available
The European Heritage Volunteers Project is a continuation of a similar project that took place at the same heritage site in 2017. The project will consist of two parts – the documentation of the interior of the former Grand Hotel and the restoration of the historic hotel park. The documentation of the interior that will be lead by a local architect aims to document the most valuable rooms by drawing, photo documentation and verbal description in order to provide a serious base for later restoration, but also to allow stylistic comparison and art historical research as well as to protect the decorative elements against theft. While restoring and cultivating further parts of the historic hotel park the old concept of "Parkwald" ("park forest") should be regained und brought into presence. This concept, being founded during the 1st decade of 20th century solely in Freudenstadt, means a specific and delicate kind of cure and wellness infrastructure. The "park forest" idea had come out as a unique pioneer act made by the Freudenstadt town builders of those years. The works that will be carried out in the park will include a conceptual and intelligent sweep of the green wilderness, which has captured the originally garden site. This means the clearing of small or middle aged trees and plants that are not typically for the park as well as the excavation of garden structures with century old origin currently covered by leaves. Those works and measures will help the city of Freudenstadt, its citizens and guests, to realise the enormous treasure of air-bath heritage and livelihood during the golden age, when this formerly rural town deep down in the woods became a world famous spa resort. In 2025, when Freudenstadt will host a half year "green exhibition" for the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the hotel park shall contribute to the exhibition with singular and outstanding historic scenery.
Accomodation & food:
shared rooms with beds,warm showers, toilets,The meals will be prepared together as they are part of the community life, what means that everybody will be responsible for the meal at least once during its stay. So it would be very nice if you could bring typical recipes from home in order to introduce each other to the preparation of food from all over the world.
Location & leisure:
The "Waldlust" Hotel in Freudenstadt, founded in 1899, was a first choice resort of a noble society of spa guests. It stands as a historic architecture building, as a cultural heritage treasury, as a long time social meeting place in a high rank – a unique symbol of a former golden period of town development. During the 1st third of the 20th century the hotel took a breathtaking career, carried by the arrival of many world famous guests – kings, queens, princes, poets, artists and also the international jet set. "Waldlust", the leading hotel of Freudenstadt, came to success by the entrepreneurial genius of a widespread hotel dynasty, the Luz family, who owned and managed several well known houses in Freudenstadt, Baden-Baden and Austria.Today the old palace with its impressive size and scenery and its glorious "personal" history offers us a review back to a golden era, almost unimaginable for such a small town deeply embedded in the Black Forest woods. The "Denkmalverein Freudenstadt" (Freudenstadt Association for Heritage) is highly ambitious to preserve the splendid architecture as cultural heritage site of a great age. Therefore it undertakes rooftop repairing, water containment and other constructive measures, carries out conservation works as well as preventive measures against the loss of art and assures the houses' safety by constant controls. The association also informs about the great history of the heritage site by guided tours and by public relation efforts of all kinds.The "Waldlust" Hotel is surrounded by a wide park area, which formerly served as an old style wellness and leisure time retreat for the noble high society clientele: with broad promenades, nicely built in the steep hillside, with stone walls and stair cases as well as intimate sitting opportunities, which offers marvellous outlooks far to the East up to the "blue ribbon" of the Swabian Alb. This once very characteristic Grand Hotel leisure ground had been fallen to oblivion in many years. Due to the absence of any gardening and cultivation forms and structures had gone lost – until the "Denkmalverein Freudenstadt" started to restore paths and interesting places of this traditional ground.
Requirements:
Motivation letter related to the project and CV + photo required
Age:
18-35
Location:
Freudenstadt
Language(s):
English, German
Airport:
STR: Stuttgart (Stuttgart, Germany)Vegetarian food will be available
During the first week you will attend an intensive German language course in the morning (2 x 90 min/day) where you will learn a lot about the German language itself and be prepared to use German in everyday. Your language teachers are native speakers and have experience in teaching German as a foreign language. For the first week, they are also part of your group. In the second and third week you will help to maintain tombs of war victims in Reinickendorf in the north of Berlin. The victims are German and Non-German soldiers and civilians, for whom this gravesite was built. You and your group will help to renew meadows and free tombs from plants as well as clean concrete frames. Please transfer the additional fee of 300,- € to the following bank account: ijgd Berlin Bank für Sozialwirtschaft Berlin BIC: BFSWDE33BER IBAN: DE94 1002 0500 0003 1175 00 purpose for payment: Sprachkurs 78104, your first nameand your family name. Can also be paid upon arrival in the ijgd office upon arrival at the camp.
Accomodation & food:
You will stay in a scout camp in Alt-Tempelhof. You will cook together.
Location & leisure:
Berlin has a lot of free time activities to offer, both day and night. In order to enable you to pursue the different interests of the team members, you will have a city ticket at your disposal, which allows you to use public transport in Berlin for free during the time of the camp.
Requirements:
300,- € additonal fee for language course and city ticket. You have to have basic German language skills.
« I can say that the best things about the workcamp and this whole experience were the chance of making a real difference to the lives of very needy children. This is an extremely valuable project where volunteers can have a massive impact. Also the possibility of learning a huge amount about a country so different from our own. I learnt ten times as much by carrying out a workcamp than I would ever do backpacking. »
