What is the Park Association?

It has now been 12 years since stakeholders in the historical cultural landscape of Lusatia in Brandenburg, Saxony and Lubuskie province came together to establish the European Park Association of Lusatia.

The joint venture began on 16 November 2010, initially with the parks in Muskau and Branitz designed by Prince Pückler, the East German Rose Garden Forst (Lusatia) and Brody Castle Park (Pförten). By creating a cross-border cultural identity, the stakeholders sought to have a lasting impact on education, tourism and business in the region and thus contribute to structural change in Lusatia and to European integration. In the first few years, the inhabitants of the German-Polish border region had the opportunity to engage with their shared German-Polish – and thus also European – history during joint German-Polish exhibitions, history projects, publications, theatre events and workshops.

Successful development of the park association was the condition for the addition of a further five palace and park complexes in 2018: Altdöbern castle park in Brandenburg, Kromlau rhododendron park and Neschwitz palace complex in Saxony, and Żagań palace and park (Sagan) and Zatonie ducal park (Günthersdorf) in Poland. Commissioned by outstanding historical personalities such as Prince Pückler, Heinrich Count of Brühl or Dorothea Duchess of Sagan, these residences and parks formed cultural focal points with Europe-wide connections and have retained their prominence to this day.

In 2020, the nine partners had cause to celebrate when the European Park Association of Lusatia was granted EU funding for a joint project that it had applied for via the Spree-Neisse-Bober Euroregion. On 3 June 2020, the members of the European Park Association of Lusatia signed the partnership agreement in Branitz Park for the INTERREG-funded project entitled "Sustainable strengthening and reorientation of the European Park Association of Lusatia 2021". A total of EUR 861,000 is available to the project partners until the end of 2022 as part of the INTERREG programme.

The project focuses on further intensifying the exchange between the participating municipalities and park administrations. This should primarily take the form of joint themed years and events, whether as German-Polish park seminars, a summer school for young professionals or workshops with stakeholders involved in heritage conservation on a full-time or voluntary basis. Above all, though, the new project is aimed at the inhabitants of Lusatia. The events planned for mediation and preservation of the historical garden heritage in the cross-border region strive to provide local residents with opportunities to meet and become better acquainted with one another. The Park Association seeks to boost the sense of solidarity within the region and mutual understanding in this way.