Guest Guiding Classical Weimar
Germany
Culture
Culture
Fixed dates
About the project
Guest Guiding Classical Weimar
📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
The history of Open Houses Network dates back to the mid-1980s, when a group of young people started to restore village churches in East Germany in voluntary work to protect them from decay. The engagement for these buildings united people who enjoyed the freedom these activities provided and who filled these rooms with life again in ways which by far exceed the craftsmen's work done – through exhibitions, concerts, making music together or just sitting by the camp fire.
Meanwhile, rooms free of political and ideological pressure are no longer urgently required; however, places have become rare where people can meet without commercial pressure, free of bureaucracy and institutionalism, free of nepotism and the exclusion which it produces. What should be easy – to go somewhere in order to meet people and to work together – has become difficult. The tightrope walk between, on the one hand, public activities in a monetary and functional sense, and the retreat into private life on the other, is very difficult, and it requires a lot of power and permanent efforts to tackle red tape and financial restrictions.
Free spaces are less and less understood as common property, and are permanently being cut back. The idea of public property seems to have gone out of fashion, and places of common responsible work have become rare.
Open Houses Network tries to create and protect such spaces. In this process, we do not want to be the do-ers, but be people who have a vision, who want to initiate something, but who also are aware of depending on the co-operation of others. We understand our projects and events as offers – as offers to create space for commitment, for changes, for meetings.
In accordance to the above described focus on heritage European Heritage Volunteers, a branch of Open Houses, organises Heritage Projects.
Heritage Projects combine practical work for the preservation or restoration of a cultural or natural heritage site with an extensive educational part that gives the theoretical background for the hands-on works and provides deeper heritage linked knowledge. Heritage Projects focus on traditional handcraft techniques, on the revitalisation of abandoned monuments, on the restoration of historical parks, on the maintenance of cultural landscapes or on other related topics.
Some of the Heritage Projects are organised in the framework of the World Heritage Volunteers initiative. The initiative was launched as a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Education Programme in order to mobilise and involve young people and youth organisations in heritage preservation and promotion. Since 2008 more than 200 projects at more than 100 World Heritage Sites in more than 50 different countries worldwide have been organised, in which more than 3,500 volunteers from over 70 countries have taken part. The European projects of World Heritage Volunteers are coordinated by European Heritage Volunteers.
💼 What the programme involves
The complex of Belvedere Orangery and the associated buildings had been restored by Weimar Classic Foundation during the last years and was reopened in 2015. In the former Garden Inspector's House a permanent exhibition prepared by European Heritage Volunteers about European Heritage Volunteers Projects in Europe as well as about UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers Projects worldwide is installed. The exhibition is complemented by videos presenting some of the Heritage Volunteers projects having taken place in Europe during the last years.
The volunteers taking part in the Guest Guiding project will be at the place from Tuesday to Friday in the afternoons and on Saturdays and Sundays the whole days – the time when most of the visitors will come. Every Monday is the free day of the volunteer. S/he should be available for the visitors of the exhibition, answering their questions concerning European Heritage Volunteers, UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers in general and the UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers project at Belvedere Park. Own contribution concerning related topics as conservation, heritage management, garden architecture and similar is welcome. The volunteers will work in close cooperation with the Department for Castles, Gardens and Buildings of Weimar Classic Foundation. After the introduction week(s) s/he gets 15 € pocket money for each real guest guiding week lasting seven days and 7 € for food per day and s/he will have a simple bike to get from the accommodation to the working place (ca. 4 km). During the H09 project will be further explained, the volunteer will not receive the food money. The volunteer will be accommodated in a flat, with a sleeping room with bed, simple equipped kitchen and shared bathroom. For the participants of this project should be clear that s/he is the only volunteer at the place.
From 15.07 to 19.07 the G01 volunteer will have an introduction seminar to become familiar with the organisation as well as to get first instructions about guest guiding, in Lohra Castle (please have a look on the description of Lohra Castle)
From 18.07 to 31.08, the UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers Project in Weimar (therefore see the description of the project H09) will take place. The G01 volunteer will be there during the first week, providing guided tours for the participants. . Also, during this period, the G01 volunteer will have the have the possibility to transmit the knowledge about exhibition to the G02 volunteer. Thus, the G02 volunteer will be introduced during the first week and then start guest guiding. The G02 volunteer will be involved in the activities of the European Heritage Day on September, 8th, by providing guided tours, too. Both volunteers will be part of the group, presenting heritage sites of its country of origin and being involved in the social life of the group. During this period, both will be accommodated in the hostel with the participants of the World Heritage Volunteers Project.
🏠 Accommodation on site
The volunteer will be accommodated in a flat, with a sleeping room with bed, simple equipped kitchen and shared bathroom
From 18.07 to 31.08 will be accommodated in the hostel with the participants of the World Heritage Volunteers Project
Food described in "Description of work".
📍 About the location
Weimar is a beautiful small city, located in the middle of Germany in the state of Thuringia. It has a huge number of cultural important places; especially the Classical Period made the city, what it is now. By the late 18th century many of the leading writers and thinkers in Germany, such as Goethe, Schiller and Herder, came to Weimar and shaped the cultural life and in the same time the image of the city. Weimar became the cultural centre of Europe at that time. Many painters,
composers and philosophers lived in the city during the classical period. Until now you find many creative and inspired people living in Weimar, which were attracted by the great accumulation of cultural spirit. Since 1998 “Classical Weimar” is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Besides Goethe’s House, the City Church and the City Palace, especially the parks and gardens with their impressive landscape architecture and pretty castles are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Classical Weimar”. During the 20th century Weimar became the birthplace of the Modern Movement in architecture and aesthetics. The Bauhaus was developed by merging the Grand Ducal School of Arts and Crafts and the Weimar Academy of Fine Arts. It had a profound influence upon developments in art, architecture, design and typography. The “Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar and Dessau” are listed as UNESCO World Heritage, too. For all this historical important marks and to spread the knowledge of the past, Weimar became in 1999 the European Capital of Culture.
Since 2012 UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers Projects are taking place at the parks and gardens of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Classical Weimar”. The focus of the activities had been all the years at Belvedere Park, where the volunteers uncovered and restored historical paths which had been disappeared for decades. European Heritage Volunteers coordinates the European part of the UNESCO World Heritage Volunteers initiative as well as organises European Heritage Volunteers projects in Germany and initiates and coordinates European Heritage Volunteers Partner Projects all over Europe.
⚠️ Requirements
-Good German -Good English -Motivation letter related to the project -CV + photo
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Sign in to apply📅 Available sessions
OH-G02
17/08/2019 → 16/09/2019
Volunteers registered
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ℹ️ Key information
Age required
20–70 years old
Solidarity donation
0.00
French tax residents may be eligible for a tax reduction of up to 66% of their costs (membership, plane tickets, solidarity donation).
📍 Location
99 Weimar, Germany
Germany
🌍 Location info
Local currency
Euro Member Countries (EUR / €)
🛡️ Before you leave
✅ Features
🗣️ Languages spoken
English
German