Esslingen (dpa / lsw) – Next weekend it will be possible again nationwide to look behind otherwise closed gates, at least for a few hours. Several hundred places in the country invite you to the “Day of the Open Monument” on Sunday (September 11). Also on display are buildings and other facilities not normally open to visitors.
Monument Day will open in Esslingen on Saturday afternoon (5:00 p.m.) in the southwest – for the second time since 2008. All open monuments in the city can be visited and experienced beforehand during the “Night of the Open Monument” until midnight with free admission.
This year the motto of the day is “Culture Spur. A case for monument protection”. The focus should be on the traces that human activity has left behind over the centuries and through many layers of time. In this way, results could be scientifically located and gaps in the picture of the past could be closed or even integrated into a different context, according to the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments.
Social cohesion is more necessary than ever in these times, said Nicole Razavi (CDU), the housing minister responsible for monument preservation, on Monday in Esslingen. “And the culture with our monuments is a wonderful link. By preserving the character of our beautiful cities and communities, we maintain an important part of our identity and the value of home.”
The German Foundation for Monument Protection has been coordinating the day nationwide since 1993 and every year on the second Sunday in September. People then visit old churches and monasteries, castle ruins, palaces, excavation sites, mills or simply the neighbor’s house, which is under monument protection. Monument conservators also use the forum to report and advertise on the problems and successes of their work.
