Good Heritage Conservation is a Cooperative Process

Interview with Dr. Ulrike Wendland

"We all communicated with one another beyond the scope of the normal processes in order to achieve the common goal."
Dr. Ulrike Wendland State Conservator, Saxony-Anhalt State Office for Archaeology and Heritage Conservation

In view of the declining population, Lutherstadt Eisleben is struggling with urban structural problems. Are the constrictions of heritage conservation still contemporary?

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Dr. Ulrike Wendland: Some people call them constraints, I call them challenges. It is important to clarify just what heritage value Eisleben has. And this is extensive, even without Luther, because we have a settlement structure that says a lot about life in a wealthy town of the 16th to 18th centuries. Hardly any buildings were lost in the Second World War or during the GDR era. This building stock and the historic town structures are important for the identity of Eisleben.

But now many buildings are standing empty, because there are no tenants for them, and there are gaps in the rows of buildings – with the blessing of the heritage conservationists. Why?

Dr. Ulrike Wendland: Buildings are lost through lack of use, as well as due to the fact that the limits of their sustainability have quite simply been reached. The town and the Büro für Urbane Projekte and heritage conservation agencies have taken up the challenge of planning what areas of the town need to be maintained at all cost and targeted for funding in view of their heritage value. This means factoring in loss in other locations.

Are you thinking about the Petriviertel here?

Dr. Ulrike Wendland: A number of listed buildings there were in such bad condition that we reached the mutual agreement not to wait for the demolition permit – which has to be issued in any case – but to erect high-quality new buildings that would draw in people to the Old Town that would not otherwise live there. Heritage conservation would not be possible without tenants or users anyway, now older people, families, people with limited mobility can discover the Old Town as a place to live once again. A decisive factor in arriving at these solutions was that we all communicated with one another beyond the scope of the normal processes.

But did heritage conservation not simply submit to the factual situation, i.e. deterioration as a result of buildings standing empty?

Dr. Ulrike Wendland: Yes, we accept the unavoidable. However, when individual components of the heritage area are lost in particular, which the town itself has no desire to see, the follow-up action is a key planning objective for heritage conservation. Buildings have been converted and built anew in Eisleben in every century – and we too are building within the scope of the designated structure.

“Follow-up” heritage conservation is a familiar concept. Does preventive heritage conservation also exist?

Dr. Ulrike Wendland: This consists primarily of heritage values and their thoughtful acknowledgement being accounted for in urban planning. However, without striving to achieve the optimum, experience shows that not even the possible is achieved. If heritage conservationists act as experts, clarifying on site what of the family silver needs to be retained, they are also required to look into the future to see that relatively young buildings are also retained, buildings that are so everyday in appearance that no one is aware of their heritage value. The Berlin Wall was gone before it could enter into general consciousness as a monument – many regret that now.

What form could preventive heritage conservation take in Eisleben?

Dr. Ulrike Wendland: There is an alliance there, in which consensus already exists regarding that which should be preserved. We are no longer talking about if, but how. Heritage value is addressed in the urban development concept, however, the realities of the shrinking town are also accepted. Heritage conservation is an integral part of the planning instruments. Good heritage conservation is a co-operative process that also enables the qualitative management of new construction projects in the building stock.

Info: Lutherstadt Eisleben

Population
(Municipal Area of 2010)
1989: 35.374
2009: 25.988
2025: 19.342 (Future Prospect)

Municipal Area: 143,81 qkm

IBA-Stadt-Monitor
www.eisleben.eu
IBA-Website of the Lutherstadt Eisleben