Mural Painting | denkmal aktiv – Cultural Heritage Goes to School

Cooperation

In the course of the school programme "denkmal aktiv - Kulturerbe macht Schule" of the Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz (German Foundation for Monument Protection), the conservation and restoration course at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam cooperated with the Montessori secondary school in Potsdam, with teacher and project supervisor Martina Östreich.

Pupils of the 9th and 10th grade were confronted with the "Urnenhain I" at the Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf in order to deal with the gravestone inventory, the buried persons, the detailed inventory and condition recording of selected individual gravestones, with the aim of the initiators to raise awareness for the preservation of substance and contemporary testimonies.

Südwestfriedhof Stahnsdorf – "Sehenswert!" (Teil 1)
Südwestfriedhof Stahnsdorf – "Sehenswert!" (Teil 2)

Project content

A one-week compact event was planned for the student project from 03/ - 07/09/2018.

In addition to visiting the workshops of the Conservation and Restoration course at the University of Applied Sciences and a guided tour of the cemetery by the cemetery administrator Olaf Ihlefeldt, with a focus on monument preservation issues, the students were engaged in the following tasks and activities on site: close observation of the Urn Grove I as a subject of investigation or research, description and recording of the inventory and damage of selected individual gravestones with entry in the prepared mapping documents. In addition to the practical matters on site – photographing, drawing, measuring, mapping, initial cutting free and, if necessary, cleaning of the surface with the drawing up of further necessary conservation measures, possibly drawing up of an urgent need for conservation measures, the preparation of a report. During the school year, the pupils will continue to deal with art-historical and photographic issues as well as research into the historical context of the persons buried in the graves in order to be able to hand over documentation on the graves to the cemetery as an important contribution to the preservation of contemporary testimonies.

Goal

The aim of denkmal aktiv is to develop in young people a sense of shared responsibility for cultural heritage, ...

• "to stand up for a respectful treatment of cultural heritage,
• to actively campaign for the preservation of cultural heritage,
• to get closer to their own culture, history and environment and to learn to appreciate and respect them,
• to learn about regional monuments and even UNESCO World Heritage Sites as part of their own history."

"Last but not least, the pupils learn interesting facts about the preservation of architectural testimonies and experience the responsible handling of monuments as a social task."

Source: www.denkmalschutz.de/denkmale-erleben/denkmal-aktiv.html
Accessed 23.10.2018