From October 2018 to December 2020, ten small and medium-sized towns - four in eastern Saxony, six in southwestern Poland - addressed their medieval history and architectural heritage in the REVIVAL! project. The aim was to raise awareness of important historical places, sites, monuments and events, to strengthen local and regional identity, and at the same time to find ways and means of breathing more life back into historical town centres.
Each town has compiled visual material and texts on its own, usually quite eventful history. A selection of this material can be seen in the exhibition. It shows the historical differences and uniqueness of the towns, but many connecting elements are also visible on the panels. In the course of the REVIVAL! project, each of the ten participating towns has developed and implemented a pilot measure to make their historical features visible and thus revitalise the city centres. The exhibition also provides information on these measures and actions.
In accordance with the Corona Protection Ordinance of the Free State of Saxony, the ZfBK will remain closed until further notice, but the REVIVAL! exhibition can be viewed through the windows (Kulturpalast Dresden, Wilsdruffer Straße/Schloßstraße). In addition, the exhibition can be experienced virtually as part of an interactive project presentation on the REVIVAL! website:
http://revival.ioer.eu/aktivitaeten/interaktives-projektvideo/ (in German and Polish)
Background
The touring exhibition was created as part of the project REVIVAL! - Revitalisation of historical towns in Lower Silesia and Saxony. In the project, three scientific institutions and ten towns in south-western Poland and eastern Saxony addressed the question of how small and medium-sized towns in rural areas can make better use of their architectural heritage and thus increase the attractiveness of their inner cities.
The scientific partners were the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IÖR, project management), the International Institute (IHI) Zittau of the Technische Universität Dresden and the Instytut Rozwoju Terytorialnego (IRT, Institute for Territorial Development) of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship in Poland. On the German side, the cities of Bautzen, Görlitz, Reichenbach and Zittau belonged to the network as practice partners. On the Polish side, these were the cities of Bolesławiec, Gryfów Śląski, Kamienna Góra, Lubawka, Lubomierz and Żary.
Contact at the IOER
Prof. Dr Robert Knippschild (IOER), e-mail: R.Knippschildioer@ioer.de