Bernburg. The road to UNESCO World Heritage status is a long one and would be unthinkable without the broad support of the people in the region – in the case of the Pretzien Weir near Schönebeck (Elbe), supporters in Saxony-Anhalt have taken the next step. At the invitation of the State Chancellery and the State Ministry of Culture, representatives of the neighbouring local authorities and individual stakeholders who had previously expressed an interest in collaborating met with Culture Minister Rainer Robra for the first meeting of an open working group.
Salzland district councillor Markus Bauer was present in Magdeburg and repeated what he had already emphasised three years ago when he supported the initiative together with Schönebeck's Lord Mayor Bert Knoblauch and Dr Gunnar Schellenberger, who was State Secretary for Culture at the time: "If the Pretzien weir is given the significance it deserves by being listed as a World Heritage Site, the Salzland district can benefit as a business location and therefore also as a place to live." The examples in the state showed that the attraction for tourists in particular would be much greater with such a status.
Markus Bauer was also able to convince the district council with his arguments. The district administrator and the district council had unanimously backed the ambitious project of a multi-stage application by the state to have the Pretzien weir added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021.
At the end of 2023, the Pretzien weir was one of the few new candidates on the Federal Republic of Germany's UNESCO World Heritage List. This is because the facility is not only a masterpiece of engineering that still reliably fulfils its task of protecting against floods, but also a monument that is deeply rooted in the local community. The 150th anniversary is therefore to be celebrated in September this year with special joint planning.
So while the state, which wants to expand its World Heritage series and is providing funds for this in the budget, continues to drum up publicity, a new association is to take care of the further application process. This was discussed at the first meeting of the working group, following the example of the last successful UNESCO submission for Naumburg Cathedral. Its World Heritage Association still exists today.
"As soon as it is clear how the process will be further organised structurally and how such an association should operate according to the proposed statutes, we will also discuss and decide on this in the district council," says District Administrator Markus Bauer, thinking about the further necessary vote.
There is still a long way to go to reach the common goal. The members of the working group agree that the convincing application documents for the Pretzien weir should be submitted to UNESCO in September 2027 so that the seal can be obtained as soon as possible in 2031.