12/03/2026
Commitment in the City: Cooperative Housing and Heritage Conservation Hand in Hand
Managing one’s own building together as a tenants’ community, taking care of financing, and handling communication between all parties involved — all of this sounds like a lot of work. And often there are also heritage protection requirements to consider. Yet it is precisely this commitment from many people in Leipzig’s civic society that preserves existing buildings and ensures their restoration. At the same time, it contributes to maintaining livable neighborhoods with affordable rents. A look at the Solidarische Wohnungsgenossenschaft Leipzig eG, or “SoWo” for short, shows what lies behind self-managed housing in Leipzig’s housing projects.
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10/03/2026
An object alone won’t make the monument – on the power of photography
How does an architectural photographer approach his subjects? How is the debate between new construction and building within existing structures reflected through the lens of a camera? And how much creative freedom is involved in documenting listed buildings? Hamburg-based architectural photographer Piet Niemann has drawn a number of conclusions from his work and shared them with us.
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10/03/2026
A profession turns 40! And every monument remains a mystery
Four decades ago, the first training course for “Craftsmanship for restauration” began at the academy of crafts at Raesfeld castle. One of its earliest participants was Harald Lemmler. Together with the current course director, Heike Notz, he looks back on the development of a profession that combines craftsmanship, science and responsibility for cultural heritage.
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10/03/2026
Abrasive blasting? Is variable, delicate heritage conservation!
Over the past decades, abrasive blasting technology has changed fundamentally. In conversation with Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director of Schmidt Sandstrahltechnik GmbH, it becomes clear that some effort — among other things through the company’s presence at denkmal — is still required to adjust the image of rough blasting to today’s reality. Precision and the ability to adapt to each specific material now define the product range of this long-standing denkmal exhibitor from the very beginning.
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13/01/2026
The colourful side of cultural heritage – A conversation with David Kremer
For almost five decades, Kremer Pigments has been bringing forgotten colours back to light. In this interview, managing director David Kremer talks about family tradition, political and economic challenges, international competition – and what it means to produce paint again as it was intended centuries ago.
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13/01/2026
Light in concrete walls
In the middle of the World War II, a building was constructed in the Belgian mining town of Beringen-Mijn that would have been truly unexpected at that time. This is the Sint-Theodardus Church. Between 1939 and 1943, the miners built their place of worship while the world around them was falling apart.
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