A Civic Turn in Heritage Care – Announcement

Fundacja Ruinersi in Lower Silesia started as a simple community of ordinary people owning ordinary old houses. Many of these buildings are not officially listed, and they have often been neglected or left to fall apart. Today the foundation is developing a bottom-up approach to heritage care, bringing together homeowners, craftspeople, experts, conservationists, public institutions and civic organisations. In 2025 this work received the Annual Award of the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage in the category “Heritage Protection”. This experience has also led to the National Cluster for Civic Heritage Protection, a network of independent NGOs contributing different areas of competence while remaining separate organisations with their own identities and projects.

Key subjects: civic heritage care; cross-border cooperation; traditional crafts; vernacular architecture; new owners of old houses; difficult heritage and living heritage