Impressions to the European Fortress Summer 2018

European Year of Cultural Heritage www.sharingheritage.de The European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 has re-awa- kened the common cultural history and historical lines that have existed for centuries throughout the continent. Numerous events, exhibitions, concerts, special offers for young people, pioneering scientific conferences and many other projects highlighted the complexity and intensity of historically grown relati- onships. The Heritage Year showed us how much common cultural traditions and inspiring currents of intellectual history can be a foundation for the future of European integration today. Europe needs and actually possesses a socio-cultural dimension - this became clear during the Cultural Heritage Year. The European Fortress Summer, which was held for the first time in 2018, was one of the special transnational projects of the Cultural Heritage Year: partners from nine Euro- pean countries presented 18 impressive historic fortifications. The monumental buildings, which can be found in many European regions, were related to each other in the context of the Fortress Summer with their history and architecture. The citizens were invited to discover these imposing stone monuments. With attractive offers and cultural events, the fortifications were additionally revived and thus expanded cultural tourism. The guests were able to take a variety of extraordinary impressions from their visits. The Fortress Summer was thus a very good example of the guiding idea of the European Heritage Year 2018: „SHARING HERITAGE“ called for the mediation and sharing of one‘s own cultural heritage. Thanks to the intensive cooperation of many partners, the Fortress Summer became a truly European event. I am pleased that this brochure gives an infor- mative overview of the participating fortifications and their projects and thank everyone involved in the fortress summer very much! Dr. Martina Münch President of the German National Committee for Monument Protection Minister of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg 3