The »Triasland« region between the Saale and Unstrut rivers boasts a diversity of outstanding natural and cultural treasures. The landscapes are characterized by castles, chateaus, and churches of the High Middle Ages and by the thousand-year-old wine-growing culture with its terraced vineyards and dry-stone walls. In order to protect this unique natural and cultural tableau from harmful environmental effects and from overdevelopment through residential and traffic construction initiatives, the project known as »Saale-Unstrut Cultural Landscape Corridor« was born.

The goal of the project, which was under the direction of the Geoscience Center at the Georg August University in Göttingen, was the identification of the strands of the interrelationship between the geological sites, the historical structures, the Saale and Unstrut waterways, and the surrounding natural spaces, and thus the design of a network from the individual units.

The project’s activities included investigations on the environmental damage and on the preservation of selected objects such as the Memleben monastery, the ruin at Saaleck, and the stone walls of the winegrowing terraces. From a nature conservation perspective, the vineyards, dry grasslands and bush with their typical wildlife and vegetation were squarely in focus. A restored historic vineyard serves as the location for the associated environmental education. Other information available to all can be found in a smartphone app for Android systems, »Kulturlandschaft Saale-Unstrut«.

Project operation
Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum Göttingen
Georg-August-Goldschmidtstr. 1 – 3
37077 Göttingen
ssieges@gwdg.de
www.uni-goettingen.de/de/125309.html

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