Who are the winners of the first round of the nationwide funding program “Preservation of Monuments and Use of Historic Buildings for Cultural Tourism”?

The six winning projects of the first round of the nationwide funding program “Monument Preservation and Cultural Tourism Use of Historic Buildings” of the association “Castles and Gardens in Germany e. V.” have been selected. An expert jury selected them from a total of 25 applications submitted. “The choice was not easy for us. There was an extraordinary amount of passion in every single project application we received,” emphasizes Jens Spanjer, first chairman of “Schlösser und Gärten in Deutschland e. V.”

To implement the program, the non-profit association received a donation of 1.5 million euros from Airbnb. With funding amounts of between 25,000 euros and 50,000 euros, the winners of the first funding round have the opportunity to carry out monument-related measures on their property. The aim is to be able to implement new utilization concepts for monuments, such as overnight accommodation in unique surroundings for modern cultural tourists. One of the first manor houses to receive support from the program is the Scharpzow Manor House in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The romantic Scharpzow estate park is located in the middle of the Mecklenburg Lake District. Thanks to funding from “Schlösser und Gärten Deutschland e. V.” amounting to 25,000 euros, historical details can be reconstructed in the east wing of the estate. This includes the reproduction of the paper wallpaper from the building period, which is now rarely seen. In addition to simply preserving and maintaining the monument, Scharpzow will once again become a place that enables inspiring gatherings and a new salon culture in the countryside – a reminiscence of days gone by when the estate was a meeting place for thinkers and poets. Visitors to Scharpzow can look forward to natural co-living – i.e. temporary communal living – and the preservation of the original room layout with dynamic usage options. The “patrons’ suite”, consisting of a bedroom and music room, is to be created for overnight guests in the woman’s original rooms. The adjoining hall will then be used both as a living room for guests and as a salon with changing exhibitions of contemporary art. Guests can look forward to fine dining evenings in the dining room, while the music room can also be used for meditative relaxation.

The approved building application envisages a meeting place for artists with private room rentals of up to twelve beds. In addition to the planned suite on the first floor, a library, a yoga room and two artists’ studios for temporary residencies will be created on the upper floor of the house. The manor house will be renovated using only ecological building materials. The gas heating will be replaced by a photovoltaic system on the horse stables in combination with a geothermal heat pump and panel heating. Biodegradable cleaning and care products, additional composting toilets in the park, communal meals with seasonal organic produce as well as pick-up from the train station and bicycles for hire are also part of the concept.

With the new accommodation options, the existing accommodation offer is being expanded all year round and the manor house itself can also be experienced. In the summer months, the owners run glamping via the Airbnb platform with four luxurious tent suites in the 3.5-hectare estate park. The park is surrounded by mature trees and features clearings, a pond and a garden pavilion. The romantic cotton bell tents – with an outdoor sauna and shower by the pond – invite you to relax in the midst of nature. The new concept also impresses with a flexible price model for overnight stays and the principle of “vacation for cooperation”. This means that guests of all income levels can experience the manor house while contributing to its preservation and further development.

Scharpzow became famous in the mid-19th century through the meeting of the poets Hoffmann von Fallersleben and Fritz Reuter. The estate is characterized by the people of its time who came and went here. In 1896, the estate was redesigned with farm buildings, an extensive English landscape park and a poultry house. The court architect Georg Daniel, who was responsible for the state theater in Schwerin as well as Ivenack Castle and church, was in charge of the redesign. For Scharpzow, he designed a single-storey, L-shaped brick building on a high plinth with an extended attic storey and raised central risalit. The first floor of the building is divided into the western half with the master’s rooms and the utility area. The eastern half houses the wife’s rooms, the hall and the dining room.

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) has been following a group of manor house rescuers in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern for over ten years. You can find out more about the renovation of Scharpzow Manor House here:

The association – the only nationwide association of state and non-state visitor monuments to date – sees itself as an association of the large, influential palaces, castles, monasteries and gardens in Germany. It now includes the state, municipal and private operators and owners of around 365 monuments with around 18 million visitors a year, as well as a number of organizations such as the German Castle Association, the Action Group for Private Monument Ownership, the German Foundation for Monument Protection, the German Society for Garden Art and Landscape Culture and the German Castle Road.