Youth Monument Preservation Team

Youth Monument Preservation Teams are staffed by young people completing a voluntary social year and are organised jointly by the non-profit associations Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz and Internationale Jugendgemeinschaftsdienste. They aim to attract young people to work in building trades and the maintenance of listed buildings. Over the course of their 12-month service they receive practical and theoretical training and are given advice on their personal and career development. This meaningful voluntary service at the start of their professional life also helps them to find their role in society. Theory and practice go hand in hand: the volunteers soon get to grips with practical work on monuments and other listed buildings, learning about traditional trades, history of art, historical construction styles, building materials and legal aspects.
A total of 16 Youth Monument Preservation Teams have been set up across Germany since 1999. The costs are shared between the federal government, states, regions and municipalities and charitable foundations. In Lübeck the Possehl Foundation has sponsored the Youth Monument Preservation Team, which is now based on the Wallhalbinsel, since 2011.
The Youth Monument Preservation Team works closely and on an interdisciplinary basis with the Lübeck Department for Archaeology and Listed Buildings and the Schleswig-Holstein Regional Office for Listed Buildings.