We are delighted to announce that on July 1st we have started working on our new project TOPOMOMO – Shared Heritage in cooperation with the Haus Schminke Foundation in Löbau.

The project focuses on modernist buildings dating from 1918 to 1945 in the Saxon districts of Bautzen and Görlitz, as well as in the Polish region of Jelenia Góra, including its associated districts and the district of Żary. The TOPOMOMO – Shared Heritage project aims to tell the complex history of the interwar period in the border triangle through the architectural heritage of Modernism, in a collaborative and cross-border manner, bringing together Polish and German perspectives. In this context, Modernism is far more than just an architectural style: it was during this period that fundamental principles and ideas were developed which shaped today’s social life.

The TOPOMOMO – Shared Heritage project will run from July 2026 to the end of December 2028 and comprises several project phases. The first work package involves creating a database of the modernist buildings in these areas, followed by selecting 30 buildings (15 on the Polish side and 15 on the German side) to be researched in detail. International seminars and research workshops form an integral part of this work package.

The second work package focuses on raising awareness of the selected buildings. An interactive exhibition and a new TOPOMOMO paperback will make the research findings accessible to a broad audience beyond expert circles. New tourism tools will complement existing active and cultural tourism offerings in the region. All information will also be published on the existing TOPOMOMO project website (https://topomomo.eu), which will be expanded to include a Polish-language version.

The third work package aims to advance the network already envisaged in earlier TOPOMOMO projects. At a planned tri-national network meeting, Saxon, Polish and Czech stakeholders will exchange experiences, perspectives and visions. The project will lay a foundation for a further examination of regional modernist architecture.

Several Saxon-Czech projects have already been carried out under the name TOPOMOMO since 2012. TOPOMOMO – Shared Heritage builds on this as a strategic project and expands TOPOMOMO to include the Polish perspective. The aim is to expand TOPOMOMO in the long term to cover the entire Czech-Polish-German border triangle.

• Lead partner of the project: Haus Schminke Foundation
• https://www.stiftung-hausschminke.eu/en/Home/

Project partner: Museum of Architecture in Wrocław

• The project will run from 1 July 2026 to 31 December 2028.
• The project is co-funded by the European Union.
• Grant amount: 649,919.63 €
• Total project budget: 812,399.53 €