Concept
The European Route of Brick Gothic (EuRoB) is an association of cities, towns, regions, municipalities and institutions that have Brick Gothic buildings in their territory or have their headquarters in a Brick Gothic building. The network also includes several sponsors and cooperation partners. The route joins several hundred religious and secular buildings from Denmark, Germany and Poland, including monasteries, churches, town halls and town houses, as well as city fortifications such as city walls, towers and city gates. The purpose of the association is the promotion of art and culture, of science, education and international understanding, and in particular the preservation of our common cultural heritage of Brick Gothic and its promotion to a larger public. In the 1990s, Gottfried Kiesow, founder and long-standing chairman of the board of the Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz ("German Foundation for Monument Protection"), launched the initiative Wege zur Backsteingotik ("Routes to Brick Gothic"). Its mission was to preserve the numerous Brick Gothic monuments in the territory of the former German Democratic Republic and to raise awareness of the unique cultural heritage of Brick Gothic. The initiative culminated in a dedicated exhibition on show in the Hanseatic cities of Greifswald, Rostock, Stralsund, Wismar and Lübeck in 2002. It can still be viewed today in St. Mary's Church in Wismar and in St. Mary's Church in Neubrandenburg. In 2002, the "Routes to Brick Gothic" initiative resulted in two successive EU projects called "European Route of Brick Gothic": EuRoB and EuRoB II. Both projects involved around 34 project partners (including almost 30 cities and regions) from Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The second EU project, EuRoB II, ended in 2007. On 26 September 2007, several former project partners joined forces in Greifswald and established the association "Europäische Route der Backsteingotik e. V." (European Route of Brick Gothic).