NEWSLETTER 93, 08/17/2007

Internationale Bauausstellung (IBA)
Fürst-Pückler-Land

1. Four Stars: Platzeck opens hotel on future Lake Ilse
2. Lusatian Legend: Performance of "Krabat" in Slavonic castle
3. Culinary Journey: An invitation to the IBA Terraces from the artistic director
4. New Canal: Lakes Senftenberg and Geierswalde linked
5. Cottbus Ostsee I: Second Ostsee festival in Cottbus-Merzdorf
6. Cottbus Ostsee II: New viewing tower for Bärenbrücker Höhe
7. High-Level Visit: Minister-President’s Office investigates new geopark

Four Stars

Platzeck opens hotel on future Lake Ilse

It is in the truest sense the “prime house in town”: the new lake hotel directly on the shores of the emerging Lake Ilse is ready to open on 29 August after a good year of development work and structural alterations. Matthias Platzeck, Minister-President of Brandenburg, will also attend the opening. The hotel is situated mid-way between the IBA office and the IBA Terraces in Seestraße in Großräschen. It has been a transformation from ugly duckling to beautiful swan for the historic hostel for single people owned by the Ilse-Bergbau-Aktiengesellschaft mining company (built in 1923) and taken under the wing of the IBA project “Großräschen-South Pilot Area”. Großräschen businessman Gerold Schellstede is both investor and operator. The small park between the hotel and the lakeside walk is undergoing further gradual development. Fifteen people have already found employment in the lakeside hotel during the first phase of the project. The new Victoria Heights viewing platform at the end of the IBA Terraces (cf. Newsletter 91) will also be officially opened at the same time as the hotel.

Lusatian Legend

Performance of “Krabat” in Slavonic castle

From 22-26 August, the Slavonic castle of Raddusch will be the setting for a lavish ballet opera production when the ballet company, choir and orchestra of the Sorbian National Ensemble will be performing “Krabat or the Creation of the World” for five evenings. The “Krabat” is an ancient Lusatian legend which featured mainly in magical fables and stories until the 1970s. Sorbian writer Jurij Brezan updated the material and gave it a “Faustian philosophy” twist. Dramatic advisor Wolfgang Rögner adapted the novel into a ballet opera production.

Dates: 22 - 26 August at 20:30 hrs each evening. Telephone bookings: 03591 / 358107.

Slavonic Castle
Sorbian National Ensemble

Culinary Journey

An invitation to the IBA Terraces from the artistic director

Senftenberg’s mayor Andreas Fredrich will be the next guest to accompany Sewan Latchininan on his “Culinary Journey”. This is a monthly event (except September) to which the artistic director of Senftenberg Neue Bühne theatre invites a well-known Lusatian to come along to cook and chat with him before an audience. As ever, Latchinian brings musicians and actors along to perform extracts from the Neue Bühne’s programme and provide a cultural backdrop to the culinary journey. Advance reservation highly recommended on 035753 / 26118.

Neue Bühne

New Canal

Lakes Senftenberg and Geierswalde linked

With 14,000 hectares of water distributed over 30 new lakes, Europe’s biggest artificial lakeland is emerging from the cratered lignite mining landscape in Lusatia. In the centre of the Lusatian Lakeland is a chain of ten lakes, only partially separated by one narrow dyke. The lakes are gradually being linked by navigable waterways. The completion of the Barbara canal (between Lake Geierswalde and Partwitz) was followed by the completion of the Sorno canal (Partwitz lake - Sedlitz lake) and the Rosendorf canal (between Lake Sedlitz and Geierswalde). Three more so-called links are currently being built. The regional environmental agency has now given the go-ahead for plans to build another canal of at least 1 km, linking the Lakes Senftenberg and Geierswalde. The Lusatian and Central German Mining Management Company (LMBV) would like to start construction before the end of this year.

LMBV

Cottbus Ostsee I

Second Baltic festival in Cottbus-Merzdorf

Lignite will continue to be extracted from the Cottbus-Nord open-cast mine until 2015. By 2030, however, it will give way to the largest lake in the Lusatian Lakeland: the Cottbus Baltic. Over the past few years plans, visions and initial ideas have been drawn up and developed for this body of water at the gates of the town. The 2nd Cottbus Lake Festival will therefore be held on 25 August: a widely varied programme featuring sporting competitions, live music and information stands will be on offer from 14.30 hrs at the Merzdorf viewing tower, as part of the “Kulturland Brandenburg” project with this year’s theme of “Water”. In addition, the young creative team “dieStadtagenten Cottbus e.V.” will be opening a new information centre on the edge of the mine, where two converted shipping containers will be available in future as promotional bases for culture, leisure and sport. The highlight of the Baltic festival will be the sports competitions, including running a nautical mile from the viewing tower along the mine and back, a tower run and a beach soccer tournament. The “StadtAgenten” are happy to take registrations at: ostseefest@diestadtagenten.de.

dieStadtAgenten Cottbus e.V.

High-Level Visit

Minister-President’s Office investigates new geopark

The geological significance of the Muskau Coal Crescent as a cultivated landscape (cf. Newsletter 91) was recognised when it was granted certification as a National Geopark at the beginning of July. The chief of the Brandenburg Minister-President’s Office Clemens Appel has now visited the new geopark. Appel set aside two days at the beginning of August to find out about the natural features of the region and the development of tourism in the push moraine landscape and to talk to scientists, mayors, chief administrative officers and marshals in Brandenburg, Saxony and Poland. “The Muskau Coal Crescent is the latest IBA project and one I am not yet familiar with”, admitted Appel at the beginning of the round trip, only to conclude after the talks: “I am convinced that the arch will be just as famous in a few years as the F60 conveying bridge, the Slavonic castle of Raddusch and the IBA Terraces.”

Muskau Coal Crescent

Cottbus Ostsee II

New viewing tower for Bärenbrücker Höhe

Students from three colleges entered the competition for a new viewing tower on the Bärenbrücker Höhe, a high spoil area on the north edge of the Cottbus-Nord open-cast mine, the future Baltic. The judges awarded first prize to a design by Daniel Slota, a student of architecture at the BTU Cottbus. Other prizes went to Anne Groß (BTU), Nguyen Dinh Vinh (Hochschule Wismar) and Christian Schreiber (BTU). The tower is due to be built in 2008. It is an integral part of the master plan for the development of the Cottbus Baltic drawn up in 2006.

Ostsee-Masterplan