Memorial Day 2025: Exciting Treasures to Unearth
The German Heritage Foundation's Heritage Day 2025 is set to be a grand celebration of Germany's rich cultural and historical legacy. This annual event, under the patronage of the federal president, is a key part of the European Heritage Days and is coordinated nationwide by the German Foundation for Monument Protection (DSD), making it the largest cultural event in Germany.
This year's event, themed "Worth-while: priceless or irreplaceable?", will take place on September 14, 2025. The day will be centrally opened nationwide with a ceremonial start by the GHF in Gera.
The Heritage Day program includes over 8,000 events in approximately 6,000 historic sites and 450 heritage tours across the country. Visitors can expect a variety of activities such as tours, workshops, and exclusive access to sites like train stations, factories, and brewery cellars. Many of these sites are usually closed to the public, making this a unique opportunity for exploration.
Key historic sites and highlights related to German heritage and cultural celebration in 2025 include the Carolingian Westwork and Civitas Corvey in North Rhine-Westphalia, a UNESCO World Heritage cultural site since 2014. Another notable site is the Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus in Hamburg, also a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2015.
Weimar, celebrated as the cradle of German intellectual and artistic movements, will also be a significant part of the celebrations. Historic landmarks such as the Marktplatz, Town Hall, houses of Goethe and Schiller, and museums including the Duchess Anna Amalia Library and the Bauhaus Museum, will all be open for visitors.
In addition to these major German UNESCO heritage landmarks, regional celebrations like the Renovo Heritage Days German event on July 25, 2025, will also be a part of the festivities. This event, held in the old Maxwell Building, will celebrate German heritage with cultural activities and authentic German cooking.
While the exact list of participating historic sites beyond these major landmarks is not yet detailed, the program and list of sites are regularly updated. For the latest information, visitors can download the Day of Open Monuments app, available for free in the stores for Android and iOS, which provides route planning, a favorites list, and an overview map. The complete program for Heritage Day can also be found online at www.heritageday.de/program and in the app at www.heritageday.de/app.
The Heritage Day events aim to make buildings accessible that are usually closed to visitors and to bring the topic of cultural heritage to the center of society. For more information, please contact the Team Day of Open Monuments at the German Foundation for Monument Protection.
[1] UNESCO World Heritage Centre. (2025). Corvey, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. [Online]. Available: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1532
[2] UNESCO World Heritage Centre. (2025). Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus, Hamburg, Germany. [Online]. Available: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1543
[3] Greater Renovo Area Heritage Park. (2025). Renovo Heritage Days. [Online]. Available: https://www.renovohistoricdistrict.org/events
[4] German Foundation for Monument Protection. (2025). Day of Open Monuments. [Online]. Available: https://www.denkmalpflege-stiftung.de/de/tag-der-offenen-denkmaler
[5] City of Weimar. (2025). Weimar - UNESCO World Heritage. [Online]. Available: https://www.weimar.de/en/culture/unesco-world-heritage/
- Visitors can explore various home-and-garden sites as part of the Heritage Day program, including historic buildings like train stations, factories, and brewery cellars.
- The Carolingian Westwork and Civitas Corvey, a UNESCO World Heritage cultural site, is one of the key historic sites to be highlighted during Germany's Heritage Day 2025, offering a glimpse into Germany's lifestyle and cultural heritage.
