SPOTKANIE GRUPY ROBOCZEJ PAŃSTW REGIONU BAŁTYCKIEGO Wilno, 5- 6 listopada 2008 r.

The first meeting of the Baltic Sea Region Working Group concerning historical parks and gardens was held in Vilnius on 5 and 6 November 2008. The event was organised upon the initiative of Alfredas Jomantas, a representative of the Department of Cultural Heritage at the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture. The speakers included Piret Palm (Estonia), Maunu Häyrynen (Finland), Indre Kacinskaite (Lithuania), Kristine Veinberga and Gundega Linaare (Lativia) and Magdalena Lisowska (Poland), who presented the situation of historical parks, gardens and residences in particular countries. Their statements led to the conclusion that the cultivation of gardening and concern for valuable historical parks and gardens are not among the priority undertakings of the countries represented at the meeting. Moreover, the countries in question lack landscape architects specialising in the history of gardens and participating in re-valorisation, from the initial phase, studies, projects, and execution to continuous cultivation. The objective formulated by the working group involved the establishment of cooperation with the Baltic Sea region specialists concerning, i. a. an exchange of legislation experiences, work methods, endeavours aiming at the creation of a universal model of revalorisation, and a list of qualifications permitting work in historical gardens and parks. It was decided to inaugurate cooperation with a "TOP 10” list of gardens, parks and residences, accompanied by source information about the monuments in question. The participants of the meeting toured the historical gardens of Vilnius and its environs, including the Baroque garden adjoining the Sapieha residence and the Zatrocze and Landwarów parks designed by Edouard André, the celebrated European landscapist.