Cultural Preservation Programme of the Federal Foreign Office

Since 1981 Germany supports projects around the world as part of the cultural preservation programme of the Federal Foreign Office.


Projects are promoted which

  • preserve cultural heritage in developing countries or
  • preserve German cultural heritage abroad, expect in areas of historic German settlement.

Between 1981 and 2007, around 1200 projects were supported by the programme, such as the restoration of historical secular and religious buildings or publications on the presentation of cultural heritage in 130 countries. An interesting example is the German Government’s financial contribution towards the funding of the Tongan publication “Songs & Poems of Queen Salote”, which was described by Dr. Melanie Taumoefolau (University of Auckland) as “the poems […] in this volume now are the most precious of national treasures of Tonga”.

Further information about the Cultural Preservation Programme

Luthergedenkstätten in Wittenberg

Fascinating World Heritage

Germany is strongly involved in the preservation of cultural monuments around the world. Now Germany has again been elected as a new member of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee until 2015.

Fascinating World Heritage

Ambassador Thomas H. Meister and the wife of the Head of State, Masiofo Filifilia

Digitisation Project in Samoa

Future generations will be able to access Samoa's history at the touch of a button. On  24 November 2009, Ambassador Thomas H. Meister, the wife of the Head of State, Masiofo Filifilia, and the Samoan Minister of Women, Community and Social Development, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, officially launched the trilateral Samoan–New Zealand–German digitisation project with an overall budget of €60.000 provided by the German government.

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Cultural Preservation Programme of the Federal Foreign Office