Cultural heritage is vital for society, contributing to collective identity and historic awareness. The presentation depicts how political and territorial aspirations in border landscapes impact cultural memory and identity formation by highlighting the relevance of participation in archeological preservation along one of the oldest European border lines.
Changing border regimes impacted lives between Bavaria and Bohemia. While the Golden Road fostered cultural connections between Nuremberg and Prague since the 14th century, the same border interrupted the tradition with the Iron Curtain after WWII.
Cross-border public archaeology, a joint project of German and Czech universities, stimulates dialogue and raises awareness of cultural heritage by engaging citizens in excavations of a medieval urban estate in Bavaria and a village abandoned after 1945 in Bohemia revealing that border politics not only had diplomatic consequences. Here, critical public archaeology can contribute to multidimensional reflection.