"A historic garden is an architectural and horti-cultural composition of interest to the publicfrom a historical point of view. As such, it is to be considered as a monument." The Florence Charter, ICOMOS 1982.
Parks and gardens in the Baltic Sea countries are the result of a constant exchange of ideas, plants, achievements, inventions, scientific discoveries and fashions. The treasures that resulted from this interaction should be protected and used in a sustainable way. As part of contemporary life, they should also serve as a bridge to our common European past, present and future.
The garden art reflects the political, cultural and economic trends and movements of specific historical periods. Throughout the countries of the Baltic Sea region and around this area, we find a rich typology of gardens from the oldest sacred groves to "flower gardens" adorning front windows with traditional species, from monastic gardens to botanical and elaborated formal gardens, landscape parks, cemeteries and contemporary landscape designs. They all depend on natural features, local climate, predominant types of soil and genius loci in particular.
All these together make up an incredible potential for cultural tourism, but are still not sufficiently valued on a regional scale. Furthermore, the history of gardens and parks illustrates our close European links and socio-cultural interactions within and outside the region. These very complex and multifaceted examples of cultural heritage have to be carefully "reread" and cross-culturally analysed in the entire region of the Baltic Sea in order to reveal our cultural idiosyncrasies. This is especially true of the southern Baltic Sea countries that are still struggling to define their distinctive cultural features in the context of Europe and the world. They need to overcome the heavy Soviet legacy that alienated man from his natural-cultural environment. Due to their recent past, these countries have become easy prey for aggressive developers rapidly destroying historic parks and greenways or menacing their origins. Therefore, an exchange of expertise with the northern countries of the Baltic Sea concerning rising awareness of the value that historic parks represent as national assets is of urgency.
To establish a clear picture of the protection system through the entire Baltic Sea area, we need to bring together all the stakeholders and to exchange information on existing protection systems, legal and register-building principles, planning documents and the methods of work among the Baltic countries. Some have developed highly detailed inventories and elaborated forms of legal protection, whereas others need to improve their legal tools. Still others are establishing their own methods of protection by resorting to a combination of territorial planning restrictions and nature conservation. Some Baltic Sea region countries list their historic gardens alongside related buildings, while in others historic parks and gardens are listed in their own right as separate monuments. There are countries that divide this task among different organizations. In some of the countries it belongs to the competence of ministries of culture, while in others it is the responsibility of the ministries of the environment. This implies different attitudes towards the problem and the use of different methods.