Kathlen Boal, General Manager of Visitor Services from the National Trust for Scotland and Michael Leigh, General Manager of the Historic Landscape Portfolio of the Sussex Region of the National Trust of England,Wales & Northen Ireland arrived in the Czech Republic this week for a two-week exchange starting in Kroměříž. Here they will be working with one of the CNT’s co-founders and project managers Martin Krcma on a project to reconstruct the Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach Memorial in Zdislavice and to address issues of revitalisation and use of the surrounding 2 hectare park. Martin Krčma will then travel to England for an exchange visit in November. As a result, the participants will design and implement projects to mutually improve visitor experience on each other’s properties, thus sharing their gained knowledge to the benefit of both parties.

The guests will of course also get to know the cultural and historical gems of Kroměříž and its surroundings.

From Kroměříž, they will move for a few working days to the Karlova Koruna property owned by the Kinsky dal Borgo family and then to the Loučeň Castle which is owned by the Šrámek family. Both properties are members of ANOPA (Association of Non-State Open Monuments) with whom CNT works closely.

The third part of the internship will take place at Rožmitál pod Třemšínem Castle under the guidance of CNT’s project manager Eva Heyd.

On the basis of these exchange visits (shadowing individual staff members) and jointly solving the pre-selected tasks, the participants will prepare a final report summarising the topic of their project, proposing solutions with specific procedures and further possible cooperation.

The theme of cooperation, exchange of experience and mutual inspiration is improving the offer and accessibility of European historic sites and monuments, better communication with all visitor groups and the economic utilisation of monuments and forms of self-financing.

At the same time, other staff from each of the participating Trusts are also setting off on exchange visits, including FAI Italia, Herita Belgium, National Trust of Slovakia, National Trust for Scotland and, of course, the National Trust in the UK.