The ongoing operation of Kultur Melk GmbH as a cultural office for the Wachau World Heritage Site and the establishment of year-round accessibility and year-round operation have been ensured with funds of Wachau 2010plus.

Some get you thinking, others make you shake your head – the projects from the fields of Art in the Public Space and Land Art, which were realised in the region within the scope of Wachau 2010plus.

Unique sacred buildings on both banks of the Danube decorate a landscape that has been marked by Christian culture for many centuries. The goal of the project was to raise awareness amongst the local population and visitors of the monasteries, churches and chapels and to make the buildings something to experience. To this end, a whole series of projects was implemented.

The loop hiking trail on both sides of the Danube connects existing trails and makes it possible to explore the unique landscape of the Wachau on foot. In this way, the Wachau can be appreciated from a new perspective on 14 stages distributed over approx. 180 varied kilometres.

The aim of Wachau 2010plus was to further develop the cultural and landscape gem of the Wachau by restaging its cultural and tourism activities in harmony with the people who live and work in the region. Doing so should reveal the special quality of this cultural landscape to visitors.

Information boards were developed and installed for the towns in the Wachau municipalities on the basis of an information point study. In addition, a standardised guidance system was devised and implemented in the form of the Wachau guidance system.

Under the motto "Less energy, more quality", 15 "light points" in the Wachau have been staged with an aesthetic and at the same time resource-conserving use of light. Unconventional places, such as Emmersdorf cemetery, are also being made "visible" as part of this project.

Almost all municipalities in the LEADER region have taken in people who have fled from war and persecution in recent months. At the same time, committed citizens everywhere are taking care of these people on a voluntary basis – both during the asylum procedure and after they become recognised refugees. This work is challenging and takes up a lot of time. Providing these committed citizens with intensive support can give them the knowledge they need to increase the efficiency of their work through networking or to assist them in times of crisis.

One topic that has preoccupied the region for many years is the lack of a crossing over the Danube between Melk and Spitz near the towns of Aggsbach-Markt and Aggsbach-Dorf. After several unsuccessful attempts to set up a conventional bicycle ferry between them, the two towns are now pursuing an unconventional approach: in the future, they could be connected by a cableway across the Danube.

...is an online platform for practical scientific papers on regional development in Lower Austria. Students and topic providers meet at a “topic market place”. This is made possible by the six LEADER regions of Donau NÖ-Mitte, Kamptal, Niederösterreich Süd, Römerland Carnuntum, Wachau-Dunkelsteinerwald and Weinviertel-Manhartsberg, for which the active search for diploma students is a major concern. The platform at www.diplomarbeitsboerse.at put the topics and issues of the regions/municipalities in contact with students and vice versa as a way of bringing fresh ideas and science perspectives to the regions.