2008 Freiburg, Germany

For the second time, the European Stone Festival took place directly in Freiburg. Over 120 stonemasons and stone carvers from 13 countries came to Freiburg on the last weekend of May to showcase their skills in Eschholz Park. The European Stone Festival has enjoyed worldwide recognition for many years.

The festival’s reputation beyond the region also helped push visitor numbers well above 10,000, not least thanks to the already established “Stone Path,” which proved even more popular this year. The festival was especially family-friendly, with an “experimental workshop” for children, both young and older, where they could gain their first hands-on experience with stone under the guidance of experienced professionals and educators from the Friedrich-Weinbrenner Vocational School. The children’s workshop was so popular that the supervisors had their hands full keeping up with the youngsters’ enthusiasm and ensuring everyone had enough materials to work with.