“Since 2005, the district association of fruit and horticultural societies in the district of Reutlingen (KOV) has been trying to preserve the legacy of Eduard Lucas. This work will bring both the Eduard Lucas House and scattered fruit cultivation more into the center of Reutlingen and the region. I am therefore pleased to be able to present the association with a grant of 2,500 euros to support the organization and implementation of the Eduard Lucas Festival. The Eduard Lucas Festival in September 2024 will bring together all scattered fruit stakeholders and citizens across the country,” explained Hauk.
In 1860, Dr. Eduard Lucas founded the Pomological Institute in Reutlingen, which became well-known beyond the country’s borders and attracted numerous students from home and abroad. At the technical college with boarding facilities and extensive gardens, Dr. Eduard Lucs’ students learned the basics of fruit growing, and his working methods were considered representative of the ‘Golden Age of Pomology’, the 19th century.
The then first educational institute for fruit and horticulture in Germany existed for 62 years, until after the First World War, rationalized market fruit growing increased, which ran counter to Lucas’s efforts to record as many new fruit varieties as possible. The Pomological Institute fell more and more into oblivion after it closed in 1922.
The working group around Ralf Michael Röckel, the first chairman of the KOV, and Ulrich Schröfel is currently planning to convert Eduard Lucas’ former home into a museum and to breathe life into it again with various exhibitions and specialist lectures. The establishment of an information center for orchard cultivation is also planned. Lucas used the historic vaulted cellar in the former manor house for fruit exhibitions. With the help of the “Eduard Lucas House” support association, which is to be founded on the day of the Eduard Lucas Festival, these rooms are to be turned into a fruit-growing-related event location for Baden-Württemberg.
