The first online Local Focus Group Meeting on 16 September 2020 was attended by Prof. Alexandra Busch (general director of Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum), Prof. Friederike Fless (president of Deutsches Archäologisches Institut), Prof. Michael Sommer (chairman of Deutsche Limeskommission) and Prof. Dreyer (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg).

Support for the publicity of the project was signalled, and a huge interest for media products for the museums was displayed; one of the outcomes of the first Local Focus Group meeting was that a travelling exhibition, which already exists in parts, should be offered to the museums on the Danube in order to accompany the project. Assistance was promised in recruiting volunteers for boat building, which is of course the centrepiece of FAU’s work in “Living Danube Limes”.

As a second part of the first Local Focus Group meeting a stakeholder meeting was held on 16 October in the Gunzenhausen town hall. This was attended by the first mayor of Gunzenhausen, Mr Fitz, Daniel Burmann, the head of the special purpose association, Wolfgang Eckerlein, head of the tourism office as well as Boris Dreyer, Alexander Hilverda, Christina Sponsel-Schaffner from the FAU and the local cultural representatives, Mr Sommer (chairman of Deutsche Limeskommission), Mr Gschwind (Bayerische Denkmalpflege), Ms May (Limesfachberatung).

After an introductory presentation by Boris Dreyer on the workpackages within “Living Danube Limes” (with the construction of the Late Antique Roman boat Danuvina Alacris in the centre) and long-term perspectives, the support for “Living Danube Limes” was reaffirmed from all sides while at the same time preserving the principles of historicity. The mayor announced that efforts were being made to support a 3.5 million project to create a new Limes Museum equipped with modern media in the town of Gunzenhausen. Supporting expert reports have also been announced for this project.