Abstract
According to the Federal Act on Nature Conservation historic cultural landscapes and landscape elements have to be protected. Most important precondition for effective protection is an inventory of the historic elements as complete as possible. A selection of possibly suitable, already published methods has been tested using the region of 'Ferch', situated at the 'Schwielowsee' in the Federal State of Brandenburg as case-study for the inventory and evaluation of the historic landscape elements from a landscape planning point of view. Different sources of information can be used for the inventory of the historic elements in the cultural landscape, with particular value of historic maps beside literature on the investigation area. They contain area-wide information on land-use which can usually be dated to the time of map production. In the study presented the information of the historic maps was made accessible by translating them into specially produced maps. Further sources of information are arial photographs as well as knowledge from locals and on-site inspections supplementing the information sources mentioned. Listed buildings and objects were also included into the investigation since they contribute to the identification of ensembles and their contexts. Finally, the study recommends a methodical approach for the inventory and evaluation of historic elements of the cultural landscape and for their presentation in both catalogue and map for areas with similar available sources of information.