Cultural Route of the Council of Europe

History

The Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe are the tools of the European Cultural Cooperation implemented by the Council of Europe with the European Cultural Convention in 1954. ^[7]

On 23 October 1987, the Santiago de Compostela Declaration established the Santiago De Compostela Pilgrim Routes, the first European Cultural Route. ^[8] From this point on, the Council of Europe has implemented a European culture and peoples culture. The certification criteria have been revised throughout the existence of the program, the last time was in December 2013. ^[9]

The European Institute of Cultural Routes (EICR) was set up in 1998 following a political agreement between the Council of Europe and the Government of Luxembourg . The EICR has been in charge of managing the Cultural Route Program since then, ensuring connections between the Roads‘ associations, its university network, the Council of Europe and the EPA. As a result the institute organizes several annual meetings between the program’s stakeholders, helps with the certification of new Cultural Routes, evaluates every three years the certified Routes or promotes the Cultural Routes.

In December 2010, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution establishing the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes (EPA). This agreement aims to make the program’s funding and organization easier. The EPA is based in the EICR and is periodically gathers representatives of the states that are more interested in the program who are empowered to certify new routes. ^[10]

List of Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe

Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe and their date of certification ^[11]

• The Santiago De Compostela Pilgrim Roads (1987)
• The Hansa (1991)
• The Viking Routes (1993)
• The Via Francigena (1994)
• The Routes of El legado andalusí (1997)
• European Mozart Ways (2002)
• The Phoenicians‘ Route (2003)
• The Pyrenean Iron Route (2004)
• The Saint Martin of Tours Route (2005)
• The Cluniac Sites in Europe (2005)
• The Roads of the Olive Tree (2005)
• The Via Regia (2005)
• TRANSROMANICA (2007)
• The Iter Vitis Route (2009)
• The European Route of Cistercian Abbeys (2010)
• The European Cemeteries Route (2010)
• Prehistoric Rock Art Trails (2010)
• European Route of Historic Thermal Towns (2010)
• The Road of Saint Olav Ways (2010)
• The European Route of Jewish Heritage (2004)
• The Casadean Sites (2012)
• The European Route of Ceramics (2012)
• The European Route of Megalithic Culture (2013)
• The Huguenot and Waldensian trail (2013)
• ATRIUM – Architecture of Totalitarian Regimes of the 20th Century in Europe’s Urban Memory (2014)
• The Network Art Nouveau Network (2014)
• Via Habsburg (2014)
• The Roman Emperors Danube Wine Route (2015)
• In the Footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson (2015)
• Destination Napoleon (2015)
• The European routes of Emperor Charles V (2015)
• Route of the Fortified Towns of the Greater Region (2016)

See also

• European Institute of Cultural Routes
• The Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes on the Council of Europe
• Cultural policies of the European Union

References