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A Culture Route of the Council of Europe, sometimes referred to as a European Cultural Route, is a certification awarded by the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...
to networks promoting the European shared culture, history and memory. These routes must also match some fundamental values promoted by the Council of Europe such as
democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...
,
human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
and intercultural exchanges in the framework of cultural tourism. A Cultural Route of the Council of Europe is not necessarily a physical path to be walked through and can be made up of cultural stakeholders such as museums, municipalities or local governments clustered into one umbrella association. Being awarded the title Cultural Route of the Council of Europe opens the way to a larger visibility, network of cultural stakeholders or even funding. The programme was launched by the Council of Europe and not the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
, even though it contributes to it. As a result, the programme goes beyond the borders of the EU, and even Europe in general - as some Routes go as far as
North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
or the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
. The programme was launched by the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...
in 1987. It is based since 1998 in
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
, at the
European Institute of Cultural Routes The European Institute of Cultural Routes is a non-profit association based in Luxembourg whose aim is to help the Council of Europe, as a technical body, in the establishment of European Cultural Routes. It was established in 1998 and its role ...
(EICR). Since 2010, the evaluation and certification-awarding process is managed by the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes (EPA). In 2022, 48 Cultural Routes were certified as listed below.


History

The Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe are tools of the European cultural cooperation implemented by the Council of Europe with the "European cultural convention" in 1954. On 23 October 1987, the
Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...
Declaration established the Santiago De Compostela Pilgrim Routes, the first European Cultural Route. From this point on, the Council of Europe gradually implemented a certification of routes with a cultural, social or historical interest with a view to bringing European cultures and peoples closer. The certification criteria have been revised throughout the existence of the programme, the last time was in December 2013. The
European Institute of Cultural Routes The European Institute of Cultural Routes is a non-profit association based in Luxembourg whose aim is to help the Council of Europe, as a technical body, in the establishment of European Cultural Routes. It was established in 1998 and its role ...
(EICR) was set up in 1998 following a political agreement between the Council of Europe and the
Government of Luxembourg The politics of Luxembourg takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby the Prime Minister of Luxembourg is the head of government, and the multi-party system. Executive power is under the constituti ...
. The EICR have been in charge of managing the Cultural Route programme since then, ensuring connexions between the Routes’ associations, its university network, the Council of Europe and since 2010 the EPA statutory bodies. As a result, the institute organises several annual meetings between the programme'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 The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe ( French: ''Comité des ministres du Conseil de l'Europe'') or Committee of Ministers ( French: ''Comité des ministres'') is the Council of Europe's decision-making body. It comprises the Forei ...
adopted a resolution establishing the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes (EPA). This agreement aimed to making the programme's funding and organisation easier. The EPA is based in the EICR and periodically gathers representatives of some of the states that are the more interested in the programme who are empowered to certify new Cultural Routes as well as evaluating already-certified Routes.


List of the routes

This is a list of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, in order of their date of certification: #The Santiago De Compostela Pilgrim Routes (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 Routes of the Olive Tree (2005) #The
Via Regia The Via Regia (Royal Highway) is a European Cultural Route following the route of the historic road of the Middle Ages. There were many such ''viae regiae'' associated with the king in the medieval Holy Roman Empire. History Origins The V ...
(2005) #TRANSROMANICA (2007) #The Iter Vitis Route (2009) #The
European Route of Cistercian Abbeys The European Route of Cistercian Abbeys is one of the Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. Established in 2010, it is a tourist trail marked out in Europe, focusing on the European religious heritage, in particular the monasteries of the Ciste ...
(2010) #The European Cemeteries Route (2010) #Prehistoric Rock Art Trails (2010) #European Route of Historic Thermal Towns (2010) #The Route of Saint Olav Ways (2010) #The European Route of Jewish Heritage (2004) #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 Réseau Art Nouveau Network (2014) #Via Habsburg (2014) #
The Roman Emperors and Danube Wine Route (2015) The Roman Emperors and Danube Wine Route, with its Danube and Adriatic Trails, extends through ten European countries: Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. The Route ...
#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) #Impressionisms Route (2018) #Via Charlemagne (2018) #
Liberation Route Europe Liberation Route Europe is an international remembrance trail that connects the main regions along the advance of the Western Allied Forces toward the liberation of Europe and final stage of the Second World War. The route started in 2008 as a Du ...
(2019) #European Route of Industrial Heritage (2019) #Le Corbusier Destinations: Architectural Promenades (2019) #Iron Curtain Trail (2019) #Routes of Reformation (2019) #European Route of Historic Gardens (2020) #Via Romea Germanica (2020) #Aenas Route (2021) #Alvar Aalto Route (2021) #Cyril and Methodius Route (2021) #European Route d'Artagnan (2021) #Iron Age Danube Route (2021) #Historic Cafés Route (2022) #European Fairy Tale Route (2022) #Women Writers Route (2022)


See also

*
European Institute of Cultural Routes The European Institute of Cultural Routes is a non-profit association based in Luxembourg whose aim is to help the Council of Europe, as a technical body, in the establishment of European Cultural Routes. It was established in 1998 and its role ...
*
Cultural policies of the European Union European Union culture policies aim to address and promote the cultural dimension of European integration through relevant legislation and government funding. These policies support the development of cultural activity, education or research condu ...


References


External links


Cultural Routes on the Council of Europe website

Cultural Routes on the Council of Europe website (archived in 2017)

Cultural Corridors of South East Europe: European Cultural Routes
- Info and maps of most of the routes {{DEFAULTSORT:Cultural Route of the Council of Europe 01 *02 Council of Europe Cultural heritage of Europe Cultural landscapes Cultural policies of the European Union Tourism in Europe