European Cultural Route

A European Cultural Route is a title awarded to cultural routes recognised as significant throughout Europe by the Council of Europe. The European Institute of Cultural Routes is the body established to help the Council of Europe co-ordinate the development of these routes. Some are developed as scenic roads for motorists.

The first route awarded European Cultural Route status was the Way of St. James route (The French Way) to Santiago de Compostela in Spain in 1987.

History and goal

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. The programme of the “cultural routes of the Council of Europe” was officially created in 1987 and is managed by an executive agency of the Council of Europe in Luxembourg since 1998: The European Institute of Cultural Routes. The programme is ruled by a resolution adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The „cultural routes of the Council of Europe“ aims at the protection, the valorisation and the transmission of the European cultural heritage as well as the cultural diversity of Europe. They also aim at the development of the intercultural dialog.

List of European Cultural Routes

There are two titles awarded: Major Cultural Route of the Council of Europe and Cultural Route of the Council of Europe.

Major Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe

• Pilgrim Routes
  • The Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela
  • The Via Francigena between Rome and Canterbury;
• Historical and Legendary Figures of Europe
  • Saint Martin de Tours, a Symbol of sharing
  • The European Mozart Ways between Milano and Salzburg;
• Influence of the monasteries
  • The Cluniac Sites in Europe;
• Vikings and Normans - European Heritage
  • The Viking Routes;
• Hanseatic Places, Routes and Memorials;
• Parks and Gardens, Landscapes;
• The Legacy of Al-Andalus;
• European Routes of the Jewish Heritage;
• The Routes of the Olive Tree;
• The Via Regia

Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe

• Rural Habitat
  • Architecture without Frontiers;
• Historical and Legendary Figures of Europe
  • The Schickhardt Route;
• Military Architecture in Europe
  • The Wenzel and Vauban Routes;
• The Route of the Castilian Language and its Expansion in the Mediterranean: The Sephardic Routes;
• Industrial Heritage in Europe
  • Route of Iron in the Pyrenees
  • The Central-European Iron Trail

See also

• European Institute of Cultural Routes
• Cultural policies of the European Union

External links

• Council of Europe Cultural Routes website
• Cultural Corridors of South East Europe: European Cultural Routes - Info and maps of most of the routes