Activities along the Saint James Way, including the project The Way must go on created with the support of the Council of Europe and the European Commission, were presented at the annual online meeting of the coordinators of the European Heritage Days.
This two-day event brought together national coordinators and heritage specialists from a number of European countries: Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Finland and France. The main topic was the results of this year’s theme “Heritage of Routes, Networks and Connections”. National coordinator Estrella Martín (Spain) praised the events held through the Jacobean network as a successful example of integration of European Heritage Days into the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe.
The Saint James Way was represented during the meeting by Oleksandr Vesheleni, Director of the Department of City Marketing and Tourism of Vinnytsia City Council and Technical Assistant to the Vice President-elect of the European Federation of St. James Way.
He shared the experience of the European Federation of Saint James Way in holding European Heritage Days along the cultural route. In addition to that, he spoke about the grant that the Ukrainian member of the Federation (Vinnytsia City Council) won in 2023 from the Council of Europe and the European Commission as part of the European Heritage Days Stories competition, which made it possible to implement the project The Way must go on and restore the Camino Podolico, put on hold in 2022 due to the Russian aggression against Ukraine. As a result, the gastronomic heritage of Podillya region was researched, a gastronomic catalog of the route and a series of video reports were published, and the communities of the route joined the European Heritage Days for the first time receiving an incentive to develop, work with tourists and pilgrims, build basic infrastructure, and most importantly, preserve and develop local heritage.
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“Thanks to the grant support of the Council of Europe and the European Commission, we were able to visit each of the communities on the route, to see how they are overcoming the consequences of the full-scale war and how they continue to preserve their heritage – especially intangible, because it directly depends on its carriers, the originators, who can pass on traditions to future generations, – Oleksandr Vesheleni noted in his presentation. – The topic of EHD-2023 “Living heritage” and immersion in the local gastronomic heritage was the best way to stimulate them not only to host European Heritage Days for the first time, but also to prepare for the resumption of the pilgrimage on Camino Podolico. As a result, in 2024, more than 300 people from all over Ukraine (except for the temporarily occupied regions) walked the route”.
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The European Heritage Days (EHD), a joint initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Commission, are cultural events organized by different European countries to raise awareness of heritage, both tangible and intangible. European Heritage Days develop and strengthen people’s sense of belonging and responsibility for heritage, emphasizing the relevance of human rights and democracy.
