The event “Preserving heritage, inspiring tourism: Building on the Europeana – Cultural Routes collaboration” will bring together representatives from two key networks in digital culture and tourism—the Europeana Initiative and the Cultural Routes of Europe—and aims to inspire participants to build strong connections and explore viable collaborations.

The first part of the event will introduce the two initiatives and highlight the strategic importance of this partnership in the context of the  common European data spaces. Next, it will highlight the practical outcomes of this collaboration within the Jewish History Tours project and present tools, services, example products and evidence-based recommendations for developing engaging touristic experiences with digital cultural content. Jewish History Tours is an innovative project that leverages the power of location-based storytelling to create engaging and high-quality tours on Jewish life and culture, dealing with pan-European topics, such as multiculturalism, persecution and migration.

Held in Périgueux-Montignac and Les Eyzies de Tayac in Dordogne, France, the 10th edition of the Training Academy on Cultural Routes has come to a close this afternoon. Marc Francesch Camps and Victor Sorenssen represented the AEPJ and the European Jewish Heritage Route.

The theme of the Training Academy 2023 was “Looking to the Future: visibility, cooperation and sustainability in the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe.” During three days of intensive meetings, the Representatives of 34 Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe exchanged their experiences and proposals in the management of their respective Cultural Routes to further increase the notoriety of the programme, which brings together more than 3000 members from 60 countries. 

Each of the themes, visibility, cooperation and sustainability, was presented by a working group that aimed to prepare the ground and present proposals to develop these crucial fields in heritage management.

The tenth edition of the Council of Europe’s Cultural Routes Training Academy, organized by Rock Art Trails, in cooperation with the Dordogne department and the European Institute of Cultural Routes, kicked off this morning, May 31, in Périgueux, France.

The program, as usual, combines different types of sessions, workshops and study visits. This year, there are three main themes that will be worked on by the representatives of the 35 cultural routes present: Cooperation, Visibilization and Sustainability.

On behalf of the AEPJ, Marc Francesch Camps, Project Manager of the European Route of Jewish Heritage, and Victor Sorenssen, AEPJ Director, represent our European network in Périgueux. In addition to actively participating in the sessions, AEPJ is the coordinator of the working group on cooperation.

BARCELONA—April 28, 2023

The Regional Seminar “Echoes of Reflexivity” held in Barcelona, aimed to create a safe space for discussing the role that Barcelona should occupy in the fight against antisemitism. Organized by CEJI and KigA e.V. of the ENCATE network, the seminar also proposed to promote discussion on contemporary history, recognize obstacles and best practices from a transversal and intersectional perspective, and advance the fight against antisemitism in various sectors, including education. The seminar emphasized critical self-awareness and the diversity of voices that live, fight against antisemitism, and promote Jewish life at the regional level in Catalonia and Spain.

During the second panel of the seminar, Federico Szarfer, Project Manager at the AEPJ, presented the European Days of Jewish Culture (EDJC) as a best practice in the fight against antisemitism.

LUXEMBOURG—May 10, 2023

The AEPJ has taken the last step in the process of renewal of the Council of Europe certification for the European Route of Jewish Heritage, through the hearing that took place at the European Convention Center in Luxembourg in front of the representatives of the Enlarged Partial Agreement of the Cultural Routes. On behalf of the AEPJ, Claudia De Benedetti, member of the Board of the AEPJ, and Victor Sorenssen, its Director, presented the European Routes of Jewish Heritage.

The presentation focused on the management model of the route, the European network that forms the route, its members, as well as its values and perspectives for future work. This hearing represents the last step in the renewal of the certification.

BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA — At a ceremony held on May 4th at the Museum of Jewish Culture in Bratislava, the Slovak Jewish Heritage Route, which includes more than 25 sites throughout the country, was formally incorporated into the European Jewish Heritage Route, certified by the Council of Europe. 

At the event, the President of the AEPJ, François Moyse, along with its Director, Victor Sorenssen, introduced the European network, the Cultural Routes program of the Council of Europe, and also reflected on the importance of this project, its potential, as well as the essential nature of cooperative work in the field of European Jewish heritage. 

Addressing the audience were the following figures involved in the preservation of Jewish culture and heritage: Director of the Museum of Jewish Culture, Michal Vaněk, as well as Maroš Borsky, Director of the Jewish Cultural Institute and the Jewish Community Museum in Bratislava, Founder and Coordinator of the Slovak Jewish Heritage Route, represented in the AEPJ by the Jewish Heritage Foundation — Menorah.