The Revitalisation of the European Culture Route in the South Baltic Area- the Pomeranian Way of St James.

RECReate

The Project aims at reinforcing the existing cultural heritage. We want to use the Way of St James as a new tourist product to foster regional development in the South Baltic Area and to mobilise local communities (especially young people) around the joint initiative. The Route of St James has recently gained importance (it was added to the UNESCO list of cultural heritage in 1987). The European citizens want to return to the cultural roots of Europe. The Way of St James is to encourage people to move through different countries and regions more slowly so as to discover their diversity and understand their specificity. This corresponds to ancient habits when people spent hundreds of days moving to Santiago de Compostela and at the same time were  exposed to cultural diversity, new ideas and development trends. The Route of St James also used to exist in the South Baltic Area stretching from Konigsberg through Gdańsk and Szczecin to Rostock and then continued westward. This Project aims at the restoration of this Route and joining the heritage of the South Baltic Area  with a broader European network.    

The main reasons for the Project are as follows:

• inclusion of the countries of the South Baltic Area in the ‘European family’ through the reactivation of the Baltic section of the European culture route,
• raising residents’ awareness, increasing their sense of identity and making them take pride in living in a place situated on the European culture route,
• strengthening the sense of responsibility for cultivation of history and tradition of this corner of Europe among the residents of this area for the benefit of all of European culture and in order to preserve the cultural heritage of the region,
• mobilisation of residents, regardless of their social and economic status or fitness, for the purpose of creation of a route running through the areas they live in by means of:

1. regional craft, their regional dishes and cuisine, traditions, rituals etc.,
2. taking care of historic buildings of cultural importance, customs and mementoes of the past etc.,
3. encouraging residents and tourists to travel across the regions, admiring the beauty of landscapes and learning about their cultural specificity,
4. mobilising the elderly, disabled and couples with small children who usually spend their holidays at home to participate in this form of tourism.