The Secretariat is pleased to announce that the deadline for registration to the 15th Advisory Forum on the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe has been extended to 31 August 2026.

The Forum, themed Routes through Time and Cultures: Education for Sustainable Heritage, will take place in Yerevan, Republic of Armenia, from 23 to 25 September 2026. It is organised by the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe and the European Institute of Cultural Routes, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia.

The report of the 13th Training Academy of Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, held from 2 to 5 June 2026 in Pécs (Hungary) and Osijek (Croatia), is now available.

Organised by the European Institute of Cultural Routes in partnership with the Roman Emperors and Danube Wine Route, the Academy brought together over 100 participants from 23 member states and 30 Cultural Routes. The programme combined plenary sessions, parallel working groups and a cross-border field visit exploring sustainable tourism practices in the Baranja County. A keynote address by Dr. Karin Drda-Kühn examined the current challenges and opportunities facing Cultural Routes in a changing European landscape, from technological disruption and shifting visitor demographics to new funding strategies.

Participants engaged in facilitated discussions on network management, youth participation, visibility, the consequences of the war in Ukraine, preparations for the programme's 40th anniversary in 2027, and cooperation with universities. The Academy received highly positive evaluations, with 87% of participants rating the event as pleasant and enjoyable. The full report, including the daily programme and list of participants, is available for download.

On 10 July, the discussion "Cultural Heritage Beyond the Algorithm" took place at the LAMPA Conversation Festival in Cēsis, Latvia, bringing the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe and the European Heritage Label into a public conversation on heritage, tourism and European identity.

Participants stressed that responsible institutions must do more to raise awareness of these initiatives and bring their stories to life through local communities, including through songs, dances, workshops and other forms of participation. A key conclusion was that while algorithms can help people discover cultural heritage, travellers should also be encouraged to engage with local communities and use resources prepared by local institutions, which often hold the deepest knowledge of their region's history.

The discussion brought together representatives from the National Heritage Board of Latvia, the Ministry of Culture and the cultural heritage sector.

Latvia has been a member of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes since 2019.

The Cultural Route of the Council of Europe "Transhumance Trails" launched the pilot edition of the International Festival of Transhumance 2026, a constellation of coordinated events taking place across Greece, Italy and Türkiye between July and October.

Framed within the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP), the festival aims to raise awareness of the cultural heritage handed down through transhumant pastoralism and the ancient trails that for millennia linked mountains and plains across Europe. The programme combines excursions along historic transhumance routes, workshops in traditional crafts such as hut-building, wool-working and cheese-making, music and theatre performances, documentary screenings, exhibitions, and tastings of local food products.

The first edition was held in Kefalovriso (Ioannina, Greece) from 30 July to 3 August, followed by a second edition in Jenne (Rome, Italy) from 8 to 13 August, during which Rui Gomes, EPA Executive Secretary, addressed participants via video message. The festival will close with a third edition in Birgi (Izmir, Türkiye) from 1 to 5 October.

On 21 June, more than a thousand pilgrims across 16 European countries walked together for peace, undeterred by record high temperatures. From Portugal's Atlantic coast to the plains of Ukraine, participants set out on their local Camino routes at the same hour, observing a simultaneous minute of silence in memory of war victims and in solidarity with pilgrims walking through conflict zones.

The initiative, launched by Camino Europa Compostela, the European federation of 31 national Camino associations, grew beyond its organisers' expectations, drawing individual pilgrims and Ukrainians walking alongside established Camino associations. The Camino Podolico, which runs through Ukraine, held particular significance for the day, symbolising the endurance of the Camino de Santiago network through even the most difficult chapters of European history.

On 26 July, the Aalto Works series was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, bringing Finland's World Heritage properties to eight.

The serial property comprises 13 buildings and building complexes designed by Alvar, Aino and Elissa Aalto across seven Finnish municipalities, representing their human-centred approach to modern architecture.

The inscription strengthens the international recognition of the Aaltos' legacy and is expected to create new opportunities for cultural tourism across the wider network of Aalto sites in Finland and Europe.

The city of Nitra, Slovakia, hosted the "Nitra, Dear Nitra 2026" celebrations from 3 to 5 July, marking the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

The programme opened with the 10th anniversary edition of the traditional Cyril and Methodius Walk, leading participants from the Romanesque Church of St Michael the Archangel in Dražovce through Zobor Monastery and an archaeological open-air museum to Nitra Castle. Along the nine stops, participants explored the period of Great Moravia through interactive and experiential activities.

The event was organised in cooperation with the City of Nitra, the Nitra Self-Governing Region, the Diocese of Nitra, Constantine the Philosopher University and the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

At the beginning of July, the city of Nitra became the centre of celebrations dedicated to Saints Cyril and Methodius. As part of the "Nitra, Dear Nitra 2026" festivities, the first pilgrim milestone of the Cyril and Methodius Route in Nitra was ceremonially unveiled beneath Nitra Castle on 3 July, in the presence of representatives of the city, the Diocese, the Nitra Region and other partner institutions.

A second milestone followed on 5 July at the Valy hillfort in Bojná, during the 12th annual Cyril and Methodius festivities. The network expanded further in the Bratislava and Trnava Regions, where the Slovak House of Centrope installed four additional milestones in Devín, Svätý Jur, Smolenice and Kopčany.

All pilgrim stones follow a common design methodology developed as part of the cross-border "Cyril and Methodius Route" Interreg project, with milestones designed by sculptor Ľubomír Vavruš. Each marks a site connected to the Cyril and Methodius heritage, with its name inscribed in Glagolitic script.

The European Institute of Cultural Routes (EICR) and the UNESCO Chair in ICT at USI – Università della Svizzera italiana invite registrations for the 2nd Conference of the University Network for Cultural Routes Studies, taking place on 12–13 November 2026 in Lugano, Switzerland.

Titled "Advancing and sharing knowledge for a better Programme of Cultural Routes", the conference builds on the success of the first edition held in Santiago de Compostela in 2024. It will bring together academics and practitioners to discuss research on cultural routes, strengthen the University Network, and shape future research agendas in support of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe programme. Topics include ICTs and digitalisation, governance, rural development, education, tourism, and heritage.

The preliminary programme and registration form are available on the Council of Europe website. Registrations are open until 12 October.

The European Commission has launched a Call for Evidence on a new AI Strategy for the Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS), planned for adoption in early 2027.

The strategy will set out a vision for harnessing AI in ways that complement rather than replace human creativity, while safeguarding European cultural and linguistic diversity. It will address both the opportunities AI brings to the cultural sector and the challenges it raises, including copyright protection, the impact on creative jobs, algorithmic bias, and unequal access to AI resources.

The consultation is open to anyone with an interest in the future of culture and creativity in the age of AI, including artists, creators, rights holders, cultural heritage institutions, AI developers, researchers, public authorities and citizens. Feedback can be submitted through the European Commission's "Have your say" portal.