The 1st European Cooperation Network along the Pilgrimage Routes was launched on 27 June in Norwegian Gjøvik as a rurAllure spin-off by the Way of Mary Association (Mária Út Közhasznú Egyesület – MUTKE), Via Romea Strata (Fondazione Homo Viator San Teobaldo  ) and Via Francigena (European Association of the Via Francigena ways).  

Its membership is open to the pilgrimage routes and stakeholders from the sector: among the first partners to join the Network is the Via Romea Germanica Association as its President, Thomas Dahms, signed the Memorandum of Understanding.   

This agreement reflects the cooperative spirit of European far-distance pilgrim routes on the base of the values of the Council of Europe – peace, democracy, sustainable tourism development and scientific research.  

This cooperation was also born thanks to the positive experience of “Pilgrims Open Horizons 2022“ – a collective march from Norway along the St. Olavs Way, the Danish way of St. James, German route in Schleswig-Holstein, the Via Romea Germanica, Via Francigena, Strata, Via Francigena in the South and the Way to Jerusalem, which started on 3 May 2022 in Oslo and ended on 13 October in Rome.  

Via Romea Germanica is a 2300 km long route of rural landscapes from the North Sea to Rome. It is part of the rurAllure pilot study on thermal heritage along the Ways to Rome. 

“Rural landscape is a strong part of European heritage: its strength derives from the people, – says the President of the Via Romea Germanica Association Thomas Dahms: – Local communities from rural areas contribute to the quality of life for all of us. We, Europeans, owe them the diversity of regional and local products, traditions, experiences, networks and values. A pilgrim with his or her own motivation to take the path crosses their fields of agriculture and culture. The effect of slowing down on a pilgrimage opens one’s eyes and ears to these contributions. The rurAllure project enlarges the areas of interactions with local communities and stakeholders in rural areas”. 

Those stakeholders are museums, which preserve local memory, as well as local authorities, associations, institutions, regions and countries that cooperate within the rurAllure. The Via Romea Germanica cheerfully contributes to this European project and the network with its many partners.