As part of an agreement with ATOUT France, France’s tourism development agency, the French Ministry of Culture has shared a series of themed articles on the Cultural Routes passing through France to promote the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Programme. Chilowé, an online travel agency, has created four articles on the Routes crossing France, each highlighting specific aspects of these beautiful routes:

• 6 Routes for lovers of beautiful buildings
• 9 Routes for history lovers
• 11 Routes for art and architecture enthusiasts
• 5 Routes to discover France’s craftsmen and women

Each article focuses on particular categories of route, offering an invitation to slow travel, meaningful tourism and the discovery of the country’s rich cultural heritage. Each publication is accompanied by photographs and a selection of a section of the Route to explore, tailored to a range of interests. These four articles reflect the four main themes of the Cultural Routes certified by the Council of Europe: history and civilisations, arts and architecture, religious heritage, and landscape and crafts.

France has been a member of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe (EPA) since 2011, and is one of its founding member states. Today, France is the European country with the largest number of Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, with 32 Cultural Routes crossing the country and 14 Cultural Routes based in France.

Mr Bruno FAVEL, Head of the World Heritage Mission, General Directorate for Heritage and Architecture, Ministry of Culture, and Ms Orane PROISY, Head of the European Heritage Projects and Networks Unit, Ministry of Culture, are France’s national representatives on the EPA on the Cultural Routes.

Source: Council of Europe