The Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe programme was presented at the second International conference “Cultural Routes of the Slavic world on the map of Europe” held in Saint-Petersburg on 15 November 2018, within the framework of the VII St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum programme. The conference became one of the key events in the ‘Tourism’ section of this Cultural Forum.

The participants were welcomed by the Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Alla Manilova, Minister of Culture of the Slovak Republic Ľubica Laššáková, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia Dejan Prešiček, Minister of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia Vladan Vukosavljevic, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Croatia Nina Obuljen Koržinek and Head of the Council of Europe Programme Office in the Russian Federation Petr Sich.

The main idea of the event was to share experience about cooperation among countries for the purpose of creating Cultural Routes as well as discuss potential projects. Head of the Peter the Great Institute Inna Sviderskaya presented the “Route of Peter the Great”, while Director of the Forum of Slavic Cultures Andreja Rihter presented the “Routes of Slavic women writers of the 20^th Century.”

The Federation of Russia has been a member of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe since 2011. At present, there are four Cultural Routes crossing the country: the Hansa, Viking Routes, Destination Napoleon and Iter Vitis Route.