The “Greek Paths of Culture” of the Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage (ELLET) has won a Europa Nostra Heritage Award.
The Greek Paths of Culture network was voted tops from among 149 applications submitted from 34 European countries. The walking paths are already connected to 13 areas in the country, creating a 658-kilometer network.
The use of footpaths created over many centuries by Greeks connects amazing towns and villages, which creates a modern time portal for those who venture to walk these unbelievable paths.
A project of the NGO LLINIKI ETAIRIA, the Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage, the Greek Paths of Culture venture is the latest in a series of developments aimed at fighting for the preservation of the natural environment and the cultural heritage of Greece.
The Call for Entries for the 2020 edition of the Awards will be published in June 2019 on the dedicated website.
Greek Paths of Culture, Athens, GREECE
Greek Paths of Culture is an integrated, multi-disciplinary program of selecting, conserving, clearing, sign-posting and linking up public footpaths in areas of particular environmental or cultural importance in Greece. Its geographical scope is vast, with a total of 658 km of restored hiking and bicycle routes, many of them dating from ancient and medieval times, in no less than 13 regions across Greece. The program, created by ELLINIKI ETAIRIA – Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage, has been realized with a relatively modest investment. It brings together scientists from many fields (geographers, archaeologists, historians, teachers, ornithologists), institutional players and representatives of the business and tourism industries. Created in a time of crisis to provide jobs in rural areas, it extends the tourist season, creates new jobs, improves the health and quality of life of local populations, and highlights the local produce of each community.
The program, in different areas of Greece, has been supported by the A.G. Leventis Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Phokion Potamianos & family, the Centre Culturel Hellénique in Paris, the “Walk with me” crowdfunding campaign, the Konstantinos K. Mitsotakis Foundation, Fthiotiki Anaptyxiaki, AEGEAN, ELMIN company and Lord Butler. In Naxos, the monetary prize of the EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award 2018 for the conservation of Hagia Kyriakiwas used to fund the restoration of the Paths in the area.