Maribor is one of the cities connected by the European cultural route of St. Martin, one of the most popular saints in Central Europe. The route connects his birthplace, Savaria in Hungary (now known as Szombathely) with Tours in France, where St. Martin became a bishop. Partner cities of NewPilgrimAge, situated along the road or their branches, are committed to safeguarding and via a 21st-century reinterpretation reviving this cultural heritage and promoting the common European values of solidarity and hospitality linked to St. Martin.
The idea
Cities and cultural organisations from 4 Central European countries – Hungary, Slovenia, Italy and Croatia – will, through NPA, be equipped with up-to-date knowledge due to specialised training, and will mobilise their citizens, most of all young people and small enterprises, to propose and jointly work out new creative initiatives to valorise the untapped heritage potentials (e.g. voluntary services in CH preservation and cultural tourism, digitisation, “reuse” heritage through creative and cultural industry). NPA will develop and pilot IT applications to promote the heritage-driven cultural products and services, thus also reaching out to younger generations of our digital age. The novel solutions will be summarised in the ‘community-sourced CH Valorisation Model’, replicable in any CE city with a similar profile or ambitions.
Partners, together with local stakeholders (from e.g. culture, education, innovation, community), will develop local roadmaps to define the next strategic steps on the way to sustainable CH management schemes, also empowering local communities. NPA will lay the foundation of a transnational network of St. Martin Cities, to be fostered by a common brand and a Joint Visibility Strategy, aiming at enhancing responsible cultural tourism contributing to boosting local economies and societies.
What are the main points of St. Martins route in Maribor?
The idea of solidarity and hospitality is more than appropriate for these times. Maribor and the entire Styria region are known by its hospitality and you will be guided from the vine hills and tourist farms on the outskirts of Maribor to the main cultural and historical sights in the city centre: Pavilion, General Maister Square, Maribor Castle, City Pharmacy, Plague Column, Jesuit Collegium, Slovenian National Theatre,… and much more. One of the main points that you shouldn’t miss, is the Old Vine House by the Drava river, with the oldest vine in the world.
The NewPilgrimAge project (NPA) runs from 1 June 2017 to 31 May 2020 and has been selected for co-financing by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the Interreg Central Europe 2014-2020 program.
The website and application of St. Martins Route through the Municipality of Maribor were created as part of the NewPilgrimAge project: https://maribortour.si/st-martin-tour.aspx
