This proposal, introduced by Spain in September 2000 in Luxembourg, when the Permanent Representatives visited the Institute, was jointly announced in Strasbourg in June 2002 by the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of Europe and the Spanish Presidency of the European Union.

Starting from a Spanish route making it possible to rediscover the road of a language from its first stammerings in the monasteries of San Millan de la Cogolla to the historical city of Alcala de Henares, cradle of Miguel de Cervantes, a proposal on sefardic emigration was developed.

a course in spain

Towards the eleventh century, a student or a pastor inscribed on the margin of a Latin text the first testimony written in Roman Castilian that we have to this day. They are the famous "Glosas Emilianenses" of the monastery of San Millan de la Cogolla, in the province of Rioja. Shortly afterwards "Glosas Silenses" were recorded in a monastery in the province of Burgos, at Santo Domingo de Silos. The universities of Salamanca and Valladolid gave imperial and universal dimensions to the Castilian, enabling the dissemination of the language.

But it were of course grammarians such as Antonio de Nebrija, literary texts such as Lazarillo de Tormes, Celestina or Don Quixote that brought its nobility titles, without forgetting that the conquistadors disseminated it into the whole world.

It forms the object of the publication of books, guides, and booklets and it has an internet site presenting the places and a calendar of events. An annual magazine is also published. Turespaña published a booklet in five languages; it presents this route in tourism shows, similar to the Ways to Santiago de Compostella or the Le gacy of Al-Andalus.

a mediterranean emigration

As Luis Alegre Galilea, Education and Culture Councillor of La Rioja, declared: "Europe, to whose composition Spain and the Judeo-Spanish communities contributed from its origins, and Iberoamerica, where Spain projected Europe by enriching it, will be the fundamental fields of this cultural Route".

The preparatory meeting for the European route held in April 2001 in Logroño wants to concretise, starting from the Spanish circuit as principle and source of this cultural route, an exercise in historical memory that makes it possible to reconstitute the roads taken by the sefardic people and culture in the Mediterranean region, since the 1492 diaspora to our days.

It was suggested that this cultural route be defined in agreement with the following criteria:

• To answer to historical truth, by avoiding any romantic interpretation of the sefardic phenomenon;
• To be clearly transnational, since the suggested route covers a geographical network that extends to the south of Europe, North Africa, the near East and part of septentrional Europe;
• To define the route with precision, so that it is visible and understandable;
• To have as aim popularisation rather than science, so as to promote the general public's access to knowledge about sefardic people, their language, culture, liturgical, musical or culinary traditions, and to develop cultural tourism along the roads defined as markers of the route. culturel sur les routes définies en tant que jalon de l'itinéraire.

A first circle of cities was selected in February 2002: Tetouan, prototype of what was the principal sefardic community of Maghreb; Jerusalem, Holy City par excellence; Istanbul, which symbolises the role played by the Ottoman Empire in the survival of sefardic communities; Salonic, a city called "The Pearl of the Sefards", witness to the horrors of the Holocaust, since 45000 out of the 50000 Jews of this city were exterminated, and finally the town of Sofia.

It was also meant to put together a database through continuous exchange among the Foundation of Castilian Language, the Council of Europe, and the European Institute of Cultural Routes. This database, which will be integrated into the cultural routes database, does not aim at gathering detailed scientific knowledge about the subject but, to the contrary, at collecting material and practical information necessary to the construction of the route, as well as to its interpretation and mediation through a website and a CD-ROM.

meetings of young europeans

A connection was established between the Council of Rioja, the Institute, and the network of Centres for European Culture to create a new Centre in this network and to assign to it as topic for the meetings of European high-school pupils "The cultural heritage of European languages: stake of the twenty-first century".

The fifteen day inaugural session took place on October 6-20, 2001 in Logroño, with young participants from Italy (Reggio Emilia, Bologna and Catane), France (Marseilles) and Spain (La Rioja). Other session is planned, while a monastery is in the process of restoration in Pueblo de Canillas. It will constitute a permanent reception centre for four to five sessions per year, and it will be dedicated exclusively to the cultural aspects of linguistic heritage and to Spanish language courses carried out in connection with Cervantes Institute.