The European Institute of Cultural Routes has been installed in Luxembourg since July 1997 and, since 1998, it has been in charge with ensuring not only the continuity but also the development of the cultural routes programme of the Council of Europe.

It was launched on the basis of political Agreement signed between the Council of Europe and the Government of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Its principal missions depend on a mandate and an administrative Agreement signed between the Institute and the Council of Europe.

general framework: two regulating bodies

The European Institute of Cultural Routes has the status of a non-profit association according to Luxembourg law and depends on two principal regulating bodies.

The Council of Europe entrusted the Institute to follow up the already elected routes, to co-ordinate and provide technical aid to networks, in particular in their development in Central and Eastern Europe, to initiate new proposals as well as to disseminate information and set up a database that will constitute the memory of the programme of the cultural routes.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg accommodated the Institute, placing at its disposal buildings and working tools; it also contributes in a very active way to the development of the programme through budget funding from the Ministry of Culture, Higher Education and Research. It also entrusts the Institute with specific missions, in particular regarding cultural tourism and reflections on the fundamental questions of European memory, and it allows the Institute to work within the framework of bilateral cultural agreements.

But as a private institution, the two supervisions demand that the Institute also fit in a logic of technical agency, whose activities of partnership and service must enable it to find financial independence.

Complementary logic

The Institute is thus at the same time:

A European public service:

• Which helps project carriers to seek European partnerships, to analyse actions...;
• Which ensures political and cultural missions: making concrete the priority axes of the policy implemented by the Council of Europe (European identity, multiculturalism, protection of minorities, inter-religious dialogue, democratic security, prevention of conflicts...);
• Which works to render more readable and more visible the regulations of the Council of Europe while applying in the form of pilot actions and exemplary practice: the Regulation of the cultural routes, the Conventions and Charters regarding culture, heritage, landscape...;
• Which carries out a work of cultural and observational vigil to better inform project carriers about the evolution of pan-European co-operation and cultural tourism;

But also a technical agency: Which establishes conventions of partnerships and objectives aiming at the implementation of projects based on multidisciplinarity, the involvement of public and private actors, the involvement of patrons and sponsors...; Which prepares studies and reports; Which prepares, assembles and produces exhibitions and publishes and co-publishes multimedia works or products...;