En Route to respect

Back on the map: Plans for the Route of Roma heritage and culture

Europe’s Romany minority lives in the cracks between other European nations. Whether that’s at the side of the road in caravans in western Europe or in urban squalor in the east, Romany people are one of the most common and most visible sights from Belfast to Bucharest. But our culture is still viewed as separate, distant and other. Few of Europe’s citizens would willingly venture into a Romany camp or the Gypsy part town.

The visibility of Romany people on Europe’s streets, is matched only by our apparent invisibility within European cultural institutions. But a new project being launched here in Slovenia aims to change all that. 

The town of Lendava, lies on a thin sliver of Slovenian territory wedged between Hungary and Croatia. It’s a remote and out of the way place for the launch of a pan European project aimed at putting Gypsy culture firmly on the European cultural map.

But in Lendava’s cultural centre, hundreds of Romany and governmental delegates from across Europe have responded to the call by Europe’s human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, to create a Roma Route of Culture and Heritage. They hope to create a tourist map and itinerary that will tie together many of the places and events that mean a lot to Europe’s 12 million Romany people.

From the horror of the concentration camps, to the hope of Romany communities that welcome visitors directly into their homes, the Roma Route will give everybody the chance to directly experience Romany culture across Europe.

Listen to this exclusive audio report from the launch

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Or listen through the audio player on the Travellers Times Online front page

For more information about the Roma Route, see:

http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/culture/routes/roma_EN.asp