The European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards 2023 was held on Thursday in Venice. The Public Choice Award went to Via Transilvanica, Romania’s longest hiking trail.
Via Transilvanica is 1,400 kilometres long and connects 12 UNESCO heritage sites. It starts at Putna Monastery and ends in Drobeta Turnu‑Severin, where Apollodorus of Damascus built a bridge over the River Danube at Emperor Traian’s request.
The Via Transilvanica competed in the Citizens’ Engagement & Awareness-raising category and it raised the largest number of votes, cast via an online poll with the participation of some 27,000 citizens from all over Europe.
Daniel Toda, a voter from Romania, wrote: “Via Transilvanica is truly a magnificent project encompassing outstanding nature, trails and cultural heritage. This is the adventure of a lifetime, literally a time-travel to old Europe, to villages trapped in time, monasteries and medieval castles. Via Transilvanica is a golden string that ties all these pearls into an amazing experience”.
The Via Transilvanica trail is an initiative of the Tășuleasa Social organization, which activates for more than two decades in Romania. A website and a printed guide of the trail were also made available.
The European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards 2023 ceremony is the largest event of the European Cultural Heritage Summit 2023 organised by Europa Nostra in partnership with the European Commission and with the support of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
Europa Nostra the largest and the most representative heritage network in Europe, covering 40 countries. It maintains close relations with the European Union, the Council of Europe, UNESCO and other international bodies.
Photo credit: © Mani Gutau via Facebook / Tășuleasa Social
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