Exploring the Roman Legacy: Creation of a theme region and cultural route along the Roman Danube Limes to empower the socio-economic development of shared European heritage

The Roman Danube Limes, spanning over a length of 2400 kilometres from Germany to the Black Sea, is a prominent and outstanding example of a transnational heritage connecting multiple European countries in a macro-region. Its Western segment (Germany, Austria, Slovakia) has already been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 2021; its Eastern part (Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania) as well as the related Dacian Limes (Romania) are still on the Tentative List waiting for being incorporated in the huge transcontinental UNESCO World Heritage “Frontiers of the Roman Empire”. Thus, the Roman Danube Limes is a common European heritage that needs to be presented and promoted with joint efforts and following a common concept along its entire extent telling the story of the people that lived in the Danube Region 2000 years ago. It has not just been a border between the Roman Empire and the so-called Barbaricum, but also a pathway from West to the East and vice versa connecting the various Roman Danube provinces as well as the German tribes and the Romans during peace times. Several EU projects dealt with the Roman heritage in the Danube Region and its preservation and valorisation for a sustainable culture tourism in the past. Different tools and strategies for its promotion have been developed in this context and first steps towards a future European Cultural Route following the ancient pathway along the Danube have been laid out. The present project brings together the relevant Interreg DTP projects (Living Danube Limes, Danube’s Archaeological eLandscapes, Archaeodanube, ISTER, Transdanube Travel Stories) as well as the networks built up around them, and capitalises their best-of outcomes with the overall aim to create a Cultural Route embedded in a larger Theme Region and submit it to the Council of Europe for certification in the last phase of the project. Dealing with the Roman heritage within a larger Theme Region opens the possibility to on the one hand be able to expand the Cultural Route in the future, if required, and on the other hand to also tell the story of the hinterland which supplied the Limes line and therefore is an important factor of the Roman story-telling. As a first and crucial step a network will be established providing a transnational platform for exchange and participation for all stakeholders dealing with the Roman heritage in the Danube Region (political stakeholders of various level, local/regional/national authorities, national UNESCO commissions, associations, archaeological sites and parks, museums, archaeologists and other researchers, tourism agencies and initiatives, cultural mediators, other economical stakeholders etc.). A Scientific Board formed at the beginning of the project (partly already during its application phase) will accompany the process and support conceptualisation of the cultural route. A common interpretation and presentation framework for the whole Danube Region will be outlined and a joint branding strategy implemented to strengthen the coherence of the shared heritage. Existing information and tools will be gathered, and the gaps identified during this process will be closed. Various tools and formats for the presentation and promotion of Roman key sites along the route will be developed and installed (Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality models, Roman theme trails for hikers or bikers, visibility measures, Roman events, concept for a VR touring exhibition, physical promotion material, mobile app, website, etc.). All those actions taken, strategies outlined and tools implemented in the framework of the project aim at the overall target which is the creation of a Cultural Route along the Danube within a greater Theme Region and the submission of the same route for certification at the Council of Europe.