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Category: News (Page 1 of 3)
Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of The Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, among many other perhaps less well-known but equally fascinating texts, was also an indefatigable great traveller. From the north of Scotland to the Pacific islands where he ends his life, in the territories he has crossed, on foot, by canoe, with a donkey or by boat, communities and associations are trying to enhance the memory and the work of the writer and to promote his humanistic values.
In 2013, associations from Edinburg hand the Lothian region in Scotland, from Bristol, the Highlands, the canals of the north, from Brussels to Pontoise, the country of Fontainebleau and the Cevennes came together to create a European network “On traces of Robert Louis Stevenson “. In April 2015, this network was certified Cultural Route of the Council of Europe, a program launched by the Council of Europe in 1987 with the Declaration of Santiago de Compostela and which in 2018 included 33 itineraries, each of which they are crossing at least three countries.
This certification, which must be re-evaluated every three years, is a guarantee of excellence and the implementation of innovative activities and projects in five priority areas:
- cooperation in research and development;
- valorization of memory, history and European heritage;
- educational and cultural exchanges for young Europeans;
- contemporary culture and artistic practice,
- cultural tourism and sustainable development.
If obtaining this certification shows the interest of the project and the dynamism of the team that carries it, its renewal shows the success of its implementation and its development.
Since 2013, the associations that make up the network have developed many activities and the three countries behind this creation have been joined by Germany (city of Bad-Homburg). At the end of the demanding evaluation procedure, the Council of Europe has decided to renew for three years the certification of the network “In the Footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson” as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe.
This European association is thus reinforced to continue its joint actions in the direction of young people, actors of cultural and heritage tourism, artists, actors of the literary world, researchers and academics, by mobilizing all its members and partners, associations and communities local and regional The next important meetings will be around a festival of poetry and literature in Bad Homburg (Germany) next June, a literary stroll from Puy en Velay to Alès (Cévennes, France) in June 2020, and a cultural event around the memory of the slave trade in Europe and its abolition in Bristol in 2021.
Mini Gazette: Maroilles Three communes to animate the lock house of Hachette, Sunday, April 28, 2019
An article from the daily “La voix du Nord” announcing a recent event around the Hachette lock on the Sambre canal Sunday, April 28, 2019: Maroilles Three communes to animate the lock house of Hachette
Contributor: Stefano Dominioni, Council of Europe Director, European Institute of Cultural Routes.
Rosa Balas, Director General of External Action of the Regional Government of Extremadura and President of the Executive Committee of the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, has announced that the jury of the Carlos V European Award has decided to award the prize to the Cultural Itineraries of the Council of Europe because “they put into practice the values that we all share in the European Union, such as human rights, cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue”, and added that the jury also valued the routes as an “invitation to travel and discover Europe’s rich and diverse heritage by uniting people and places in networks of shared history and heritage”.
… ”this is the first time that a prize is not awarded to a person, but to a European programme that has served to turn culture into an instrument for better knowledge of Europe and of Europeans”.
The press release can be found here :- Press Release
Contributor: Christian Brochier
The path of the Cévennes and the history of its rediscovery, from its first integral waymarking (1977) to the (very) festive events that marked the centenary of the “travels in the Cévennes with a donkey “. We owe it all to the Club Cévenol, an avant-garde Association created in 1994 to publicize and enhance the Cévennes and the Causses, their natural and cultural heritage, to encourage the creation of economic activities and tourism respectful of the ” country “.
Articles on Stevenson’s vision of the Cévenols and Highlanders, on the author’s world aura, and the history of the Cevennes association complete this review.
You can order it online at the Jean Calvin Bookstore of Alès by clicking on the following link:
A presentation abut the publication of the book appeared in an article of the “Journal of Millau”:
https://www.journaldemillau.fr/2019/03/16/stevenson-et-les-cevennes-une-histoire-damour/
The following is an English translation of the article thanks to Odile Guigon our member from Mende:
Stevenson and the Cevennes, a love story
(Translated from an article published by Journal de Millau.fr on Monday, March 18th, 2019)
In its first issue of this year, Causses et Cévennes magazine honours the most famous “Englishman” (sic!) of the Cevennes: Robert Louis Stevenson.
140 years have passed since Robert Louis Stevenson rambled the Cevennes in 1878 with his donkey from Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille near Le Puy to St-Jean-du-Gard. Stevenson’s life and works and Le Club Cévenol have followed tracks which often crossed. As announced at the Club’s 1878 general meeting in Millau, this special issue of Causses et Cévennes –the Club’s magazine- is dedicated to the writer.
Stevenson died three months before Le Club Cévenol was created. As early as 1901 the Club published the first summarised French translation of his travels through Velay, Gévaudan and Cevennes. In 1978 the centenary of this walking trip was widely celebrated through various events which the magazine narrates.
A pageant evoking 1878 Cevennes with a dance and parade was followed by a huge banquet attended by numerous Scots wearing the traditional kilt. On that anniversary a new version of the account of the trip was published thanks to the discovery in a Californian library of the original school notebook in which Stevenson had written down the details of his walk. The present issue of the magazine describes the long and meticulous work which made possible the publication of the full text of the journal abundantly enriched by live testimonies and details about late 19th century context in our region.
The Journal de route en Cévennes published by Editions Privat and Le Club Cévenol in France and Mainstream Publishing in Scotland (under the title The Cévennes Journal) appeared in May 1978. The Stevenson path was signposted by Le Club Cévenol, Syndicat d’initiative (=Tourist Office) of Le Monastier and Association Drailles between 1977 and 1978 under the supervision of Raymond Senn, chairman of the Fédération Française de Randonnée (the main French walkers association). For the last twenty years, the path –now “GR70, chemin de Stevenson” (long-distance trail 70, The Stevenson Trail)- has been looked after by the Association Sur le Chemin de Stevenson. About 7000 walkers use it every year.
Finally, the delicious account written by Caroline Patterson for National Geographic is one of the many anecdotes with compose this rich special issue of the magazine –she wanted to experience the trip in the same conditions as Stevenson, complete with donkey and bivouacking. Robert Louis Stevenson contributed to make our region known throughout the world, Le Club Cévenol continue its defence and promotion.
Journal de route en Cévennes can still be found on the net (Editions Privat/Club Cévenol
Contributor: Christian Brochier
Robert Louis Stevenson is confirmed as one of the most read authors of all time according to OCLC, the non-profit global library cooperative.
The novels Treasure Island by RLS appears 5th and Kidnapped appears 71st in the ‘The Library 100’ – the list of most popular novels of all time.
Contributor: Bruno Siwiak, l’association “Au fil du temps”
Some news from Northern France:
The autoroute company SANEF will install new signs along the A26, the so-called ‘English Highway,’ of which one will be related to RLS, I let you discover with the link”:
https://www.aisne.com/actualit%C3%A9s/nouveaux-panneaux-sur-la26
Contributor: Andrew Brown, Canaux et rivières du Nord
Andrew Brown, a member of our European network through his membership of the Northern Canals and Rivers Network, passionate about Edith Cavell (British nurse who cared for wounded soldiers during the “Great War” and helped many Allied soldiers to escape from Belgium, it was shot by the Germans in 1915) is also passionate about a great machine, the “machine Robert” located at the lock of Hachette, on the channel of the Sambre, a video evokes this ancestor witnessed the heritage of the canals of the North. Note that the people of Maroilles have plans to create a “corner” Stevenson in the house of the lock keeper Hachette. Stevenson, another passion of our friend Andrew.
Film Youtube in French: https://youtu.be/1x1yx2rhpiI
More information (French) PATRIMOINE INDUSTRIEL WALLONIE-BRUXELLES
Contributor: Michel Hembacher, the Yvoir association
As a preamble to the 140th anniversary of a certain Robert Louis Stevenson’s roaming trip on foot -accompanied by a she-donkey carrying his belongings- from September 22nd to October 4th, 1878, between Le-Monastier-sur-Gazeille and St-Jean-du-Gard through the natural areas of Velay and Gévaudan, Mont-Lozère and Cévennes, eight visually impaired people decided to walk -without any human assistance- part of the route followed by the Scot -a mythical way which has now become the famous GR 70. ….
Contributor: Lucile Pantel, Cévennes
A late article but still pleasant and useful, published by the local newspaper Lozère Nouvelle, in its 10 January 2019 edition, thanks to the tenacity and pertinence of Lucille who wrote the article.
Certified Cultural Route of the Council of Europe since 2015. More information on www.coe.int/routes
Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe
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