About the Slovenian Cemeteries Route project
The 2026 Week of Discovering European Cemeteries (WDEC) centered its activities on the theme of Quality Education, aligning with Goal 4 of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Within this framework, the Chamber of Public Utilities of Slovenia (ZKGS), in cooperation with ASCE, launched a new nationwide initiative – the Slovenian Cemeteries Route Project.
Inspired by the internationally recognised European Cemeteries Route, the project aims to connect Slovenian cemeteries into a unique cultural and tourist network that preserves memory, promotes heritage, and opens cemetery spaces to a wider public. By bringing together sites from across the country, the route creates a single platform for discovering and learning about Slovenia’s cultural, historical, and funerary heritage.
As part of the initiative, cemetery managers across Slovenia were invited to identify three key points of cultural or historical significance at their cemeteries. This collaborative effort brought together more than 40 points of interest across the country, showcasing notable individuals, unique monuments, and distinctive landscape features of Slovenian cemeteries.
The Slovenian Cemeteries Route app
The Slovenian Cemeteries Route has been fully integrated into a dedicated mobile application hosted on the ARTOUR platform, a network that also supports the European Cemeteries Route. The digital platform allows visitors to explore the nationwide heritage map dynamically.
To enhance the educational experience, the application incorporates innovative features, including:
- Interactive map navigation: Providing optimized routes and real-time navigation across the mapped locations.
- AI-powered interaction: An integrated AI system allows users to engage in virtual dialogues to learn more about specific historical figures and monuments.
- Customized audio descriptions: Tailored audio narratives allow visitors to listen to local history seamlessly while walking through the physical sites rather than relying solely on screen reading.
Slovenian Cemeteries Route as a long-term initiative
The Slovenian Cemeteries Route Project does not conclude with this year’s edition. Instead, it lays the foundation for a long-term initiative. Through the mobile application, cemetery managers will be able to continue adding new content in the future, presenting important individuals, monuments, and memorials, developing thematic routes, and bringing visitors closer to stories that reflect the history, culture, and identity of local cemeteries.
By linking individual contributions into a shared national system, the project strengthens cross-border visibility and facilitates integration into broader European heritage initiatives. It also creates opportunities for professional exchange among public utility providers and cemetery managers, supporting the sharing of methodologies in heritage interpretation and digital documentation.
Through this collaborative model, the Slovenian Cemeteries Route is positioned to expand steadily, deepening its role as a reference point for cultural memory and reinforcing the long-term preservation and interpretation of cemetery heritage in Slovenia.