The unique project St. Mary's Pilgrimage - Light from the East is entering its second phase. On the Slovak side it will bring other attractive products of pilgrimage tourism. Among other things, new educational training centres or cross-border thematic trails. The Prešov Self-Governing Region (PSK), as the leading partner of the project, plans to launch its continuation at the beginning of next year with a budget of approximately EUR 4 million.
In the Slovak-Polish border area, further activities will be implemented to promote pilgrimage tourism and highlight its cultural, natural, historical and spiritual richness, with an emphasis on the Marian tradition. The St. Mary's Pilgrimage project continues with its second phase, with a budget of 4 million euros. New products will also be introduced on the Slovak side at the pilgrimage sites in Gaboltovo, Litmanova, Ľutina and in Levoča on the Marian Mountain. The project should start in January 2024.
"At this stage, we want to continue mapping with our partners a walking pilgrimage route that connects important Slovak pilgrimage sites and is seamlessly linked to the Polish Marian sites. We will increase the number of visitors to the region with appropriate communication tools and create a comprehensive tourism product also with the help of small and medium-sized business services such as hotel management, gastronomy and culture. A new activity will be eco-tourism and a responsible approach to the environment, following the European Green Deal. In the near future we also foresee the expansion of the pilgrimage tourism product to include the category of cycling tourism," Milan Majerský, the President of the Prešov Self-Governing Region, presented the continuation of the St. Mary's Pilgrimage.
The St. Mary's Pilgrimage II will specifically focus on increasing the competitiveness of the territory of the Prešov Region and the Subcarpathian Voivodeship through an innovative, sustainable and smart approach. The resulting digital and practical solutions will facilitate the active exploitation of the potential of the border region and attract more tourists to both border areas.
The continuation of the project will support the upgrading and construction of tourist infrastructure at the pilgrimage sites, in the form of the creation of creative spaces as training education centres. These will preserve local customs and traditional crafts.
Another output will be the development of cross-border thematic trails, both in the field and in digital form, which will accompany the monuments of tangible and intangible culture of the PL-SK border region.
It should be implemented in the course of 2024 and 2026.The target group in the project will be individual travellers, organised groups, families with children, Christian communities, schools, seniors, scouts or pilgrims coming on pilgrimages.
Currently, the Prešov County has launched participatory activities for the project, and its aim is to obtain suggestions from the general public, which will contribute to the development of a unified concept for the St. Mary's Pilgrimage II and which will be used for the implementation of its activities. The regional government is carrying out a "collection of comments, questions and recommendations". It is being conducted until June 30 via an electronic form at https://lnk.sk/dmwp, or with further details at svatomarianskaput.sk in the St. Mary's Five and Participation section.
However, contributions can also be submitted in person at the parish, town and municipal offices in Levoča, Ľutina, Gaboltov and Litmanova. The database of active supporters of the project is open and a space is being prepared for their future involvement in its improvement and expansion.
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The flagship project of the Prešov Self-Governing Region, the St. Mary's Pilgrimage ("Light from the East"), has been supported under the Interreg V-A Poland-Slovakia 2014-2020 cross-border programme. The regional administration has been implementing it since 2017 together with twelve partners in the border region. On the Slovak side, the parishes of Levoča, Ľutina, Gaboltov, Litmanová, as well as the Innovation Partnership Centre and the KOCR Northeast of Slovakia participated in the project. It brought the restoration and reconstruction of pilgrimage sites or the launch of the 75 km pilgrimage route Evangelization Route.
Source: the PSK Communication Department, 14 June 2023
