PRESS RELEASE: Via Belgica extended due to success

PRESS RELEASE: Via Belgica extended due to success
On Thursday 18 June, the municipalities of Kerkrade, Heerlen, Simpelveld, Voerendaal, Valkenburg aan de Geul, Meerssen, Maastricht, Riemst (BE) and the Province of Limburg will sign a new three-year Via Belgica covenant. Due to the corona measures, a playful twist has been given to the signing of the covenant. Cyclists dressed in Roman costumes will collect the signatures while cycling from the involved officials. The bike ride starts in Heerlen and ends on the bridge of Vroenhoven in Riemst.

Via Belgica covenant 2021–2023
Over the past 15 years, work has been carried out on various fronts to make the Via Belgica visible and experiential, the 400-kilometre-long ancient Roman highway that ran straight through South Limburg and connected the French coast with the German Rhineland. What began in 2005 with a vision — “Via Belgica, the past on the way to the future” — grew into a fruitful inter-municipal and Euregional cooperation in which archaeology and the experience economy are linked. In the new covenant, the parties express their intention to continue cooperating at least until 2023. “We want to make Via Belgica even more visible and experiential. Just as centuries ago, the Via Belgica must once again open up, bring together and connect.” (Ruud Burlet, Provincial Executive member for Archaeology, Province of Limburg).

Find your way in Roman South Limburg
The communication strategy developed in 2016 by Viastory on behalf of the Province of Limburg and the collaborating municipalities serves as a basis for making the archaeological story visible and experiential. Via Belgica focuses not only on the road itself, but also on the Roman past of the surrounding area. Under the motto “Find your way”, users and visitors are invited to rediscover the region. Over the past four years, a website and app with routes, stories, virtual reality, and a walking guide Roman South Limburg have been developed. In the summer of 2020, in cooperation with Routepunt, work will begin on the signposting of the Via Belgica long-distance walking route, which runs from Rimburg to Maastricht.

Strengthening and expansion
In the new covenant period, building continues on the solid foundation already laid. The route will be studied, entrepreneurs will work on attractive offerings, archaeological stories will be shared and routes marked. In addition, the covenant partners are committed to further cross-border cooperation in Germany, Belgium and France.

Download the covenant.