On February 5, the WeGil Cultural Center in Rome launched a photo exhibition entitled “From the Via Francigena to Camino de Santiago: Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe”. It includes photos from the St. James Way of Podillya, which begins in Vinnytsia.

The exhibition is organized by the European Federation of Saint James Way together with the Italian region of Lazio and the European Association of the Via Francigena Ways on the occasion of Italy’s Chairmanship in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Deputy Mayor of Vinnytsia and Vice President of the European Federation of St. James Way Andriy Ocheretnyi, as well as City Council Member Volodymyr Onofriychuk participated in the event. 

Prior to the opening, the Ukrainian delegation had the opportunity to have an audience with Pope Francis, handing him a Ukrainian flag and a postcard with a sculpture of the Apostle James in Vinnytsia, which symbolizes the beginning of the Ukrainian pilgrimage to the saint's relics.

«Our sacred heritage and pilgrimage routes, which we are reviving in the new millennium, have survived wars, epidemics, border changes and even genocide. But few people could have believed that more than half a century after the defeat of the Nazis in Europe, there would be a need to bring criminals against humanity and aggressors to justice again. Russian missiles and Iranian drones continue to fly over the heads of several hundred Ukrainian pilgrims who set out on St. James Way from our native city of Vinnytsia. In sunny Odesa, UNESCO World Heritage sites are being targeted as well, – said Andrii Ocheretnyi. – Today Camino de Santiago, Via Francigena and many other pilgrim routes in Europe are the roads where people pray for peace and a better future for humanity. These roads make us face each other, heal our pain and wounds and give us new experiences. This is what our exhibition is about and it serves as a tool to unite us around the values of the Council of Europe».

The exhibition «From the Via Francigena to Camino de Santiago: Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe» consists of 50 photos and maps, which reveal the history and the present of the two most popular active pilgrim routes of Europe: St. James Way, Camino de Santiago (to the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela) and the Franconian Way, Via Francigena (from Canterbury to Rome). Both of them are certified cultural routes of the Council of Europe, designed to promote fundamental European values: human rights, democracy, dialogue, diversity and cultural identity. The photos show sacred monuments from more than 10 European countries as well as the pilgrims themselves. It is in this context that the exhibition presents photographs from Podillya, which, thanks to the efforts of Vinnytsia and 10 other communities in Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions, has an official branch of the St. James Way called Camino Podolico.

According to the President of the Lazio Regional Council, Antonello Aurigemma, «Thanks to this exhibition, we will have the opportunity to grasp an authentic and fascinating perspective of the experience, because these routes are not only geographical paths, but real inner journeys that allow us to reflect on our cultural and spiritual identity».