The regions and monuments selected as stations on the route display a diversity matching the multidimensional history and timelessness of the Via Egnatia. They include archaeological sites and monuments of every era, even whole cities or historic town centres, traditional villages, castles, museums, individual monuments, bridges, aqueducts and secular and religious buildings of various historical periods, from prehistoric to modern times. The route is also enriched with elements of popular and contemporary culture linked to the stations along the way. Seemingly heterogeneous elements of cultural heritage are thus combined in a single route to form a rich cultural network, a journey through space and time, which reveals to the visitor the vital role played by the Via Egnatia in the communication and exchange of people, ideas and cultures through the ages. The route was designed in such a way that it can be followed either online on the website, or by visiting the selected stations, at each of which the traveller is provided with information on the route and its monuments by special signs and a QR code.

The selection of the stations along the route and the production of informational material – printed, digital and information boards – was based on a scientific study to gather information on the Via Egnatia and its evolution down the centuries, as well as on the monuments, archaeological sites and regions along its route. Maps, images, historical and archaeological information, folklore and contemporary cultural activities were all collected. Signs marking the route and its stations in Greek, English and Braille were placed at the stations of the cultural route, in front of the selected monuments or museums. Information boards were also provided at some monuments where necessary to enhance them and improve the visitor experience, while small-scale on-site interventions such as cleaning, ground clearing, fencing and demarcation of the tour route were carried out as appropriate.

Finally, a website and a book were created for the promotion of the cultural route and its stations, which seek to present all the wealth of historical, archaeological and broader cultural information collected during the course of the project.

The stops along the route are each presented in a separate section, in geographical order and organised by Regional Unit, as they are encountered by the visitor heading from east to west. Up to Thessaloniki, following the course of the ancient Via Egnatia, which almost coincides with that of the modern Egnatia Motorway, the route crosses the Regional Units of Evros, Rhodope, Xanthi, Kavala and Thessaloniki. The route then splits into two branches. The first, northern branch follows the course of the Via Egnatia through the Regional Units of Pella and Florina up to the Prespes, including Kastoria, a city whose monuments today are a characteristic example of the cultural importance of the Via Egnatia and its role in the dissemination of various cultural and artistic currents. The second branch follows the modern motorway, which, adapted to present-day needs, extends further south and crosses the Regional Units of Imathia, Kozani, Grevena, Ioannina and Thesprotia, terminating at Igoumenitsa, the western exit of the Egnatia Motorway on the Ionian Sea.

The success of the project is thanks to the effective and coordinated efforts of the project team, both the scientific and administrative staff of the Directorate of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Antiquities who participated in it, and the contract scientific staff hired specifically for the project. The texts were written by the scientific staff, while the images are drawn from the photographs taken during the project and, to a large extent, from the archives of the local Ephorates of Antiquities, to whom we owe our sincere thanks for their overall assistance over the course of the project. Special mention must also be made of the assistance of the Directorates of the Ministry of Culture responsible for popular and contemporary culture, which provided valuable material for the relevant sections of the volume. Warm thanks are also due to the many other bodies, services and scientists who provided photographic material, including the Services of Modern Monuments and Technical Works, public and private museums, scientific and cultural institutions and organizations, ecclesiastical bodies, and the local authorities of the three Regions and 15 Regional Units crossed by the route.

Ioulia Papageorgiou,  Stephania Skartsi