The 1st International and Interdisciplinary Conference “Places of Peace: Making Europe throughout Peace Treaties“, held online on June 30th, was very successful both in terms of the quality of the presentations presented and in terms of the number of participants.
The Conference began with an opening speech by the President of the Board of the European Network of Places of Peace, Eduardo Basso, who described the main actions of the association since its foundation and the prospects for future development. Afterwards, the Conference participants had the opportunity to view the promotional video of the “Places of Peace Route”, recently launched, which presents the current dimension of the Route and its main objectives.
An intervention by Ulf Müller, Vice-President of ENPP on the activity carried out around the Castle of Hubertusburg (Germany), where the Treaty that ended the well-known “Seven Years War” was signed, closed the opening session.
The first work session had as Keynote speaker, Patrizia Battilani, Head of Center for Advanced Studies in Tourism, Bologna University, Italy who presented an excellent presentation on the theme “Peace Treaties, Dissonant Heritage and Tourism: Challenges and opportunities” followed by presentations by Antonia Ceballos Cuadrado, University of Seville, Spain ( The Final Act of the Conference of Algeciras (1906) narrated by Jean Jaurès in L’Humanité) and by María Rojas Pavón and Concepción Foronda Robles, also of the University of Seville, Spain (Does the European Heritage Label contribute to the shaping of a Europe of Peace?), followed by a period of debate.
The afternoon began with an important presentation by Fabio Carbone, Lecturer in International Tourism Management, Coventry University (UK), & Research fellow at the Center for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University (United Kingdom) who addressed the theme “Give Peace a Chance.” The Challenges of an Effective Contribution of Tourism to Peace”. Papers by Sofia Lopes, European University, Portugal (Academic mobility. Bridging tourism and peace education), Silvia Aulet, University of Girona, Spain (Sacred sites as places of peace: a proposal from tourism approach) and by Anabela Monteiro, European University , Portugal (Tourism and Peace – What kind of relationship?) closed the 1st session of the afternoon.
The last session (entirely in French) took place under the general theme “History and Peace” with presentations by Ferenc Tóth, Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of History at the Research Center for the Humanities (formerly RC of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) entitled “Histoire et paix. Valorisation du patrimoine historique à Vasvár en Hongrie” and by Bruno Judic, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tours, who presented the paper “The figure of Saint Martin and the thème de la paix” .
The Closing Session featured small interventions by members of the Organizing Committee, Patrizia Battilani, Áurea Rodrigues, University of Évora and President of the Scientific Council of Places of Peace Route and Eduardo Basso, President of ENPP.
In addition to the speakers, more than 50 people participated in the Conference, mostly academics from various Universities in Europe.
The 2nd Places of Peace Conference will be held next year at a date to be announced shortly.
