About the Slovenian Cemeteries Route
The Slovenian Cemeteries Route is a national digital heritage route that connects Slovenian cemeteries — memorial parks, historic burial grounds, war cemeteries and places of remembrance — into one shared, mobile-first experience. It brings together the stories of the people who shaped Slovenia, the art and architecture of memorial spaces, and the green, park-like landscapes that make cemeteries some of the most underrated cultural sites in the country.
The route is built on the ARTOUR mobile learning platform and currently gathers 50+ points of interest, combined into guides created by cemetery managers, municipalities, public utility companies, museums and local heritage experts. Every point is geo-located, so visitors can simply open the app on site and let the route guide them from grave to grave, from story to story.
Why cemeteries?
Cemeteries are open-air archives. They hold sculpture, architecture, typography, symbolism and botany in one place — and behind almost every monument there is a biography worth telling: poets, scientists, industrialists, athletes, soldiers, teachers and ordinary people whose lives together form local history.
Across Europe, this understanding is carried by the European Cemeteries Route, a certified Cultural Route of the Council of Europe managed by ASCE (Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe). The Slovenian Cemeteries Route is the national companion to that European story: it makes Slovenian cemeteries visible, searchable and understandable — for residents, visitors, schools and researchers alike.
How the route came to life
The route grew out of the cooperation between cemetery managers gathered in the Chamber of Public Utility Services of Slovenia (Zbornica komunalnega gospodarstva Slovenije), ASCE and the ARTOUR team, which has been managing digital content for the European Cemeteries Route for more than 15 years.
A shared national initiative
Slovenian cemetery managers and municipalities recognised that their heritage deserves more than a static web page. A joint route makes each local cemetery part of a bigger, recognisable story.
Week of Discovering European Cemeteries
Every year at the end of May, WDEC opens cemetery gates for guided walks, workshops and school activities. The digital route keeps those discoveries available all year round.
Content by the people who know it best
Each participating organisation manages its own points and guides. Local knowledge stays local — while the route, the app and the technology are shared.
What you will find on the route
- 50+ points of interest across Slovenian cemeteries and memorial parks, each with photos, text and location data.
- Thematic guides — walks dedicated to poets and writers, architects and sculptors, war memory, symbols on gravestones, or the arboretum-like greenery of memorial parks.
- Stories of notable people whose work still shapes Slovenian culture, science and everyday life.
- Symbols and iconography explained — so a visitor can read a monument, not only look at it.
- Audio content and AI stories for selected points, turning a quiet walk into a guided experience.
How it works in practice
The route runs on ARTOUR, a platform designed for networks. Each member — a cemetery manager, municipality, museum or association — has its own editor account and inserts points of interest for the sites it takes care of. Those points are combined into guides, and guides are then added to the shared Slovenian Cemeteries Route project.
Content is entered once and reused everywhere: in the dedicated Slovenian Cemeteries Route app, in the general ARTOUR app, on digital info points, and on member websites through the ARTOUR API and the WordPress plugin. The same guide can also travel further — for example into the European Cemeteries Route project — without any duplicated work.
Who the route is for
Visitors and locals
Discover what is worth seeing around you, follow a walking route and read or listen to the story on the spot.
Schools
History, literature and art lessons move outdoors. Pupils learn by moving, with tasks tied to real places.
Cemetery managers
A professional digital presentation of the heritage you maintain — without building and financing your own app.
Tourism organisations
New content for city walks, off-season programmes and thematic itineraries, ready to embed on your own website.
Support for new members
Joining the route does not require an IT department. The ARTOUR team takes care of the setup and stays available afterwards:
- creation of your editor accounts and a short onboarding session,
- insertion of the initial content — three or more points per member — so you start with a working guide, not an empty screen,
- help with texts, photos and geo-location data,
- optional AI audio guides: improved point descriptions, natural guide-like narration and background music,
- integration of your points into your own website, and a custom-branded app if your organisation needs one,
- marketing and communication support, based on 15+ years of managing the European Cemeteries Route.
Become part of the route
Is your cemetery, memorial park or local heritage story still missing from the map? Every new member adds points, guides and visibility to the whole Slovenian Cemeteries Route — and joins the European network behind it. Read the invitation to cooperate and get in touch.