Europe has been shaping throughout wars and conflicts, which have affected the lives of individuals and communities. Although with variegated and sometimes contested results, Peace treaties have represented the major attempt to overcome conflicts and build on new basis the coexistence of the many European communities and countries.

• First of all, we want to bring the attention on Peace Treaties and the way they forged Europe by influencing the political, cultural and economic interaction between countries and communities. By focusing the attention on the resolution of conflicts instead of the war itself, our aims is to discuss the factors stimulating the transition from war to peace in different historical contexts. Peace treaties have often designed the framework within which the economic and cultural recovery could take shape, facilitating an enduring development or recurrent crises. Our conference want to discuss the way the peace treaties impacted the economic and cultural relation among European countries and communities.
• Secondly, Peace treaties are an example of contested heritage, with a multifaceted narrative coming from the conflicting storytelling told by winners and losers. Due to this dissonance, the place in which peace treaties were signed are a privileged context for designing cultural experiences teaching the values of peace and the importance of the European Union. By focusing the attention on possible narratives to tell the history and consequence of Peace treaties, our conference aims at investigating either the involvement and the real connection of people to these places and the collective memory of the people and public/private institutions of such places as Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).

This Annual Interdisciplinary Conference is part of a project aiming at designing the European cultural route of Peace Treaties, as a way to promote peace and intercultural exchange among the European communities.

• More information: http://conference.placesofpeace.eu