AENEAS Reunited with the Land of His Birth
As part of the 62nd International Troy Festival, the exhibition “AENEAS ROUTE: Legend, Journey, Art and Cultural Heritage” opened at MAHAL Art, marking the beginning of its journey across Türkiye in the very lands where Aeneas’s legendary migration began. Organized by the Aeneas Route Association and curated by Giovanni Cafiero and Sandra Gatti, the exhibition traced the epic journey from Troy to the foundation myth of Rome, presenting the richness of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage to the people of Çanakkale.
In Virgil’s famous epic The Aeneid, the story recounts the Trojans’ quest for a new homeland under the leadership of the hero Aeneas, following the destruction of Troy by the Achaean armies. Also mentioned in Homer’s Iliad, Aeneas became, from the 5th century BCE onward, a mythical seafaring hero traveling from east to west, celebrated as the ancestor of Rome’s legendary founders, Romulus and Remus. His escape from Troy, the shipbuilding at Antandros, and the westward voyage have all inspired the creation of the Aeneas Cultural Route.
Officially recognized by the Council of Europe since 2021, the Aeneas Cultural Route is an international cultural itinerary that unites archaeology, literature, and nature, encompassing eight UNESCO World Heritage sites and many other heritage locations awaiting discovery. Its mission is to promote a form of “slow” tourism that respects heritage sites by following in the footsteps of the Trojan hero from thousands of years ago. Among its key partners in Türkiye are the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, the Troy Excavation Directorate, Edremit Municipality, and Çanakkale Municipality. The renewed certification for the Aeneas Cultural Route for the period 2025–2030 will also be presented at the 14th Annual Advisory Forum on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, to be held in Cappadocia on 22–24 October.
Coinciding with the exhibition’s opening, an international panel was held on August 11. Giovanni Cafiero, President of the Aeneas Route Association, emphasized that the route seeks to preserve not only historic sites but also shared values such as equality, solidarity, and cultural dialogue. Sandra Gatti outlined how Aeneas’s journey from Troy to the shores of Lazio evolved over the centuries into Rome’s founding myth. Another speaker, Fabio Morotti from UİLM University, presented AIneid, an artificial intelligence project featured in the exhibition, which reinterprets classical epics through technology. Morotti highlighted that AI is not merely a tool for generating images but a powerful medium for rediscovering myths and fostering creativity in education.
The exhibition and panel held within the scope of the 62nd International Troy Festival marked a significant step in promoting this universal legend—rooted in Çanakkale—as well as one of Europe’s most important cultural figures, Aeneas.
