No matter whether touring Spain, Scandinavia, Germany, Italy or France, if you are in Europe during the Labor Day weekend, chances are you are near a celebration site on the European Route of Jewish Heritage.



From film to food, a vast array of festivals, tours, concerts, shows and lectures take place across Europe Sept. 4 to celebrate the European Day of Jewish Culture, also known as Jewish Heritage Day.



A time when the doors and paths of Jewish synagogues, museums, cemeteries and historic sites are open to the public, Jewish Heritage Day brings back the music, customs and art of people who used to live and worship in towns and ghettos from Rome, Paris and Madrid to Krakow, Oslo and Sarajevo.



Last year 263 cities in 23 countries held 880 events on the heritage day and often through the following week. The 2011 events will appear on jewisheritage.org. The website is operated by the European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage.



Past events have ranged from a visit to restored, centuries-old tombs at a Sud-Ouest Bayonne cemetery in France to Italian tours, one a Hebrew route through the art venues of Florence and another a trip to Casale Monferrato and its synagogue.



"The heritage day is a unique occasion to discover places that have played a major role both in terms of Jewish and local history, enabling visitors to learn about Jewish traditions and culture by visiting historic places that are usually not accessible," said François Moyse, vice president of the B'nai B'rith Europe Commission on Jewish Heritage.



Begun in 1997 with sites in Alsace, France, the Route of Jewish Heritage received Major Cultural Route status from the Council of Europe in 2007. For more information on this and other Cultural Routes of Europe, visit tinyurl.com/64qxe7g.