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Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue: Interpreting Sacred Stories
 1789241138, 9781789241136

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Tourism, Pilgrimage and
Intercultural Dialogue: Interpreting Sacred Stories
Copyright
Contents
List of Editors and Contributors
1 Introduction
2 The Semantics of the Sacred: A Tool
for Interreligious Dialogue
3 The Symbolism of Sacred Space
4 The Symbolism of the Built Temple
5 Images as an Embodiment of
the Sacred
6 Bible and Religious Tourism: Some
Cultural Proposals
7 Revalorization of Europe’s Natural Areas of Spiritual Value and Pilgrimage
Routes: Inspirational Tendencies
8 Interpretation Tools forReligious Heritage
9 Religious Tourism, Pilgrimage: Manifestation of Peace and Enlightenment in Contemporary Religions with Special
Reference to Islam
10 Does a Religious Tourist Need a Guide? Interpretation and Storytelling in
Sacred Places
11 Pilgrimage Tourism and Social Media:
A Way Forward in the 21st Century?
12 Transformation of Cultural Identity, Tourism and Intercultural Dialogue: Medieval World Heritage Sites in Serbia
between Cultural Monuments and Shrines
13 Llull, a Traveller in the Service ofthe Faith
14 Taking Part in a Pilgrimage by
Hosting Pilgrims
15 The Diachrony of Landscapes: A Way
of Sightseeing
16 Future for Religious Heritage and the
Benefits of European Cooperation
17 Updating a Romantic View? Ruskin’s
Mornings in Florence
Discussion Questions
Index
Back Cover

Citation preview

Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue

Interpreting Sacred Stories

Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue Interpreting Sacred Stories Edited by Dolors Vidal-Casellas, Silvia Aulet and Neus Crous-Costa

Vidal-Casellas Aulet Crous-Costa

CABI RELIGIOUS TOURISM AND PILGRIMAGE SERIES

Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue Interpreting Sacred Stories

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CABI Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Series General Editors Dr Razaq Raj, Leeds Business School, Leeds Beckett University, UK Dr Kevin Griffin, School of Hospitality Management and Tourism, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland This series examines the practical applications, models and illustrations of religious tourism and pilgrimage management from a variety of international perspectives. Pilgrimage is not only a widespread and important practice in Islam, Judaism and Christianity, but also in other major religious traditions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism. The series explores the emergence and trajectories of religious tourism and pilgrimage. Inclusive of all denominations, religions, faiths and spiritual practices, it covers evaluations of religious tourism and pilgrimage, management guides, economic reports and sets of represented actions and behaviours within various cultural, management and marketing contexts. A key strength of the series is the presentation of current and diverse empirical research insights on aspects of religious tourism and pilgrimage, juxtaposing this with state-of-the-art reflections on the emerging theoretical foundations of the subject matter. The series illustrates the principles related to religion, pilgrimage and the management of tourist sites. It aims to provide a useful resource for researchers and students of the subject, and increase understanding of this vital aspect of tourism studies.

Titles Available Pilgrimage and Tourism to Holy Cities: Ideological and Management Perspectives Edited by Maria Leppäkari and Kevin Griffin Conflicts, Religion and Culture in Tourism Edited by Razaq Raj and Kevin Griffin The Many Voices of Pilgrimage and Reconciliation Edited by Ian S. McIntosh and Lesley D. Harman Local Identities and Transnational Cults within Europe Edited by Fiorella Giacalone and Kevin Griffin Religious Pilgrimage Routes and Trails: Sustainable Development and Management Edited by Anna Trono and Daniel Olsen Risk and Safety Challenges for Religious Tourism and Events Edited by Maximiliano Korstanje, Kevin Griffin and Razaq Raj Pilgrimage in Practice: Narration, Reclamation and Healing Edited by Ian S. McIntosh, E. Moore Quinn and Vivienne Keely

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Religious Tourism in Asia Edited by Shin Yasuda, Razaq Raj and Kevin Griffin Islamic Tourism: Management of Travel Destinations Edited by Ahmad Jamal, Kevin Griffin and Razaq Raj Managing Religious Tourism Edited by Maureen Griffiths and Peter Wiltshier Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue Edited by Dolors Vidal-Casellas, Silvia Aulet and Neus Crous-Costa

Titles in Preparation Spiritual and Religious Tourism: Motivations and Management Edited by Ruth Dowson, Jabar Yaqub and Razaq Raj Dark Tourism and Pilgrimage Edited by Daniel Olsen and Maximiliano Korstanje Religious Tourism and the Environment Edited by Kiran Shinde and Daniel Olsen

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Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue Interpreting Sacred Stories

Edited by

Dolors Vidal-Casellas Silvia Aulet Neus Crous-Costa

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CABI is a trading name of CAB International CABI Nosworthy Way Wallingford Oxfordshire OX10 8DE UK Tel: +44 (0)1491 832111 Fax: +44 (0)1491 833508 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.cabi.org

CABI 745 Atlantic Avenue 8th Floor Boston, MA 02111 USA T: +1 (617)682-9015 E-mail: [email protected]

© CAB International 2019. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Vidal-Casellas, Dolores, author. | Aulet, Silvia, author. | Crous-Costa, Neus, author. Title: Tourism, pilgrimage and intercultural dialogue : interpreting sacred stories / Dolores Vidal-Casellas, Silvia Aulet and Neus Crous-Costa. Description: Wallingford, Oxfordshire ; Boston, MA : CABI, 2019. | Series: CABI religious tourism and pilgrimage series | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019003368 (print) | LCCN 2019013094 (ebook) | ISBN 9781789241136 (ePDF) | ISBN 9781789241143 (ePub) | ISBN 9781789241129 (hardback : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Tourism--Religious aspects. | Pilgrims and pilgrimages. Classification: LCC G156.5.R44 (ebook) | LCC G156.5.R44 V54 2019 (print) | DDC 203/.51--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019003368 ISBN-13: 9781789241129 (Hardback) 9781789241136 (ePDF) 9781789241143 (eBook) Commissioning Editor: Claire Parfitt Editorial Assistant: Tabitha Jay Production Editor: Marta Patiño Typeset by Exeter Premedia Services Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India Printed and bound in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

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Contents

List of Editors and Contributors

ix

1 Introduction Dolors Vidal-Casellas, Silvia Aulet and Neus Crous-Costa

1

Part 1 Conceptual Approaches 2 The Semantics of the Sacred: A Tool for Interreligious Dialogue Silvia Aulet and Marc Sureda

14

3  The Symbolism of Sacred Space Daniel H. Olsen

29

4  The Symbolism of the Built Temple Dolors Vidal-Casellas

43

5  Images as an Embodiment of the Sacred Roger Ferrer Ventosa

58

6  Bible and Religious Tourism: Some Cultural Proposals Joan Ferrer

69

7 Revalorization of Europe’s Natural Areas of Spiritual Value and Pilgrimage Routes: Inspirational Tendencies Josep M. Mallarach and Josep Gordi

77

Part 2 Strategies and Tools for Management 8  Interpretation Tools for Religious Heritage Maia Kanaan-Amat, Neus Crous-Costa and Silvia Aulet 9 Religious Tourism, Pilgrimage: Manifestation of Peace and Enlightenment in Contemporary Religions with Special Reference to Islam Tariq Elhadary 10 Does a Religious Tourist Need a Guide? Interpretation and Storytelling in Sacred Places Tomasz Duda

85

96

105

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Contents

11 Pilgrimage Tourism and Social Media: A Way Forward in the 21st Century? Elena Paschinger

115

Part 3 Case Studies 12 Transformation of Cultural Identity, Tourism and Intercultural Dialogue: Medieval World Heritage Sites in Serbia between Cultural Monuments and Shrines Tamara Ognjević

121

13  Llull, a Traveller in the Service of the Faith Gabriel Ensenyat

130

14  Taking Part in a Pilgrimage by Hosting Pilgrims Vitor Ambrósio

141

15  The Diachrony of Landscapes: A Way of Sightseeing Blanca Garí and David Carrillo-Rangel

149

16  Future for Religious Heritage and the Benefits of European Cooperation Thomas Coomans and Lilian Grootswagers

160

17  Updating a Romantic View? Ruskin’s Mornings in Florence Neus Crous-Costa

174

Discussion Questions

188

Index

191

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List of Editors and Contributors

Editors Dolors Vidal-Casellas, Chair of Gastronomy, Culture and Tourism CalongeSant Antoni, Laboratory of Multidisciplinary Research in Tourism Dolors Vidal-Casellas has a PhD in art history. She is interested in the planning and management of cutural tourism. She has started several Masters programmes at the University of Girona, such as the Masters in communication and art criticism, and the Masters in cultural tourism. She teaches on the tourism degree and the Masters in cultural tourism of the University of Girona. She is a member of two research groups: ‘Teoria de l’art contemporani’ (Theory of Contemporary Art) and ‘Laboratori Multidisciplinar de Recerca en Turisme’ (Laboratory of Multidisciplinary Research in Tourism). She conducts research in the field of tourism image, communication of cultural tourism, and managing of tangible and intangible heritage for tourism. She directs the collection on Cultural Tourism of Vitela editors. She is a member and representative of Spain in UNITWIN (culture, tourism, development) – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Director of the Chair of Gastronomy, Culture and Tourism CalongeSant Antoni of the University of Girona. E-mail: [email protected]

Silvia Aulet, Chair of Gastronomy, Culture and Tourism Calonge-Sant Antoni, Laboratory of Multidisciplinary Research in Tourism Silvia Aulet, PhD, is a professor in the Faculty of Tourism of the University of Girona, teaching subjects in the tourism degree and in the Masters in cultural tourism. Her research line is cultural tourism and, in this field, she has focused her research in two areas: pilgrimage and religious tourism and gastronomy tourism, both as cultural expressions, and has published widely on these topics. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal on Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, the UNITWIN UNESCO Chair ‘Culture Tourism and Development’ and the Chair of Gastronomy, Culture and Tourism Calonge-Sant Antoni, University of Girona. She has carried out several research studies both as an academic researcher and as a consultant. She has participated in several European projects, one of them being SPIRIT-Youth. Currently she cooperates with different institutions related to religious tourism, such as Montserrat Monastery, mainly organizing courses and seminars and developing research programmes. E-mail: silvia. [email protected] ix Downloaded from https://cabidigitallibrary.org by Ivanov Ivan, on 11/04/24. Subject to the CABI Digital Library Terms & Conditions, available at https://cabidigitallibrary.org/terms-and-conditions

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List of Editors and Contributors

Neus Crous-Costa, Laboratory of Multidisciplinary Research in Tourism Neus Crous-Costa has an MSc in tourism planning and management (specializing in cultural tourism). She is a lecturer in the Faculty of Tourism at the University of Girona. She also works freelance, coordinating and delivering training courses for tourist professionals and participates in online courses (MOOCs) as a lecturer and mentor. E-mail: [email protected]

Contributors Vitor Ambrósio, PhD, has been teaching at Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies (Portugal) since 1991. He also teaches on several Masters and doctoral programmes at other institutions. Prior to this he worked as a travel agent promoter and tourist guide. His main research interest is religious tourism: his PhD thesis is on religious tourism – the development of sanctuary towns. He is the author of the book Fátima as a Religious Centre for Incoming Tourism, and is also the author of several book chapters and scientific articles on religious tourism. E-mail: [email protected] David Carrillo-Rangel holds a BA in humanities from the Pompeu Fabra University, and an MA in medieval cultures from the University of Barcelona. He is currently taking a PhD in medieval cultures as Formación de Personal Investigador (FPI) pre-doctoral Research Fellow, with a thesis about Birgitta of Sweden and the order she founded, focusing on the transmission of devotional practices from Bridget of Sweden, as reflected in her Revelations, to the monastic order she founded, covering three distinct linguistic areas: Sweden, England and the Iberian Peninsular kingdoms. E-mail: [email protected] Thomas Coomans is a professor at the University of Leuven, Department of Architecture, and Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation, where he teaches architectural history, building archaeology and heritage conservation. Over 25 years his research has focused on church architecture: medieval monasteries, Gothic and Gothic Revival, missionary architecture in China, adaptive reuse of redundant churches, etc. He is a council member of Future for Religious Heritage, a member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) international scientific committee on shared built heritage, the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium, etc. His most recent book was Life Inside the Cloister. Understanding Monastic Architecture: Tradition, Reformation, Adaptive Reuse (Leuven University Press, 2018). E-mail: thomas.coomans@ kuleuven.be Tomasz Duda is a geographer, doctor of earth sciences and a longtime employee in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Szczecin, Poland. He is assistant professor in the Institute of Socio-Economic Geography, Tourism and Recreation Unit, engaged in research and teaching work on the geography of tourism, cultural, sustainable and natural tourism, and interpretation of cultural and religious heritage. He is author of more than 50 scientific and popular publications on religious tourism, pilgrimage, and regional cultural and heritage tourism. For over 20 years he has been an active licensed tourist guide and tour leader specializing in the Pomerania region (north-west Poland and north-east Germany), Berlin, Scandinavia and Catalonia. E-mail: tomasz. [email protected] Tariq Elhadary has extensive experience in the field of teaching English language and academic advising in the Gulf region. He has been working as a TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) teacher at all levels for more than 20 years, and as a lecturer in Ajman University for 6 years. He is familiar with the educational system in the Gulf and talented in dealing with and motivating students from the Gulf region. At present he is Acting Head of Admission and University Preparation Unit and Academic Advisor – ESL (English as a second language) at the Scholarships Office/Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Abu Dhabi. E-mail: [email protected] Gabriel Ensenyat is a professor in the Department of Catalan Philology and General Linguistics of Universitat de les Illes Balears) and has a doctorate in medieval history. He centres his teaching and research in the field of the history of medieval Catalan culture and literature. He is the

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List of Editors and Contributors

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author of more than 70 articles on this subject, in national and international journals, and has participated in about 50 conferences. He is the author or co-author of 25 books. Between the different positions that he has occupied he has also been secretary of the Lulian Archaeological Society. He is also a magister of the Maioricensis Schola Lullistica. In 2008 he was awarded the Emili Darder prize of the Obra Cultural Balear (Mallorca). E-mail: [email protected] Joan Ferrer (Calella, Barcelona, 1960), PhD in semitic philology, is full professor of philology at the University of Girona. He is a Hebraist and a Bible scholar. He has been a translator of the Bible into Catalan. He was a disciple of and collaborated with the great philologist Joan Corominas. He has written several books on Semitic philology (Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac) and on Catalan philology. E-mail: [email protected] Roger Ferrer Ventosa is a doctoral candidate with an FPU contract (university staff formation grant funded by the Spanish Minister of Education, Culture and Sports) at the University of Girona. He is a graduate in history of art and cultural communication, and has a Masters in cultural studies from the University of Girona. He has conducted studies on the fantasy genre and the representation of time and space in contemporary cinema. In his thesis, he has investigated the links between art theory, images, the visual culture and magical ways of thinking. E-mail: [email protected] Blanca Garí was trained as a medievalist in Barcelona, Paris and Genoa. She has a PhD in history from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Throughout her professional career she has developed several lines of research but, above all, for more than 20 years, she has worked in the field of medieval spirituality, especially in the field of female religiosity. She has participated in national and international projects and has directed many research projects and doctoral theses related to the subject. She is currently coordinator of the SGR MAHPA-Research Group concerned with medieval studies of art, history, palaeography and archeology (2014 SGR 794); the principal investigator of the CLAUSTRA project ‘Atlas of Female Spirituality of the Peninsular Kingdoms’ (HAR2011-25127); and part of the New Communities of Interpretation Project Management Committee, ‘Contexts, Strategies and Processes of Religious Transformation in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe’ led by the University of Groningen (COST-Action IS1301). E-mail: [email protected] Josep Gordi holds a degree in geography and history from the University of Barcelona, a PhD in geography from the same university, and a Masters in regional, urban and metropolitan studies at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He has been a professor of geography at the University of Girona since 1990. Within the framework of the University of Girona, in research, he is devoted, above all, to the study of the relationships established between society and the forest and the territorial planning from an environmental and landscape point of view. E-mail: josep. [email protected] Lilian Grootswagers is the owner of Erfgoed.nu – her aim is to give heritage buildings a purpose in today’s society. This requires an integrated approach. She is a council member of Future for Religious Heritage (FRH), a non-faith European-wide organization on places of worship; the vicechair of Task Force Toekomst Kerkgebouwen, a national and independent citizen’s movement in The Netherlands aiming to re-establish religious buildings as living elements of the urban and rural landscape and communities; and a partner in Europetour vocational training in cultural tourism for European heritage in rural areas. She has authored and published several guidelines and handbooks on heritage conservation. E-mail: [email protected] Maia Kanaan-Amat holds a degree in history of art and a Masters in introduction to research in humanities from the University of Girona. After combining several jobs in the field of cultural management, she took a Masters in cultural management at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). She has worked in the coordination and production of several festivals, including the MOT, Girona and Olot literature festival; Sismògraf, dance festival in Olot; Week of the Book in Catalan; and the Fringe Festival, amongst others. E-mail: [email protected] Josep M. Mallarach is an independent environmental consultant. He has a doctorate in biology, a Masters in environmental sciences and a degree in geology. His doctoral thesis is entitled ‘Improving the effectiveness of protected natural spaces: Identification, recognition and

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List of Editors and Contributors

integration of cultural values and spiritual in the protected natural spaces of Europe’. He is an international consultant in this field for various organizations, such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and UNESCO (Natural or Mixed World Heritage Sites Program of Religious Interest). Since 2005, he has been coordinating the initiative IUCN Delos, with Thymio Papayannis, on sacred natural spaces in technologically developed countries. He is an advisor to the Catalan Cultural Heritage Agency and a member of the conservation commission of Comissió d’Ètica de la Xarxa de Custòdia del Territori. E-mail: [email protected] Tamara Ognjević, art historian and writer, is director and a co-founder of Artis Center (Belgrade, Serbia). She has a Masters in art history from the Faculty of Philosophy at Belgrade University and she is currently pursuing her doctoral studies in the field of culture and media management at the Drama Faculty at Belgrade University of Arts. Tamara Ognjević is the author of numerous essays, studies, articles, literary criticism, theoretical papers and books in the field of history of arts, communications, tourism and gastronomy heritage. She is the founder of gastroheritology – a new synthetic scientific discipline that is supported by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and UNESCO as an innovative approach to research intangible heritage. As a curator, lecturer and manager in the culture industries – with expertise in PR and marketing of heritage, fine and applied arts – she is the author of diversified creative projects ranging from author’s exhibitions and multimedia programmes to an authentic art and study concept in the field of cultural and creative tourism. E-mail: [email protected] Daniel H. Olsen’s research interests revolve around religious and spiritual tourism, heritage tourism and the management of sacred sites, with secondary research interests in tourism in peripheral areas and tourism and disabilities. He is co-editor of Religion, Tourism and Spiritual Journeys (Routledge, 2006) and Religious Pilgrimage Routes and Trails (CABI, 2018), and has published over 40 journal articles and book chapters. E-mail: [email protected] Elena Paschinger is a tourism management graduate from Austria turned travel writer, teacher, business consultant and public speaker. Tracking the exponential growth of creative travel around the world, she has actively participated in developing and promoting creative destinations through her international consulting business. Her most recent achievements include moderating an international panel discussion on creative travel and community development for the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) at ITB Trade Show in Berlin, as well as publishing her first book, The Creative Traveler’s Handbook (Full Flight Press, 2015). Her bilingual blog, Creativelena.com, is as much a personal blog chronicling creative travel as it is a resource website for travel businesses. E-mail: [email protected] Marc Sureda (Girona, 1976) is curator at the Museu Episcopal de Vic (Barcelona, Spain). Formerly a lecturer in history, heritage and tourism at the University of Girona, he is currently director of the Institut Superior de Ciències Religioses de Vic and lecturer on history of medieval art at the Facultat Antoni Gaudí d’Història de l’Església, Arqueologia i Arts Cristianes (Ateneu Sant Pacià, Barcelona). He is a founding member of the TEMPLA research team and also a member of the Societat Catalana d’Estudis Litúrgics. His research has mainly focused on the relationship between liturgy and medieval architecture in Catalonia, the liturgical sources of the Middle Ages, the Romanesque and Gothic liturgical furniture, antique and medieval archeology, and the history of museology. E-mail: [email protected]

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1 Introduction 1

Dolores Vidal-Casellas1, Silvia Aulet2 and Neus Crous-Costa2* Chair Gastronomy, Culture and Tourism Calonge-Sant Antoni, University of Girona, Spain; 2Faculty of Tourism, University of Girona, Spain

If we harbor prejudice it will be the cause of deprivation and ignorance. The strife between religions, nations and races arises from misunderstanding. (Abdu’l-Baha; in Esslemont (1980 [1950]), p. 76)

Tourism, Peace and Mutual Understanding According to estimates from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 2014) between 300 and 330 million tourists visit the world’s key religious sites every year. These numbers introduce the press release about the first UNWTO conference on religious tourism, held in 2014. During the second of these conferences, held in 2015 in Palestine, on the topic ‘Fostering Sustainable Socio-Economic Development for Host Communities’, the Bethlehem Declaration was issued. Recommendations 4: [To] Promote the valuable contribution of pilgrimages and religious tourism to intercultural and interfaith dialogue and understanding, universal respect for the spiritual values of humanity and socioeconomic development. (UNWTO, 2015)

and 8: [To] Develop religious tourism routes, crosscountry pilgrimages and networks of religious tourism destinations, as effective means to foster

development and integration, cross/cultural exchanges and understanding as well as selfeducation and learning. (UNWTO, 2015)

are unambiguously relevant to the topic of this book. Beyond mere tolerance, the need for cultural and religious understanding has been acknowledged by several scholars and world leaders, especially after World War II. One of the actions taken to this purpose was the creation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which describes itself as an agency created … in order to respond to the firm belief of nations, forged by two world wars in less than a generation, that political and economic agreements are not enough to build a lasting peace. Peace must be established on the basis of humanity’s moral and intellectual solidarity. (UNESCO, 2016)

Although UNESCO’s mission is basically related to culture, science and education, over time it has acknowledged the relevance of tourism in the management of heritage places, and World Heritage Sites in particular. Notwithstanding this particular focus, it also recognizes tourism as a tool for (indigenous) development and as a powerful vehicle for intercultural dialogue at a worldwide level. Today, six Chairs and University Twinning and Networking (UNITWIN) networks exist acting directly in the field of travel and tourism: in heritage and sustainable tourism (based in Amman),

*Corresponding author: ​neus.​crous@​udg.​edu © CAB International 2019. Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue: Interpreting Sacred Stories (eds D. Vidal-Casellas et al.)

1

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D. Vidal-Casellas et al.

cultural tourism for peace development (Moscow), cultural heritage and tourism (Salzburg), culture tourism and development (Paris), tourism planning and sustainable development (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) and cultural tourism (Buenos Aires) (UNESCO, 2015). Initiatives to create a true feeling of unity in humankind at that time were not restricted to the institutional level. In 1983 a group of Japanese university students started to travel around the Asia-Pacific region, and later the world, to erase the image of their society created by the war, as well as to meet and befriend people from countries around the world. Known as the Peace Boat (Peace Boat, 2010), this cruise ship still departs several times a year, and the programme on board includes lectures on several socio-political subjects as well as language courses. In the late 1980s tourism in itself was officially recognized as a potential factor for world peace. In 1988 announcements of the upcoming conference ‘Tourism: A Vital Force for Peace’ (organized by the International Institute for Peace through Tourism) were published in several academic journals, namely Tourism Recreation Research and the Annals of Tourism Research. These included quotes from the Pope and other religious leaders underlining the role of tourism in religious sites as a tool for mutual understanding rather than indoctrination. Built on the Manila Declaration (1980), the conference was grounded on the realization that beyond the economic importance of the travel industry, (international) tourism played a crucial role in promoting truth and understanding amongst people of different cultures (D’Amore, 1988a). Hence, the so-called ‘distant other’ can be appreciated as a human being in spite of the obvious diversity of races, colours, religions and socio-economic statuses. As the same author acknowledges, the lack of trust is fuelled by isolation (D’Amore, 1988b). This particular attribute of tourism was again recognized in the Amman Declaration on Peace through Tourism (2000) (Edgell, 2016). Other authors, however, foster the opposite idea: while the (possible) contribution of tourism to global understanding is accepted, first and foremost peace, in the sense of safety,

is a necessary condition for the travel industry (Litvin, 1998). Inasmuch as tourism is capable of making travellers, fellow travellers and hosts connect to one another, and to other realities, its ability to create settings for multicultural dialogue is undeniable. The capacity of the stakeholders to decode behaviours and other signs they find in their destinations, or those brought by tourists, is of paramount importance to ensure a real act of understanding takes place, instead of the consolidation of stereotypes. Still we have to keep in mind that even today 40% of religious travels ((UNWTO, 2014) take place in Europe. And most international travellers still come from the so-called Western world, even if other nationalities are growing steadily in terms of outbound tourism. This creates a scenario in which the world’s sites have to be thought and designed to be understandable by this market segment. But we must not forget, the Old World in particular is rich in religious places and sights, and secularization has left a great part of its population unable to properly and meaningfully understand their own heritage. At the same time, these growing outbound flows must not be overlooked: the ‘lure of the West’ is also powerful in Asia, and travellers visiting the West must be provided with the key to understand it from a religious (and more broadly, cultural) point of view. Interpretation, therefore, becomes a key component of the tourism industry. Jack and Phipps (2005) state that, even if tourism is undoubtedly an intercultural activity, until very recently this has been ignored by scholarly research. And it not only constitutes an opportunity for cross-cultural knowledge, learning and understanding, but also holds the seed of allowing us to live a different life after the trip ‘for within tourism there are experiences through which a capacity to tell different stories about ourselves and others may be called into play’ (Jack and Phipps, 2005, p. 157). In this regard, travel writer Stevens (2009) urges his audience to take travel as an opportunity to learn about world diversity in order to encourage critical thinking about their own country and daily situations. In the scholarly sphere, Mkono (2016) brings forward the notion of the reflexive tourist. That is, the one that experiences the trip as a learning process, keeping

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Introduction

an open and critical mind. In this case, the posttrip stage is crucial: their comprehension of the place and phenomena, and more importantly, their own reflections will shape their future behaviour beyond holiday time.

The Traveller The blurry concepts of ‘pilgrim’ and ‘religious tourist’ have already been discussed extensively by several scholars in the past (as compiled by Aulet, 2012). However, there is an important point commonly missed by tourism academics and professionals: the distinction between a pilgrim and other travellers should not be based on transportation means, but on the dual internal– external nature of the pilgrimage experience (Parellada, 2017). Beyond these, the faithful have been recognized to have characteristics, needs and expectations distinct from those of general tourists visiting places or events associated with religion.

Devotees Pilgrims and believers can broadly be conceived of as the people being an integral and living part of a particular faith. Their motivations for visiting a sacred site or attending a religious event are related to their spiritual fulfilment in one way or the other (prayer, pilgrimage, contact with the divinity, forgiveness, asking for a grace, and so on and so forth). It is not uncommon for major parish churches in Spain to organize tours to the Holy Land, often with the help of a travel agency for practical matters (accommodation and/or transportation) but accompanied and guided by the parish priest. In most cases, these trips are extremely successful in terms of the number of people joining in. Reasons for this are easy to grasp. Believers and churchgoers, with the purpose of visiting some of the most sacred places of their faith (with the usual constraints of time and money), perceive these trips as meaningful, even more so being accompanied by their own priest and possibly with the opportunity to meet members from the religious communities once at the destination. It is probably this notion of ‘authenticity’ which leads, once in

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a while, to non-believers also being lured to join these groups. On occasion, pilgrims have been reported to perceive other (secular) visitors as a nuisance. This is related to flow management, and the giving of information and etiquette directions. But it is essentially related to the way in which the space is perceived. Eliade (2012 (1957)) exposes how the non-religious man perceives the world as uniformly neutral, and special places are designated so on account of personal associations. On the contrary, the religious man perceives sacred and non-sacred spaces. Sacred spaces are enclosed: the sacred inside, where one can expect some connection with the holy, and the regular outside world. Sacred places were the scenario of hierophanies, revealed to the religious man in various ways. The perception of the sacred – immanent in believers – permeates the whole experience. Under this light, religious communities (historically) and tourism decision-makers (in modern times) have to consider not only the sacred places themselves, but also the basic needs of pilgrims, such as accommodation and food. Some form of lodging has always been provided to pilgrims, near (or in) sites and along the way. Still today, some monasteries offer basic guest house facilities and humble guest houses spring up near pilgrimage routes. Sometimes pilgrims are allowed to sleep in churches and in modern times even tourist offices have set up a specific space where those walking along a sacred route may spend the night for free or a very small fee. Ambrósio (see Chapter 14) considers the extent to which offering overnight shelter to pilgrims constitutes a spiritual participation in the pilgrimage for the hosts themselves. At the present time, even ‘secular’ accommodation businesses are taking into account religious concerns, so as to better serve their guests, and to differentiate themselves from competitors. Food and drink, on the other hand, are primary concerns of almost all religious traditions. Liturgical food calendars, including fasting periods, as well as prescribed and prohibited foods vary greatly from faith to faith and have a great impact in culture. Timothy and Ron (2016) identify alimentary concerns affecting and limiting tourism destination choice since finding ‘permitted food’ is crucial to certain religious practitioners (i.e. halal, kosher, etc.). At the

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same time, the authors point out the increasing awareness of the hospitality industry of these specific needs and the profits to be found in serving specific market segments. From the perspective of interpretation, as proposed by Duda in Chapter 10, it is relevant to consider to what extent this is necessary to pilgrims and devotees. And, if it is deemed necessary, what kinds of means and message are the most appropriate. Considerations such as these should also be applied to the third category mentioned above: believers visiting a sacred space or–time of another faith. There is one last issue that has been explored by academia, yet in most cases remains ignored by the tourism industry and site managers: the scenario whereby a believer of one faith visits sites sacred to another faith. While they may be able to connect to the sacred space more easily than non-believers, they may still miss important aspects present and if they are unaware of behaviour etiquette they may be perceived as a nuisance by devotees and pilgrims. In some cases, contested spaces may appear, with varying needs of management from religious communities or site owners. Kang (2009) describes the interactions, at visitor and managerial levels, at Huanglong (2009) located in what the author calls ‘China’s Ethnic Frontier’. It is uncommon for true and deep conflicts to arise, but the best example of this is the city of Jerusalem, a discussion of which is outside the scope of the present text. Travellers at religious sites Excluding believers, the motivations, expectations and interests of tourists visiting religious places (even when they are openly agnostic or atheistic) are difficult to establish. Literature tells us that the tourist experience is a complex one, as motivations and aims range from the search for authenticity or exoticism, to mere recreation and relaxation, with all the shades of grey in between. As Jacobs (2001) notes, a single trip may combine more than one purpose, and these are often contradictory. This is known as multipurpose travel. Generally speaking, we may link their visits to a desire to widen their knowledge (Surebankar and Hadli, 2010, in Ndivo and Cantoni, 2016). In addition, Kay (1987), while

analysing Chimayo Valley traditions, concludes that modern pilgrimage ‘has become a critique of problems that plague modern people in the predominant social structure’ (p. 82) at the same time providing a setting to create a sense of community and search for ancient values connected to the transcendental side of life. Often, the visit to sacred places is but a part of a multi-purpose journey. This fact does not make the will to understand any less strong, nor does it diminish its importance, since the knowledge obtained in one place will enhance the rest of the experience. In spite of these broad considerations, in order to have a better understanding of travellers’ reasons for visiting religious sites, in June 2016 the authors conducted an exploratory analysis of forums on TripAdvisor (UK site) in which the first 100 threads resulting from a search using the keyword ‘religion’ were considered. Although the sample chosen is too narrow for statistic relevance, findings can be considered indicative of travellers’ preferences and concerns, which would allow for further research. Generally speaking, we found two kinds of threads: these dealing with practical aspects of travel and others seeking more detailed information about a religion, or one of its concrete aspects. Although we do not consider practical aspects to be our focus, they are related to how strict the religion is in a given country (dress codes, unmarried couples sharing a hotel room, food and alcohol), religion as a barrier to entry (usually Jews or Israeli passport holders intending to enter certain Muslim countries), the possibility of facing discrimination based on religion and logistics. Practical matters related to weddings in Bali are also fairly commonly discussed. The second group of threads refers to actual information about religion. The first results dealt merely with knowing the main religion of a country, and are of little relevance to our topic. The following analysis aims not at counting the number of times each topic was mentioned, but at acknowledging the interests of (potential) travellers through forum discussions on TripAdvisor. Some threads show the fear of tourists (often self-described as non-religious) of encountering people trying to convert them during a visit. For example, related to this, a user started a thread entitled ‘The Vatican without the religion’.

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Introduction

Responses by fellow users deny the possibility of this situation arising; at the same time recommending that, aside from one’s personal faith or lack thereof, the user beome familiar with the lives of saints in order to better enjoy the artworks on display. In another thread similar concerns arise around transportation means: ‘Intercape Bus: Livingstone to Windhoek (religion concern)’. Again the fear of encountering locals trying to gain adepts was dismissed as misplaced. Surprisingly, few threads deal with places, routes or dates where a celebration is held or other manifestations of a faith exist. Other threads, not abundant but with a fair number of replies, show users’ will to learn the basics of a specific faith and about diversity of faiths, different from their own cultural background. Possibly the two titles that best illustrate this category are ‘Good places to learn about religions’ and ‘World Religious tour – Austin’. One last type of forum conversation is specifically aimed at receiving information on a religion or part of it. For instance, in ‘Ancient Egyptian Religion’ a user obtains further knowledge on the myth of Osiris and mummification practices in Egypt. ‘Hindu / Religion and who is Hindu’ received only one long reply on the matter, spanning from the remote origins of the ‘Hindu’ term to its most recent events, and also covering the issue of using the word religion in Eastern settings. Users involved in the last two types of threads clearly portray the lure of the notion of the sacred, even to self-declared non-religious audiences. Similarly, the first category shows the need to make clear to all stakeholders participating in the religious tourism industry the difference between communication for mutual, deep and meaningful understanding and indoctrination. While communication will make the visitor experience more enjoyable, as visitors will be enabled to engage with the site at a personal level, indoctrination, when unasked for, is bound to bring disappointment and a bad reputation for the site and probably for the faith itself.

Missing the Meanings To a large extent, this interest in meaningful knowledge must be linked to post-Fordist tourism

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and the boom of cultural tourism in the last decade(s) of the twentieth century (Richards, 1996). But in spite of the time elapsed, considerations towards interpretation itself have remained for the most part outside the scope of tourism stakeholders and academics until recently. This, of course, does not mean some travellers haven’t already been obtaining their own deep knowledge about exotic religions. Again, let us have a look at some examples. The tourist image of India is rich and complex. It is also undeniably rooted in the ashram culture: as Racionero (2008) acknowledges, hippies in the 1960s brought (back) concepts of Eastern philosophies in the West; namely, ‘to be high’ (elevation of one’s living tone) and ‘vibrations’ (the Chinese chi). The case of Lalibela’s rock-hewn churches as studied by Ndivo and Cantoni (2016) exemplifies the situation in heritage sites located in developing countries where non-integrated heritage management is common, due to the lack of links between tourism and heritage agencies. More examples of the same nature would be easy to find. For a number of years now, South East Asia has been an important destination for European and Australian vacations, with a myriad of aims: from sun and beach, to the practice of sports, enjoyment of nature and cultural (re-) cognition. However, certain sights are a must for almost all travellers. In the case of Angkor Wat, the site received 2.35 million international tourists in 2014, according to the Authority for the Protection of the Site and Management of the Region of Angkor (APSARA) (as published by The Cambodia Herald, 21 January 2015), and its central position on the country’s flag is enough to indicate its importance for the nation. Yet, its interpretation centre opened only in 2016, built thanks to a North Korean investment (Chey, 2016). From the standpoint of transcontinental visitors, Cambodia and the Khmer civilization are mentally and culturally distant enough to benefit from mediation in interpretation. Still in Asia, the Khajuraho group of temples in India has been a well-known sight in the tourism industry for some time. Similarly, Indian sexual sculpture decorating temples as well as village homes and pottery of daily use is famous in many parts of the world. Their relation with sacred texts, most notably the Kama

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Sutra Danielou (1994), is probably not so readily acknowledged. The French Institute in Pondicherry (India) is currently creating an app for photo recognition of the main Hindu deities (Joan Baños, 2016). Once it is finally launched it will be open to research what type of message about Hinduism it conveys to the alien tourist: a mere collection of supernatural beings with different attributions, or will it manage to transmit the sense of a complex belief system behind them? The issue of cross-cultural dialogue between the host community and a temporary resident, as the tourist was sometimes called in the early 20th century, can become very complex– and may not even be discernible to locals. This is the case wirh the Hindu deity Tara. She has somehow became mixed with other beings of the Buddhist pantheon in Hong Kong, and other South East Asian regions. As studied by Klieger (1982), this amalgamation is of a complex nature, related not only to trade and economic exchange, but also bearing witness to the profoundly different conception of the idea of ‘religion’ in the so-called Eastern and Western worlds. The varying iconography and even the mixture of faiths in the area is obvious, especially with regard to Buddhism and Taoism. Do (cultural) tourists at least get a glimpse of this complexity? The non-existence of this sort of more meaningful discourse at religious sites can be attributed to diverse causes. Various chapters in this book discuss some of them. Here we will mention the two most common ones. A common situation is the lack of knowledge of tourist interpreters (tour guides, guidebook writers, bloggers, etc.). Especially in Western countries it is not uncommon that a combination of circumstances has led the majority of the population to be alien to the existence of the sacred dimension of religious sites, as this tends to be perceived as indoctrination or as a relic of an ignorant past. In this regard, training courses organized in Catalonia, most notably within the project Catalonia Sacra and others in cooperation with Montserrat Foundation (Spain), have shown there is a keen interest from tour guides in learning about the ‘meaning of the sacred’ and the spiritual dimension of sites. Initially, these courses addressed flagrant errors in the

speeches given by tour guides. Nowadays, they seek to provide comprehension of the notion of the sacred, involving the religious community as lecturers. Although there is still room for improvement, tour guides report that, out of professional interest, the course content is rapidly incorporated into their speeches, to varying degrees. In the same way, site managers and sometimes even heritage experts lack sufficient information to properly explain the place. Two paradigmatic examples of this can be found in England. The first one, Stonehenge, at least until the most recent discoveries allow for further knowledge, the site meaning and purpose remain obscure. The second one is Tintagel Castle as described by Robb (1998). A site closely tied to the Arthurian myth, this paper concludes that the fortress is as confusing for visitors as it is for the curators and researchers themselves. Yet, the former have one advantage: they can choose to believe whatever information makes their trip more enjoyable. These examples point out our second issue: places, objects or even practices associated with non-dominant or already dead religions tend to be regarded as purely historical or artistic artefacts, or are presented not in their mythical (religious) context but rather in an overly simplistic, even childish, manner. This has to do not only with travelling, but also with biased perceptions and stereotypes nurtured back home. Think of the ancient yin yang Taoist symbol. It has become a familiar sight in European and American settings: it is used as a pattern on shower curtains and as a tattoo motif. Most people will be able to quote its reference to opposites or the equilibrium between them. Its Taoist origins are less known, not to mention its connection to – or it being the representation for – profound cultural patterns that connect the I Ching with traditional ink and water painting. In 2008 UNESCO inscribed the Day of the Dead in the list of Intangible World Heritage. Since then, it has been rapidly gaining attention outside the Mexican borders, in the United States and other parts of the globe. Its presence on TripAdvisor shows that it has already been given a place in the travel industry. Certainly, the cheer and colour of the artefacts related to the celebration, and the events themselves, are the reason for this. The festivities associated with

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Introduction

honouring those who have passed away in the heart of autumn are widespread in historically Christian countries. Yet, nothing seems to indicate that the profound meaning of the festivity will survive its fame any better than that of Halloween has. In short, religion is a complex phenomenon that only in the contemporary Western world is perceived as separated from the cultural substratum of society – a society in which even ‘culture’ (especially high culture) is regarded as an optional asset that may or may not be incorporated into our lives. In this situation, one may wonder how, without self-awareness, is intercultural dialogue possible? At the same time, the structure of travellers’ own daily lives paves the way for a shallow perception of the spiritual dimension of others. However, as Salazar (2012) notes, an imaginary can be as seductive as it is restrictive and, possibly, his ideas on the use of tourism imaginaries as a tool against socio-cultural stereotypes and clichés can be applied not only to developing world countries, but also to other types of destinations including these linked to spiritual heritage. This brings us back to a centuries-long discussion amongst these who have reflected on the nature of the tourist experience: do the experiences of tourists reflect the reality of the host country and community (Henning, 2002)?

Losing the notion of ‘sacred’ The need to incorporate religious communities in the delivery of the courses, as aforementioned, stems from the realization that most professionals working in the tourism field lack deep knowledge of the core values of a sacred space as Eliade (2012 (1957)) describes it, regardless of their own personal convictions or faith. Broadly, sociological research supports the idea that in the so-called Western world contemporary societies have become largely secularized. Bruce (2002) describes the secularization paradigm in these countries as a decline in the power, popularity and prestige of religious beliefs and rituals since the Enlightenment. Reasons for it include the broad concept of ‘modernization’, as well as individualism, diversity and egalitarianism in the context of liberal democracy. However,

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the same author warns us about a common misunderstanding about this concept: it implies an increasing indifference towards religion, not the adoption of atheism (opposition to religion). A conference held in Canada recently pointed out the risks of relegating religious issues to the domestic realm (Durand, 2017). But secularization is not merely a sociostructural process; it also affects symbols and culture (Rubio Ferreres, 1998). This causes a decline of religious topics in arts, philosophy, literature and even science. At the same time, the revival of religious feelings (commonly labelled under the term spirituality) is described as follows: ‘in the mid 70’s (…) a mystical-esoterical nebula emerged, composed of several groups or networks and formed of esoteric syncretisms, mainly coming from Eastern religions’ (Champion, 1990, in Rubio Ferreres, 1998, online. Original in Spanish). Although the author concludes that the persistency of religion in modern societies is emotional and banal, this revival is felt vividly at a social level. In this publication, Olsen mentions that the revival of social interest in pilgrimages and spirituality can be traced back to, at least, the end of World War II. The Pilgrim’s Office in Santiago de Compostela registered a spectacular rise in the number of ‘pilgrims’ from 1981 (299) to 1982 (1868) (Editorial Buen Camino, 2016). But this growing, regained interest is not limited only to traditional practices in one’s own geographical domain: in the Western world qi gong, yoga and other similar practices have dramatically gained adepts in the past few decades. While frequently they are engaged in for their benefits for the body, one must not forget that they are linked to millennia-old spiritual traditions, if often ignored. If Eastern practices are the object of fascination in the West, the influence of Western ideas in Asia (notably Christianity) may be even wider and deeper. On 19 April 2014 the British newspaper The Telegraph published an online article entitled ‘China on the course to become “world’s most Christian nation” within 15 years’. Although old Taoist Buddhist and Confucian temples abound and are regularly visited by believers (even after the Cultural Revolution), ‘officially the People’s Republic of China is an atheist country but that is changing fast as many of its 1.3 billion citizens seek meaning and spiritual

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comfort that neither communism nor capitalism seem to have supplied’ (Phillips, 2014). Though there are endless examples of reengagement in spiritual currents, it is important to keep in mind that secularization affects the symbols and culture at a core level. Thus, a society or individual that has been effectively secularized loses the notion of ‘the sacred’: what the ‘spiritual dimension’ truly stands for. Hence, the comprehension of both their own religious heritage (again, regardless of belief) or any other belief system becomes obscure, and often attainable only at a superficial level unless a true way to decode the intricate system of symbols is provided – hence the importance of interpretation at religious sites. This may lead to uncomfortable situations during travels for all stakeholders due to misunderstandings. For example, it has been disseminated that some monasteries in Wutaishan (China) host visitors for free. This information was also disseminated through international tourism marketing channels, resulting in foreign visitors expecting free lodging – or in exchange for taking care of some chores: a type of commercial deal similar to that offered by some affordable hostels in the United States (cheaper prices in exchange for taking care of small tasks). Yet, here travellers seem to forget the role of Wutaishan as a major centre of Buddhism worship. Free accommodation offered in monasteries is meant for pilgrims and devotees who wish to contribute to chores and make generous donations. Most monasteries seem now reluctant to host Western-looking guests and the Rough Guide (Leffman et al., 2005) already advises against seeking that type of accommodation, except for in (possibly) one monastery. One must also acknowledge that religion is, or at the very least has been, an indiscernible part of culture and everyday life. Eastern languages do not include a perfect translation for the single English word ‘religion’ because what we call religion impregnates and is impregnated by many other domains that are consciously individualized in the West, but not in the East. Therefore, as once was in Europe as well, for many peoples around the globe, religions are complex systems ‘and that in each case the magicoreligious system is clearly interwoven with the rest of the culture (…); they [religions] are conceived of as inseparable from the total identity of the group

of whose life they are a part’ (Brown, 1964, pp. 129–130). Hence religious spaces are not only worth visiting to enable the comprehension of the sacred, but also to aid understanding of world cultures in the broadest sense.

Interpretation Although interpretation of sites has been a scholarly topic for several decades, it has fundamentally remained outside the scope of tourism research until very recently. And an even more recent topic is the interpretation of cultural aspects for tourists, according to not only their place of origin (usually limited to language translation) but also their cultural background. Due to the very nature of their daily job, possibly the professionals most aware of this issue are tourist guides. At least since the tourist boom occurred after World War II, their training has been under the consideration of public agencies, which has led to the organization of training courses on a variety of subjects. As shown by Magablih et al. (2010) this profession is concerned with the bridging of the cultural gap, even if the aforementioned lack of training in spirituality is still true. Tilden (2006, first published in 1967) described interpretation as an art that contains in itself many arts. Still today, the six principles he identified are widely accepted as the cornerstone for heritage interpretation. His fifth principle is probably the most comprehensive one: interpretation should be aimed at presenting the whole rather than a part; links and relationships between things should also be made clear. Regardless of the person’s level of education, the message must be clear enough for them to relate to it at a personal level, and also to reflect on it later on. Following on from Tilden’s idea, Littlefair (2003, cited in Ndivo and Cantoni, 2016) states that the communication of information is central to heritage interpretation. It has already been discussed that in the specific case of religious heritage the notion of the sacred is the core value to be communicated. Ndivo and Cantoni (2016) add that the process of interpretation should not only convey information but also enhance the magnificence of sites.

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Introduction

This communicative process has undergone a crucial change in the past few decades: As a result of technological process and, at the same time, of the fact that access to an overwhelming amount of information is easier than ever, visitors want to be involved in the story, but not at any price. Their need is not just to live a unique experience and benefit from processed (decoded and attractively ‘packed’) information, instead they want to have the certainty that they are receiving accurate and comprehensive information, which could be double-checked potentially consulting other sources. (Hein, 2002 in Dumbraveanu et al., 2016, pp. 66–67)

In short, the interpreter must be able to carefully select the most convenient information and, we can add, the most appropriate for each target group. Also an abundance of means to convey the discourse, specifically those associated with rapidly developing technology, should be used, but should not blind us from the importance of the core message we want the visitor to understand. To illustrate the selection of information, let’s consider a well-established tourist product in many mature destinations: guided visits focusing on legends associated with the place. Irving (2015) defines legend as a vehicle that connects the myth (what lies beyond everyday reality) with the everyday world, ‘designed to test the permeability of the status quo, and as such may represent a contradiction of conventional values’ (p. 98). Yet in the vast majority of these guided tours the stories became tales detached from any deeper meaning, instead of suggesting an entrance to an ancient, perhaps lost, way to approach the world. The same is true for souvenir books and other merchandising articles featuring legends, or parts of them. At most religious sites and events, the only sort of information, if any, we find is related to facts of an artistic and historical nature. Although often these are needed to have a complete picture of the element, they are not the core value. These discourses end up distorting the personality of the site, moving further and further away from any notion of a sacred space– time from the tourist mindset. The comprehension of the notion of the sacred is intimate and personal, and thus of a

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non-transferable nature. It is something to be felt or known intuitively rather than intellectually attained, in the common use of the term. Kandinsky (1996, first published in 1911) is probably the best-known author to have expressed how art indeed constitutes a spiritual experience (or has the potential to). This can either be through contemplation or a hands-on experience. Sharpley and Jepson (2011) discuss the spirituality that can be found in the practice of rural tourism, even though the results of their study find it largely mixed with recreational activities such as sports and reenactment of own childhood memories. Indeed, often spirituality seems to become a marketing asset, in such a way that the religious importance of a site or event is used in its promotion, but excluded during the stay. In the same vein, the Spiritour project (started in 2016, and funded by the European Union) is built on the idea that spiritual experiences can be attained through a myriad of activities including cultural visits, artistic workshops, sport and nature activities, rural tourism and others. In a world where international tourism has become ubiquitous, the need for a real crosscultural awareness arises. Throughout history, faiths that have expanded from their original geographical settings have merged with local traditions. This should also be considered an important variation when it comes down to overall comprehension of the belief system and the destination itself. Urbano’s life research revolved around the interactions between Catholics and South American Pre-Columbian religions – what has been called ‘extirpation of idolatry’ (Ramos and Urbano, 1993). How this clash of faiths is presented to visitors in places like Machu Picchu or Colca Valley is still open to research from a humanistic perspective. In a similar vein, Peelman (1995) describes how the forceful adoption of Christianism by northern Native Americans actually added layers to the mystery of Christ for some, at the same time that other American Aboriginals perceive Christianity as an imposed religion. Again, how indigenous religions are described to alien visitors would benefit from some more attention from the tourism industry and academia, as well as how original religions syncretized – or not – with European ones. For instance, Acoma Pueblo (Fig.  1.1) is open to visitors, yet taking photographs of the

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Fig. 1.1.  Acoma, The Sky City, in New Mexico (USA). General view from the south in 1904. Author: Edward S. Curtis. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

church graveyard area is forbidden, and tour guides specifically mention that they are not allowed to explain spiritual issues.

Discussion The core idea of this chapter was to recognize tourism, and particularly religious tourism, as a form of intercultural interaction. In this setting, interpretation is the key to a successful understanding of a concept of an abstract nature. Travel to a religious site is a complex act, as motivations and purposes of travel vary to a great degree. A good interpretation system satisfies the tourists’ desire to know, while taking into account different audience profiles (not only language, but cultural background) and contributing to the enhancement of the element visited, avoiding the commodification of places, peoples and events. Without a doubt, the increasing tourism flows from ‘new’ outbound

markets pose an added challenge to interpretation professionals. Pilgrims and believers should also benefit from visitors with a better understanding, since people understanding the value of the sacred space or time will behave appropriately. It is acknowledged by the tourism literature that the comprehension of a place leads to a personal bond with it, in such a way that visitors will not only avoid its deterioration, but will contribute to its preservation and generate word-of-mouth marketing – today we could even include personal blogs and social networks in this category. Visitors with a proper understanding of the core values of a place will generate a publicity attracting the right audience, or at least with the right expectations and behaviour codes. Beyond the understanding of a particular place or time, we must bear in mind that religion is an integral part of all, or almost all, cultures. Knowledge of a particular religious heritage site, which ultimately constitutes a manifestation of

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Introduction

a culture, brings us one step closer to the comprehension of the culture that produced it. The importance of understanding of a particular sacred time–space has been discussed throughout this chapter. It lies at the core of the tourist experience: the will to meaningfully understand the destination, plus, following the notion of the reflexive tourist, knowledge gained during a trip will shape their perspectives in everyday life. Since understanding and knowledge are the antidotes to fear and hatred, a good interpretation ultimately leads to a better understanding amongst the world’s human communities. Intercultural dialogue must serve the purpose of unmaking the image of the ‘exotic other’ and the musealization of peoples and individuals, as Graburn (1983) attributes to some forms of tourism. Still, some issues undermine this ideal situation. Although we have seen that there is a good portion of tourists that seek this type of knowledge and understanding, at this point we cannot consider it to be the majority of people who travel – but possibly it is the majority of people travelling to religious and cultural places. Finally, we have mentioned the benefits of word-of-mouth marketing, coming from knowledgeable (former) visitors. In this regard, the present chapter has not paid attention to the image of religious sites set up by marketing agents and media. Scholarly literature has had a focus on this topic for some time now, basically identifying some room for improvement. As an illustrative example, let’s take guidebooks. In the case of New Orleans, Jacobs (2001) states that, since they were first mentioned in 1930 tourist guides, spiritual churches have been linked to what he calls local colour (specially voodoo), while their role in American

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religion is barely suggested. Kraft (2007) analyses how religion is handled in Lonely Planet guides about India and distinguishes between the ‘religion’ practised by hosts and another one belonging to travellers, which in books is exclusively labelled as philosophy. Thus, inasmuch as marketing shapes the a priori tourist images and expectations, the industry should also reconsider its messages and their impact not only on the economy of the host society, but also on the cultural content of the site or event (and by extension to the very fabric of that society), as well as how it is affecting their audiences. What do they understand from that place and time, beyond having found an ‘authentic’ spot, and how is that going to impact their lives afterwards? Several examples have been used to show how the tourism industry, host communities, religious communities and travellers interrelate. The sheer aesthetic dimensions of places and events seem, in many cases, to have taken the place of meaningful travels. The causes for this have not been studied in this introductory chapter, and would require extensive research in themselves. The multidisciplinary nature of religious travel leaves room for research and improvement in many more areas than this book, or any other single work, can handle: What possibilities and limitations do new technologies offer for spiritual experiences? What is the understanding a traveller gains from tourist guides (be it books, blogs, a professional tour guide or any other mediator)? How is tourism truly helping to reshape stereotyped perceptions of places? What can trigger a spiritual experience? These are but some of the examples of topics for further research.

Acknowledgements The process of putting together this book has been an unusually long one – some 2 years. Some contributors and chapters were already clear from the beginning. Unfortunately, some of them declined the proposal because the topic was too wide or because we could not agree on an approach with which they would feel comfortable. It took a year for this situation to start changing. We found more researchers who had recently worked in the field of intercultural dialogue in tourism or similar fields. As the news describes the world today, this is certainly good news.

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Credit for this ‘head start’ should not go to the editors in the first place. We want to acknowledge the forum of discussion in each session of the International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conference as a source of upcoming research lines within the international community, as well as the directors of this book series, Dr Razaq Raj and Dr Kevin Griffin, for suggesting the topic.

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Kraft, S.E. (2007) Religion and spirituality in Lonely Planet’s India. Religion 37(3), 230–242. DOI: 10.1016/j. religion.2007.07.001. Leffman, Det al. (2005) China (4th edn). The Rough Guides, Madrid. Litvin, S.W. (1998) Tourism: The world’s peace industry. Journal of Travel Research 37(1), 63–66. DOI: 10.1177/004728759803700108. Magablih, K., Abulhaiha, L.A. and Saleh, M.A. (2010) Interpretation strategies used by Jordanian tourist guides to handle cultural specificity in tourism material. TEAM Journal of Hospitality and Tourism 7(1), 1–12. Available at: https://​teamjournalht.​files.​wordpress.​com/​2013/​05/​vol712010-​team-​journal-​of-​hospitality_​tourism_​1.​pdf (accessed 1 December 2010). Mkono, M. (2016) The reflexive tourist. Annals of Tourism Research 57, 206–219. DOI: 10.1016/j. annals.2016.01.004. Ndivo, R.M. and Cantoni, L. (2016) The efficacy of heritage interpretation at the Lalibela rock-hewn churches in Ethiopia: Exploring the need for integrating ICT-mediation. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage 4(3), 16–28. Available at: http://​arrow.​dit.​ie/​cgi/​viewcontent.​cgi?​ article=​1130&​context=​ijrtp (accessed 1 January 2016). Parellada, P.-E. (2017) Turisme i peregrinacions. In: Aulet, S., Crous, N. and Vidal, D. (eds) Montserrat: Cultura, Natura i Espiritualitat. Fundació Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain. Peace Boat (2010) Building a culture of Peace around the world. History, Peace Boat. Available at: http://​ peaceboat.​org/​english/?​menu=​61 (accessed 12 June 2016). Peelman, A. (1995) Christ is a Native American. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY. Phillips, T. (2014) China on course to become ‘world’s most Christian nation’ within 15 years. The Telegraph. Available at: www.​telegraph.​co.​uk/​news/​worldnews/​asia/​china/​10776023/​China-​on-​ course-​to-​become-​worlds-​most-​Christian-​nation-​within-​15-​years.​html (accessed 19 April 2014). Racionero, L. (2008) Textos de estetica taoista. Alianza Editorial, Barcelona, Spain. Ramos, G. and Urbano, H. (1993) Catolicismo y extirpación de idolatrías. siglos xVI–XVIII: Charcas, Chile, México, Perú. Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos ‘Bartolomé de las Casas’, Cusco, Peru. Richards, G. (1996) Cultural tourism in Europe. CAB International, Wallingford, UK. Robb, J.G. (1998) Tourism and legends archaeology of Heritage. Annals of Tourism Research 25(3), 579– 596. DOI: 10.1016/S0160-7383(98)00016-4. Rubio Ferreres, J.M. (1998) ‘¿Resurgimiento religioso’ versus secularización? Gazeta de Antropologia 14. Salazar, N.B. (2012) Tourism imaginaries: A conceptual approach. Annals of Tourism Research 39(2), 863–882. DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2011.10.004. Sharpley, R. and Jepson, D. (2011) Rural tourism: A spiritual experience? Annals of Tourism Research 38(1), 52–71. Stevens, R. (2009) Travel as a Political Act. Nation Books, New York. Tilden, F. (2006) La Interpretación de nuestro patrimonio. Asociación para la Interpretación del Patrimonio, Pamplona, Spain. Timothy, D.J. and Ron, A.S. (2016) Religious heritage, spiritual aliment and food for the soul. In: Timothy, D.J. (ed.) Heritage Cuisines. Traditions, Identities and Tourism. Routledge, New York, pp. 104–118. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (2015) The UNESCO chairs and UNITWIN networks with the UNESCO culture sector, UNESCO. Available at: http://​en.​unesco.​ org/​system/​files/​brochure-​on-​unesco-​chairs.​pdf (accessed 12 June 2016). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (2016) Introducing UNESCO. Available at: http://​en.​unesco.​org/​about-​us/​introducing-​unesco (accessed 10 June 2016). United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) (2014) First UNWTO International Congress on tourism and Pilgrimages explores the link between tourism and spiritual routes. UNWTO. Available at: http://​media.​unwto.​org/​press-​release/​2014-​09-​16/​first-​unwto-​international-​congress-​tourism-​and-​ pilgrimages-​explores-​link-​be (accessed 10 June 2016). United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) (2015) Bethlehem Declaration on religious tourism as a means of fostering socio-economic development of host communities. Bethlehem. Available at: www.​bethlehem.​edu/​document.​doc?​id=​3240 (accessed 16 June 2015).

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The Semantics of the Sacred: A Tool for Interreligious Dialogue

Silvia Aulet1* and Marc Sureda2 Laboratory of Multidisciplinary Research in Tourism, Faculty of Tourism, University of Girona, Spain; 2Museu Episcopal de Vic, Barcelona, Spain

Introduction One should not honour only one’s own religion and condemn other religions. Instead, one should honour other religions for various reasons. By so doing one helps one’s own religion to grow and also renders service to the religions of others. […] Let all listen and be willing to listen to the doctrines professed by others. (Excerpt from an edict of the Buddhist Indian Emperor Ashoka, 3rd century bce, quoted in Ribera Regull, 2007, p. 9)

The phenomenon of the sacred has been studied from a number of perspectives, all of which have certain basic elements in common. Issues such as spirituality or the pursuit of the sacred are universal aspects of human nature that have aroused renewed interest in the contemporary world (Vasconi, 2001). There is apparent today an indisputable growth of spirituality. […] People have a great demand and need for the transcendent, above and beyond religion. In fact, every human being, irrespective of their culture, religious confession and social status, by the sole fact of their humanity, possesses the sensibility to identify and follow that which is in their essence as soul, vigour, spirit, and that invites them and summons them to live. In other words, every human being possesses a spiritual life that, given

their condition of totality, cannot be separated from their corporality. It is a spirituality that places them in relation to the world and to others and posits the opening up to God. (Cáceres et al., 2008, p. 384)

The aim of this chapter is to present the phenomenon of the sacred from a conceptual and semantic point of view; to set out the different approaches that have been made to the phenomenon of the sacred; and to propose a definition that will allow us to appreciate how this can become a key tool for articulating an interreligious dialogue based on mutual understanding and respect. The realm of the sacred is a specific field of study within the religious phenomenon and as such can be approached from different perspectives. Nevertheless, for a century or so now, as Ries (1989) observes, the study of the sacred has for the most part been addressed in three strands of research: sociological and ethnological research, phenomenological research and comparative research of religions. The first theories of the sacred were elaborated in ethnological and sociological circles. The sociological theory of the sacred has its roots in ethnological research into mana and totem, with the main contributions coming from the school of French sociology that

*Corresponding author: ​silvia.​aulet@​udg.​edu 14

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The Semantics of the Sacred

defined the sacred as a set of forces that emerge from collective consciousness (Durkheim (1993 (1912)); Mauss and Hubert quoted in Lévi-Strauss, 2013). Phenomenological research seeks to understand the religious in the existential context of Homo religiosus. Religion is to be studied not from the perspective of society, but from that of the religious individual. The sacred stands in opposition to the profane, as the religious person stands in opposition to the non-religious person. The experience of the sacred is the lived experience of the transcendent and the ineffable. Phenomenology has tended to play down the historical context of religions in the hope of arriving at the essence of religion. As an example of this, Nathan Söderblom (1966, quoted in Sharpe, 1969) affirmed that the sacred is the most important concept in religion, even more than the notion of God itself. Rudolf Otto (1965) considered the modes of religious experience as different phases and took the contents of this experience as leading to the conclusion that the sacred is an a priori human category, and that this is what enables the soul to perceive the numinous as an inner revelation, as the ganz Andere. The method proposed by the history of religion adopts a completely different approach, one based on hermeneutics. According to Müller (1945), who is regarded one of the founders of the comparative history of religion, religion is born of a sense of dependence, from an intuition of the divine that, together with a perception of weakness and belief in Providence, leads human beings to a search for divine uniqueness. The divine is conceived as infinite but is not the result of a religious revelation (Bautista, 2002). Using a similar method, Eliade (1978) studied the broad and heterogeneous field of hierophanies and proposed a notion of the sacred understood as an absolute reality, seeking in his writings to demonstrate the spiritual unity of humanity. His research set out to embrace the sacred in its entirety, by means of an integral method that is at once historical, phenomenological and hermeneutic. In the following sections we will examine these approaches in greater depth.

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Sociological and Ethnological Theories Sociology is the science concerned with the social behaviour of people, groups and the organization of societies. Sociology is vitally concerned primarily with what is, after all, the principal subject matter of the humanities – the human condition itself. Just because the social is such a crucial dimension of man’s existence, sociology comes time and again on the fundamental question of what does it mean to be a man and what it means to be a man in a particular situation. (Berger, 1995, p. 199)

Applied to the sphere of religion, the sociology of religion entails the study of the behaviours, social structures, evolution and roles of religions in human societies, and attempts to explain the influence of religion on collective human behaviour, and vice versa. Having said that, the sociology of religion is difficult to define. The central question for the sociology of religion in the 19th century was the analysis of the prevailing social conditions at the time of birth of religions and, by extension, the attempt to identify the most primitive form of religion. Regarded as having its starting point in ethnology and the history of human relations, this sociology of religion proposed an approach based on the clarification of the relations between religion and society. Especially relevant here is Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904–1905) (Weber, 2009), in which the Calvinist doctrine of predestination is posited as a determining factor in the practices of capitalism. The strand represented by Émile Durkheim, above all from The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (Durkheim (1993 (1912)), and the so-called French school of sociology (Mauss, Hubert, Lévy-Bruhl, etc.) has also been highly influential: this latter tendency sees religion as having its origin in society and understands the religious phenomenon as a composite of states of the collective soul. Grace (2000) includes among the most important current thinkers of the sociology of religion, Peter Berger, Henri Desroche, Thomas Luckmann, F. X. Kaufmann and F. König, all of whom seek in one way or another to establish a

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method that embraces both Max Weber’s sociology of understanding and the more functionalist theories of Durkheim. Durkheim (1993 (1912)) conceives of society as a sui generis reality that transcends the individual. Social events have an existence of their own independent of individual manifestations, and can exert some pressure on the individual. One of the key notions in Durkheim’s research is that of collective consciousness, which he interprets as the set of beliefs and feelings shared by the majority of members of a society. Durkheim was convinced that religion is nothing more than a natural manifestation of human activity, [a]unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden – beliefs and practices which unite in one single community called a Church, all those who adhere to them. (Durkheim (1993 (1912)), p. 42)

Durkheim criticized definitions of religion based on the idea of the supernatural or the mysterious; his own definition asserts the differentiation of all those aspects related to the religious phenomenon (the sacred) from the rest of human phenomena (Velasco, 1982) and offers a definition of religion based on the sacred and the distinction between the sacred and the profane: The division of the world into two domains, one containing all that is sacred and the other all that is profane – such is the distinctive trait of religious thought; the beliefs, myths, dogmas and legends are either representations or systems of representations which express the nature of sacred things, the virtues and powers which are attributed to them, or their relations with each other and with profane things. (Durkheim (1993 (1912)), p. 33)

From this point of view, the ultimate purpose of religion is the administration of the sacred, a universal and necessary fact in collective life. Durkheim’s theories are based on his studies of Aboriginal societies in Australia and totemism: society creates the sacred as an anonymous and impersonal force. The totem symbolizes a higher power equivalent to the divine. But at the same time it symbolizes the society of which it is emblem and bond of union. The totem is, therefore, a symbol of God and of society, and this is because God and society are the same thing, or, in other words,

that the superior force symbolized by the totem is nothing more than the society itself. (Velasco, 1982, p. 37)

Durkheim contrasts the sacred with the profane and defines it as a collective force that emanates from society and joins with the real to constitute an essential element of social organization. The potency of the sacred is what gives rise to religion and to the prohibitions associated with it. In this way the sacred is the origin of the cult and worship (Ries, 1989). The work on the history of religion of the French school of sociology reaffirms Durkheim’s theses, especially the studies of magic and sacrifice carried out by Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss. Mauss studied the social functions of the sacred and identified the sacred with mana, the anonymous and impersonal force that Durkheim had identified. Mana is at once a force and a being, a quality, an action and a state. Mana is the value of things and people, religious value and magical value, but also social value. Mauss and Hubert try to demonstrate the universality of mana by finding it in other religions beyond totemism (Lévi-Strauss, 2013). For example, the notion of mana is very similar to the fundamental Hindu concept of Brahman (the concept with which the Absolute is designated). The neuter noun Brahman serves in the Vedic texts to designate prayer, charm, ritual and religious power; Brahman is the first animated principle of the universe (García Bazán, 1994). The conclusion is the universal existence of pure efficacy, material substance and spiritual strength at the same time, impersonal on some occasions and on others invested with personal forms. Mauss considers that this notion of mana is of the same order as that of the sacred: the two notions are often confused. Mana is like the matrix of the sacred. (Ries, 1989, p. 25)

Lévy-Bruhl and Roger Caillois also studied the religious phenomenon from the sociological perspective and in line with the theories of Durkheim. Lévy-Bruhl (1972, 1985) also attributed a symbolic function to the sacred, which intervenes in man’s relations with supernatural beings, since the sacred manifests itself above all in the places that symbolically represent these beings; they are possessed of a sacred character

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The Semantics of the Sacred

by virtue of their dwelling there; this is what explains the permanence of sacred sites in the various religions. (Ries, 1989, p. 34)

Caillois (1988), in his book L’homme et le sacré, conceives of the sacred as a category on which the religious attitude is based. Religious life is the sum of the relations that human beings maintain with the sacred. Rituals are born of the need to organize these experiences. The repetition of the rite in space and time serves to make the extra-empirical world accessible and experienceable to humans. […] What distinguishes the rite from that which it is not consists in the fact that it is directed towards what is hidden; […] that it makes it possible to apprehend what is hidden, that is, to understand what is hidden in the events and incidents that befall the people of a particular culture. (Duch, 1997, pp. 163–164)

The sacred appears as a property, stable or transient, which affects certain beings, spaces, times or things. This sacral quality is not part of its essence but rather adheres to its real essence in some mysterious way. The sacred is placed at the centre of all religious phenomena, and the notion of God is also rooted in it. The French sociological school based its study of the sacred on the study of tribal societies, defining it as an element of balance in these primitive societies, a collective product that structured and organized everything related to the sacred by opposition to what was considered profane. With the emergence of the city and the state, religion ceases to depend on collectivities and becomes individualized, being transferred to the individual subject and understood in the context of the great religions (Ries, 1989).

The Phenomenology of the Sacred Phenomenology is a method of philosophy that concerns itself with all that has to do with the events surrounding an object, their relation to the environment in which the events take place and how this influences a specific phenomenon. The term was adopted by Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) to describe his philosophical project of transcendental phenomenology.

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[Man] observes first of all the variety of nations, his own and others, each with its own environing world, which with its traditions, its gods and demigods, with its mythical powers, constitutes for each nation the self-evident, real world. In the face of this extraordinary contrast there arises the distinction between the represented and the real world, and a new question is raised concerning the truth – not everyday truth bound as it is to tradition but a truth that for all those who are not blinded by attachment to tradition is identical and universally valid, a truth in itself. (Husserl and Husserl, 1992, p. 103)

The phenomenology of religion, over and above the study of religious phenomena, is concerned with the establishing of religious typologies, which, in one way or another, present themselves in similar forms in the various historical religions. The phenomenology of religion is a comparative science that sets out to understand the religious phenomenon without attempting to evaluate it; it seeks to order and exhibit the universe of religious manifestations and representations in space and time. To this end it studies the meaning of religious expressions in their specific context, their structure and coherence (morphology) and their dynamics (development, affirmation, divisions, etc.) (Severino Croatto, 2002). Phenomenology tries to describe, understand and interpret the relationships between man and divinity (power, mystery). Nathan Söderblom was a precursor of the phenomenology of religion; his work reflects a clear interest in arriving at a typology of the multiplicity of religious manifestations and an understanding of the essential nucleus of all these manifestations. According to Söderblom, the historian who wishes to approach the study of religions must begin by studying the phenomenon of the sacred. The sacred is the most important word in religion; it is even more important than the notion of God. A religion really can exist without a precise conception of the divinity, but there can be no real religion without the distinction between the sacred and the profane. (Söderblom, 1966 quoted in Ries, 1989, p. 55)

Söderblom insists on the notion of force and associates the sacred with a mysterious power or entity linked to certain beings, things or

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events; as such, it is oriented towards an interpretation of the sacred as perceived from the standpoint of a religious individual. While it is generally agreed that Pierre Daniël Chantepie, who published his Manuel d’histoire des religions in 1887, was the founder of the phenomenology of religion, the first attempt to give a scientific status to the discipline was Gerardus van der Leeuw’s Phänomenologie der Religion, published in 1933 (Reinach, 1904; van der Leeuw, 1964; Díaz, 1997; Severino Croatto, 2002). For him the phenomenological consideration, as opposed to the causal explanation pursued by science, is characterized by its pursuit of the specificity of a fact on the basis of its historical manifestations. Phenomenology, van der Leeuw insists, is not content with the simple empirical enumeration of the facts, but neither does it seek to substantiate the truth of these. Situated in continuity with the history of religion, which provide it with the materials of its research, phenomenology is characterized by being a comprehensive science that looks for the significance of the same religious facts whose historical evolution is studied by the history of religion. (Velasco, 1982, p. 51)

Van der Leeuw also places the sacred at the centre of religion, given that he too rejects any theory that seeks to explain religion in terms of something other than itself. The sacred is, according to van der Leeuw, a transcendent force, a mysterious power that human beings can experience or discover in objects that, by virtue of this power, are conceived as sacred. The profane possesses none of this power and is therefore clearly delimited and separated from the sacred. One of the great phenomenologists of the sacred is, without a doubt, Rudolf Otto, whose major work Das Heilige (Otto, 1917) is a historical and psychological analysis of the concepts of the numinous and the holy. Otto concluded that the religious conception of the world goes beyond the scientific conception, and deduced three basic principles for its investigation (Otto, 1965): 1. that the necessary ideas have no need of demonstration because they proceed from pure reason, a source of knowledge independent of experience;

2. that the religious mystery is not transient; it is ineffable, and never reveals itself, in fact, one of the missions of religion is to safeguard the mystery in its pure integrity; and 3. that in order to preserve the integrity of the mystery, religion uses the language of symbols to maintain contact with higher realities. (Ries, 1989)

According to Otto (1965), a conceptual approach to the sacred would be entirely unproductive because it is a sui generis category that is not an object of definition in the strict sense of the term, in that it transcends the rational, mysticism (he speaks of mystical dread and frenzy) being the most perfect form of religion. Otto uses the concept of the numinous, das Numinöse, to refer to the sacred as a fundamental element in all major religions, in much the same way that Mauss refers to mana. On this basis Otto studies the sacred from three points of view: the sacred in itself, as a numinous element; the sacred as numinous value or sanctum; and the sacred as an a priori category present in the human spirit. Otto describes a way of knowing (or discovering) the numinous that consists of four stages. The first stage is that of creature-feeling, the response occasioned in the individual’s consciousness by the numinous object, which creates a sense of dependence on it. The second stage is that of the perception of the numinous, of the tremendum, the experience of mystical terror and awe in the presence of the numinous majestas. The qualitative content of the numinous experience, to which ‘the mysterious’ stands as form, is in one of its aspects the element of daunting ‘awefulness’ and ‘majesty’ … but it is clear that it has at the same time another aspect, in which it shows itself as something uniquely attractive and fascinating. These two qualities, the daunting and the fascinating, now combine in a strange harmony of contrasts. (Otto, 1965, p. 53)

The third stage is the mysterium, in which the numinous object is presented as a mystery, as something ‘wholly other’ (ganz Andere). The fourth stage is that of subjective beatific value, which Otto calls fascinans, in which the individual is seduced and drawn up into a state of bliss. For Otto, this is the stage that religions call

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The Semantics of the Sacred

salvation or the experience of grace. In the perception of the numinous, the individual first experiences the sense of being a creature and then a mystical dread before approaching the majestas and the fascinating mystery. Unlike Durkheim, who understands the sacred as a product of collective consciousness, Otto, on the basis of a Kantian theory of knowledge, understands the sacred as an a priori category of the spirit, as an inner revelation: the numinous is born in the depths of the soul. The numinous is of the latter kind. It issues from the deepest foundation of cognitive apprehension that the soul possesses, and, though it of course comes into being in and amid the sensory data and empirical material of the natural world and cannot anticipate or dispense with those, yet it does not arise out of them, but only by their means. They are the incitement, the stimulus, and the ‘occasion’ for the numinous experience to become astir, and, in so doing, to begin – at first with a naïve immediacy of reaction – to be interfused and interwoven with the present world of sensuous experience, until, becoming gradually purer, it disengages itself from this and takes its stand in absolute contrast to it. The confirmation that the numinous is a pure a priori element of knowledge is achieved by reflection on the numinous itself and the critique of reason. (Otto, 1965, pp. 158–159)

Alongside the inner revelation of the sacred there is a revelation of the sacred in history. For Otto there is a dual manifestation of the sacred: on the one hand the inner revelation of the sacred on which personal religion is based; and on the other, the manifestation of the sacred in history in the form of signs. It is a question, then, of reading the signs, which are the means by which the sacred is expressed: gesture, the community of prayer, sacred situations, idols, the miracle, the sacred books, sacred art and language, the void and sacred music and architecture. If the sacred is an a priori category, human beings are endowed with the faculty of perceiving the manifestation of the sacred in the world of phenomena. This is the fundamental basis of the history of religion and of the phenomenology of religion.

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A Hermeneutics of the Sacred: Mircea Eliade Hermeneutics is the discipline of interpretation, the art of interpreting texts to determine their true meaning by placing them in their context. Hermeneutics has its historical origins in the Greeks and in mediaeval biblical exegesis (the explanation of the meaning of the Bible). Hermeneutics is the theory of interpretation, referring to Hermes, the messenger of the gods who interprets and explains divine mandates to mortals. This being so, it is not surprising that hermeneutics should have had a theological dimension from the beginning. (Estrada, 2005, p. 243, in Ortiz-Osés et al., 2005)

Dilthey and Jameson (1972), who defines it as the general method of the sciences of the spirit, was the first to postulate the existence of the ‘hermeneutic circle’: interpretation is grounded in a prior knowledge of the data, but at the same time it modifies the meaning of these data. Taking Dilthey’s work as a starting point, Heidegger transforms phenomenology into a hermeneutic philosophy with a focus on the concepts of understanding and interpretation. If hermeneutics is the method of the sciences of the spirit, it is because its specific sense is the understanding of an intrinsic dimension of the human (de la Maza, 2005). It was Gadamer who created a genuine theory of hermeneutic experience, influenced by his teacher Heidegger. The act of understanding is the fruit of a dialectic between prejudices and the result of the act of comprehension itself, and interpretation thus becomes an infinite task. The Gadamerian proposal implies a new conception of the truth, which is distinguished from the traditional conception by its rhetorical and public character and is based on the model of the Platonic dialogue (Ortiz-Osés et al., 2005). The phenomenologist approaches the religious phenomenon, identifies it and classifies it according to a morphology and a typology, but does not make a comparison. The function of hermeneutics is one of exegesis, drawing out the facts, interpreting them and ordering them in a general perspective; it consists of discovering the trans-historical significance of religious events so as to make them intelligible to people today. In some way, the phenomenologist brings us into

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contact with the spiritual world and shows that every religion reveals the being of sacred things. Eliade presents a hermeneutics founded on the sacred and apprehended through the language of symbols and myths. He uses the method of the history of religion in order to search out the presence of the sacred in different religions as a universal phenomenon, in a way similar to what Mauss and Hubert did with the idea of mana (Eliade, 1978; de la Maza, 2005). Eliade attributes to the historian of religion a triple mission: historical, phenomenological and hermeneutic. In the first instance, the task of the historian of religions is historical, because every religious phenomenon is also historical. Religious experience takes place in a very specific historical–cultural context – the social, economic, cultural and political context in which it has developed. The task is also phenomenological, because religious experiences can only be embraced in their entirety if their historical and sociocultural aspects are transcended. Every religious fact constitutes a sui generis experience engendered in the encounter of the human individual with the sacred. The task of the history of religion is to identify the presence of the transcendent in human experience. Following in the footsteps of his predecessors Söderblom, Otto and van der Leeuw, Eliade studies the behaviour of the religious individual with his or her spiritual universe and belief in an absolute reality, the sacred, which transcends this world but is manifested in it. Like Otto, he takes it as evident that images and symbols communicate their message even though the individual may not be conscious of it. Human beings become aware of the sacred because it manifests itself, it reveals itself as something entirely different from the profane, as a power of an order wholly different from that of the forces of nature. Eliade proposes the term ‘hierophany’ to refer to this act of manifestation of the sacred. To designate the act of manifestation of the sacred, we have proposed the term hierophany. It is a fitting term, because it does not imply anything further; it expresses no more than is implicit in its etymological content, i.e. that something sacred shows itself to us. It could be said that the history of religions – from the

most primitive to the most highly developed – is constituted by a great number of hierophanies, by manifestations of sacred reality. From the most elementary […] to the supreme hierophany […] there is no solution of continuity. In each case we are confronted by the same mysterious act – the manifestation of something of a wholly different order, a reality that does not belong to our world, in objects that are an integral part of our natural ‘profane’ world. (Eliade, 1981, pp. 75–79)

There are three elements in all hierophany: the natural object, the invisible reality and the mediating object invested with sacredness. Although the sacred manifests itself as a reality that belongs to an order different from the natural order, the sacred never appears in a pure state or in itself; it manifests itself through something other than itself; it appears in objects, myths and symbols, but never in full, neither immediately nor in its entirety. In this way the hierophanies present a rather disconcerting heterogeneity of forms. For – as I have said – [these hierophanies are] not only heterogeneous in origin (some coming from priests and initiates, some from the masses, some presenting the merest allusions, fragments and sayings, some whole texts), but also in form. For instance, plant hierophanies (or the sacred as expressed in vegetation) are to be found equally in symbols (like the Cosmic Tree) or ‘popular’ rites (like ‘bringing home the May’, the burning of logs, or agricultural ceremonies), in beliefs bound up with the idea that mankind originated from plants, in the mystical relationships which have existed between certain trees and certain individuals or societies, in the superstitions relative to the fertilizing power of fruits or flowers, in the stories of dead heroes’ being changed into plants, in the myths and rites of the gods of vegetation and agriculture, and so on. (Eliade, 1981, p. 72)

Thus, the sacred manifests itself under different modalities situated at different levels: mythology, rites, cosmogonies, symbols, myths and divine figures. Each category or manifestation of the sacred has its own morphology, which reveals both a mode of the sacred and a particular situation of the human in relation to the sacred. The sacred manifests itself as a force and a power that signify reality, enduringness and efficacy.

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The Semantics of the Sacred

Eliade speaks of the basic function of the sacred as mediating between the transcendent reality and Homo religiosus; it is the means of entering into communion with supernatural power. The sacred in its mediating dimension in the interior of a hierophany is what enables the religious individual to enter into relation with the source of the sacred, with the sacred in its absolute dimension, with transcendence. Eliade’s studies of this mediating function exercised by the sacred are based on three aspects: the symbol, the myth and the ritual.

An Approach to the Concept of the Sacred and its Manifestations As we see from the different approaches we have considered so far, the sacred is a central element in the science of religions and has been addressed from three broad perspectives – sociological, phenomenological and hermeneutic – in analysing the phenomenon of the sacred and its functions in the social and religious life of human beings and their communities. Despite the diversity of approaches, one element that all of the proposals have in common is the definition of the concept of the sacred on the basis of the sacred–profane dichotomy, as two clearly differentiated realities. A brief and by no means exhaustive overview of the terminology used in different religions to designate the sacred may shed some light on how the phenomenon of the sacred is perceived (Table 2.1). Although each society has used its own terms to designate this phenomenon, a number of common features are apparent in the meaning of each word. A little more needs to be said about two aspects of Table 2.1. The first concerns the Muslim world and the ambivalent term harâm, which can designate two different categories of the sacred, as purity and as prohibition. Those places made sacred by the divine presence are harâm, and in them a series of acts must be performed; in order to be able to enter these places a Muslim must be pure (having not sinned and having been purified before entering by the performance of ritual actions). NonMuslims are prohibited from entering such places.

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But harâm can also make reference to impurity, and a prohibition issuing from God, thus bringing us closer to the sacred in the form of the taboo. The catalogue of the proscribed includes pork, fermented beverages, apostasy, murder, theft, fornication and false witness. The second term that also has different meanings is the Greek word hagnos, which has three senses: in the first sense, hagnos is the sacred quality of majesty, founded on the nature of the gods conceived as personal beings. The second meaning takes us to the sacred as the consecrated, with reference to the persons and objects of the gods. Ritual and cult are based on this reference. The third sense, that of purity in a human being, is dependent on the first two: the gods demand moral purity and also grant it. The consequence for human beings with regard to consecrated places and the gods is the need for moral purity, for a state of sacral grace: this is the sacred by separation. We can see, then, that the definition of ‘sacred’ can be understood as a universal concept common to all human beings and all religious traditions, invested with timeless and eternal values. Although they encompass very different and sometimes contradictory notions, the references to the sacred can be grouped together as follows:

• • •

• •

The sacred as all that is irrational and all that is marked by some form of transcendence. The sacred as the designation of divinity, the fundamental reality, pure existence, which in some cases is also associated with terms related to clarity, light, purity and the like. The sacred as the spiritual and pure, and thus set apart from the profane. The opposition to the profane also implies the classification of certain behaviours and the prohibition of those that are inappropriate. This is the sacred as prohibition and separation. The sacred as allowing the approach to divinity can be understood as the sacred by consecration. The sacred as the root of spiritual life, marked by the fascination and inner development that can lead to plenitude.

The sacred is clearly distinct from the profane, it is ontologically different: it has nothing human or physical, but is always manifested as a reality of an order totally different from that

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Table 2.1.  Meaning of the word ‘sacred’ in different languages. (The author’s own elaboration from Ries (1989) and Alessi (2004).) Language

Words/terms

Meaning

Hittite

Suppi

Expresses the notion of the sacred, with reference to everything that is not profane. Derived verbs include ‘to consecrate’, ‘to make sacred’, ‘to set apart’

Sumerian

Kù-g

The sacred understood as original purity, the divine in relation to the origins

Mah

‘Fully holy’, insisting on the superiority of gods, kings, the sky, certain cities and mountains

Kuddushu

Clear, bright

Parkui

Material purity or necessary quality

Egyptian

Tepzepi

‘The first time’, the original event through which everything is created

Arabic

Harâm

An ambivalent term, it refers to the sacred in what is holy and pure, and indicates divine prohibition with regard to what is impure

Quddûs

The Most Holy, in the first instance designating God and all that belongs to him: the Spirit, the Book

Baraka

Sanctity: baraka can be said to emanate from the five pillars of Islam, from mosques and from saints

Hagnos

Sacred of majesty or divinity, before which humans experience sacred fear. Sacred as having been consecrated. This takes in ritual and worship, sanctuaries and altars, forests reserved for worship and lustral waters

Hagios

Designates the temple or part of the temple reserved for priests

Numen

Designates the various dominions of God and what is invisible and mysterious. From the reign of Augustus on, the poetic name of the divinity

Deus

The most important, it designates a personal being and not a widespread sacred being Also found in most Indo-European languages

Sacer

Sets people and objects in relation with the Gods. It also means restricted and compensation

Sancire Arrel sak-

Designates the fundamental realities, the fundamental structure of the cosmos and of things

De/o

Light. Root of Lithuanian devas, Old Prussian deiws, Latin deus, Irish dia and Gaulish devon, among others

Babylonian

Greek

Latin

Indo-European

of the natural world. The sacred and the profane represent two different ways of being in the world. The sacred is equivalent to a power, and, in the last analysis, to reality. The sacred is saturated with being. Sacred power means reality and at the same time enduringness and efficacity. (Eliade, 1981, p. 20)

According to Berger (1995), the sacred is the quality of mysterious power that inspires dread, which is external to human beings yet concerns them, and is conceived of as residing in certain objects of experience. The sacred appears as a stable or ephemeral property of certain things (objects of worship), certain real human beings (priests), imagined

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The Semantics of the Sacred

beings (gods, spirits), certain animals (sacred cows), certain spaces (temples, holy places) and certain times or moments of the year (Holy Week, Ramadan). It is a higher quality that is in opposition to chaos. The object appears as the receptacle of a force that differentiates it from its milieu and gives it meaning and value. This force may reside in the substance of the object or in its form; a rock reveals itself to be sacred because its very existence is a hierophany: incomprehensible, invulnerable, it is that which man is not. It resists time; its reality is coupled with perenniality. Take the commonest of stones: it will be raised to the rank of ‘precious’, that is, impregnated with a magical or religious power by virtue of its symbolic shape or its origin: thunderstone, held to have fallen from the sky; pearl, because it comes from the depths of the sea. Other stones will be sacred because they are the dwelling place of the souls of ancestors, or because they were once the scene of theophany, or because a sacrifice or an oath has consecrated them. (Eliade, 1972, p. 14)

The divinity is characterized by a double content: knowledge and immortality, dimensions from which Adam and Eve were excluded. The human being, as the image and likeness of God, has in its essence the perennial aspiration to divinity. For Otto (1965) the similarities between the forms and beliefs of all religions is testimony to the unity of the deepest tendencies of the human soul. The consciousness of Homo religiosus generates an element that soars free of everyday life and presents itself as at once ineffable and terrible. A possible method with which to analyse the different manifestations of the sacred is the comparative history of religion, a method employed by Eliade, among others. Díez de Velasco (1998, p. 15) presents the history of religion as ‘the integral analytical approach to the religious phenomenon’ and characterizes it as follows: 



The history of religion is not moralistic, it does not seek to extract concepts of practical morality, nor to criticize the religious forms of a people; the purpose of the historical–religious analysis is to understand a religious practice in the social context that gave rise to it and on this basis to improve our understanding of the society.





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The history of religion is not exclusive; it is based on respect for other beliefs and calls for a non-dogmatic attitude on the part of the researcher and for the personal freedom to address the very diverse problems that may be confronted by religious–historical research. The history of religion is diverse and nonessentialist, and based on the discovery of the diversity of religious experiences and their historical manifestations. Religious experiences are analysed as products of the society and the time in which they take place, with every effort being made to avoid the error of prejudging them in general schemata.

This can be a starting point. Human religious experience presents an endless variety of manifestations, none of which can lay claim to primacy of any kind, and the point at issue is precisely to look for what these different manifestations have in common.

Reflection, the Knowledge of the Sacred as a Tool for Building Bridges of Dialogue From all that has been put forward for consideration thus far, it can be deduced that the sacred is a universal phenomenon; one that has been studied from different approaches. According to the sociological theories, the origin of the sacred is found in society, without reference to any transcendent supernatural reality. The sacred is a product of society and becomes the medium through which that society organizes its life. The phenomenological approach seeks to capture and to understand the religious phenomenon in the existential context of the religious individual. The birth of personal religion occurs with the assertion that the subject is the beneficiary of an inner, ineffable, mystical revelation, which allows him or her to receive the ‘wholly other’ (Otto, 1965). Eliade’s research takes in the sacred in its entirety, thanks to an integral method that articulates the results obtained by the various forms of engagement with the religious phenomenon. Thus, in contrast to the propositions

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of the sociologists, human beings do not create the sacred but discover it, as an absolute reality that transcends the world, but is manifested in it. Human beings know the sacred because the sacred is manifested through hierophany, a mysterious act by which the ‘wholly other’ is manifested in an object or a being of this profane world. This explains the continuity of sacred places in the history of humanity. What is the true nature of sacred places? What makes them sacred, and what makes people expect to obtain something by visiting them? Why do human beings continue to visit these places? If we analyse these sites, we will see that there are many differences between them, and a very great variety of characteristics, from the Palaeolithic and Neolithic to the thousands of places worshipped by the historical religions of Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Islam, etc. Some of these sites have a natural origin, while others are identified by the presence of man-made ceremonial structures such as pyramids, stone rings, temples, mosques, sanctuaries and cathedrals. Many of these places have been venerated since ancient times. Others have recently become centres of pilgrimage. This can make it difficult to identify the common elements shared by different sacred spaces (Aulet, 2009, Aulet, 2012; Aulet and Hakobyan, 2011). In most cases it can be shown that the sacred condition of a site is linked in some way to natural objects and their characteristics: trees, stones, water, mountains, caves and landscape forms. This is the idea of hierophany or the manifestation of the sacred put forward by Eliade. No such thing as a ‘most sacred place’ exists in the world and no factor contributing to the power of a place is the single most important. A constellation of factors comes into play, and we must view them as a horizontal grouping rather than as a vertical or hierarchical ranking. (Gray, 2017)

It is the combination of several factors in a given place that triggers in the human being the response or the feeling of coming into contact with the transcendent. Myths and legends of the sacred sites speak of places that have the miraculous ability to cure the body, enlighten the mind, increase creativity and awaken the soul to an

awareness of its true purpose in life. By means of the symbol, the world speaks, and it is the language of hierophany because it enables us to enter into contact with the sacred. The symbol, the myth and the image belong to the substance of the spiritual life (Rubio Hernández, 1991). This is the fundamental function of the symbol: to create bridges between the here – present – and the beyond – absent – and to forge links between the empirical reality, accessible to the human being, and everything that escapes formalization, definition and the reduction to clear and distinct concepts. (Duch, 2010, p. 86)

The sacred can be manifested in various ways and by means of various symbolisms, the most significant of which is the centre of the world. According to Eliade (1978), this symbolism has the following three dimensions: 1. Natural: at the centre of the world there is a sacred mountain where the sky and the earth meet. The mountain that rises up to the sky is a geographic factor imbued with sacredness because it participates in the transcendental symbolism of height and of verticality and because its peak is the point where heavens and earth converge. For that reason, mountains are the paradigm realm of celestial and atmospheric hierophanies, and also the residence of the gods. Elements that share in this symbolism are found in various religious traditions and cultures, and verticality and ascent are also symbolized by the tree. 2. Architectural: any temple, palace or city may be identified with the centre. Consecrated man-made spaces such as temples, palaces and cities tend to be constructed to resemble the mountain in order to endow them with the condition of ‘centres’. These sites are magically identified with the sacred mountain, whose properties they assume. 3. Cosmological: every centre stands on the axis mundi, the axis of the world, and that is why it is a meeting point for heaven, earth and the underground realm. The axis of the world establishes contact between the three vertical cosmic regions – heaven, earth and hell – and thus between the beings that inhabit them: gods, living human beings and the dead.

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The manifestation of the sacred through all these symbolisms configures what we call sacred spaces. Without entering into the conceptualization of the symbol, Father Duch outlines some of its characteristics, as follows: 1. symbols point to something above and beyond the ‘symbolic artefacts’. Although it is evident that all symbols incorporate ‘materials’ taken from the human environment, and in many cases directly from human beings, the direction towards which they point can only be comprehended in a mediated fashion, indirectly, by allusion; 2. the symbol participates in the reality of what it symbolizes, in the same way that a proxy or representative of a person or an institution participates in the honours attaching to that person or institution but is not in fact the object of those honours; 3. all symbolisms, although in each specific case expressly pertaining to certain very specific cultures and values, are structurally rooted in the human being because the human being is essentially capax symbolorum. It can therefore be said that human symbolic capacity is ineradicable, although at certain periods in a culture’s history the symbolic expressions that had formerly been valid may cease to be so; 4. authentic symbols have the ability to open up dimensions of reality that are usually not immediately perceptible or directly experienceable and, as such, are only accessible symbolically; 5. ancient and modern history shows that a characteristic feature of symbolism is that a proper use of symbols affords healing, reconciliation and integration, while their misuse results in destruction, collapse and disintegration. (Duch, 1997, pp. 213–214)

In the last analysis the manifestation of the sacred by way of symbols allows us to speak of a universal concept that is represented and symbolized in different ways according to the religious tradition in which it is inscribed. It is easier to grasp the sacred than to define it. We understand that neither the prohibited, nor the taboo, nor the person that is set apart from

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daily life, nor the inviolable, nor the feeling of religious reverence, is the sacred; but we feel that they are all part of it. (Daumas, 1997, p. 89)

In light of this, Aulet (2012) proposes an approach from two perspectives. From the first perspective, the sacred spaces share in universal characteristics that make it possible to understand them as spaces of communion with the transcendent that is common to all persons, to all cultures and to all religions. The following aspects can be highlighted:

• •











They are sacred places because a hierophany (representation of the sacred) has been manifested there, independently of human action. They are centres of spiritual energy or power, spaces conducive to one’s encounter with oneself; spaces in which to meditate, to renew oneself and to open oneself to others. They are universal spaces that reproduce multiple religious discourses, capable of opening up to other cultures and fostering dialogue and relations between human beings. As sacred spaces, they are delimited and separated from profane space; they are not mundane or everyday, but spaces whose attributes are immortality, eternity and stability. They are usually located in settings that can be thought of as cultural landscapes, where the natural landscape has a spiritual significance. They are imposing places and unmistakable for man where nature shows its grandeur and before which the spirit of man is imitated and can, through reflection and contemplation, come into contact with transcendence. Therefore, they are spaces for encounter between human beings and divinity. They reproduce sacred symbolisms that are common to all religions, and for this reason they can give rise to interreligious discourses and spaces for encounter between people of different origins, both in the past and in the present, and even more for future generations. They symbolize the centre of the world, the axis of the cosmos, a point of equilibrium

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and harmony. They can be a symbol of verticality and ascent, understood as the point of contact between the earthly and the heavenly or cosmic. The sacred space is a multiple symbol, a synthesis of the symbolism of nature and the symbolism of art. At the same time, other symbolisms may be in play, such as those of stone (as a sacred element symbolizing strength, permanence and the resistance to change) or water (as a source of life and element of purification). In some cases, these symbolisms reside more in the physical environment (landscape) than in the architectural construction of the temple.

At the same time, however, in the different religious traditions, these symbolisms accrue to themselves specific features and become devotional centres for a larger or smaller area (local, regional, national) and for the communities of believers that congregate around them. In the case of the Christian tradition, the Christian temple:











Symbolizes the centre of the world, either through being built (in the beginning) in the centre of the community of believers or because it is located in a natural space in which the symbolisms mentioned above converge. Regardless of its natural setting, a hierophany linked to a religious tradition has been manifested, sometimes explained by a myth or by the presence of relics, miracles or apparitions, which are the key element of devotion and explain the origin of the cult in this place. Contact with the divinity is manifested in rites and cults, the sacred space being a place of prayer that accommodates different manifestations of collective and individual religiosity. There is a strong local component, the territory of grace being the devotional area of the temple, which will be larger or smaller according to its importance (local, regional or national). Over and above the religious, cult and spiritual values that the place transmits, we can also identify cultural and social values which are clearly linked to the identity of the community that resides there.

In other words, the sacred space is a place of local devotion with a universal vocation. The sacredness of such places and spaces may be lost or diminished by the presence there of a very great number of people with attitudes that are clearly at variance with their sacredness. At the same time, however, these are spaces that can foster and facilitate contact and encounter between people from different cultures and religious traditions, so that with the requisite interpretation tools they have the potential to be centres for intercultural and interreligious dialogue. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has a specific project, ‘Spiritual Convergence and Intercultural Dialogue’, whose purpose is to encourage and support dialogue between different religions and spiritual traditions as a means of promoting peace and respect for religious and cultural pluralism (UNESCO, n.d.). The idea of the universality of the concept of the sacred serves to establish points in common between different religious and cultural traditions that can favour dialogue. And dialogue entails communication and interpretation. It is not enough that my Quechua interlocutor should speak Spanish and that I should understand this language, it is also necessary that I (or any other) should know Quechua so that we can both compare and check our respective translations. Clearly, what concerns us here is a knowledge of the spirit of a language and not just its vocabulary. (Panikkar et al., 2004, p. 58)

In order for the dialogue to be fruitful and beneficial, it is essential that intrareligious dialogue be articulated with interreligious dialogue; each tradition (or each person) must engage in dialogue with itself in order to lay the bases for a truly interreligious dialogue. Dialogue is a matter of exploring the identity of the other, establishing an exchange in order to enrich one’s own beliefs and traditions and appreciate the value and the richness of diversity (Ribera Regull, 2007). The sacred places, with all their symbolisms, with all their power, can serve as bridges of dialogue between people, cultures and religions, always provided they are treated with due respect by those who come to them.

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References Alessi, A. (2004) Los caminos de lo sagrado. Introducción a la filosofía de la religión. Cristiandad, Madrid. Aulet, S. (2009) Sanctuaries as sacred spaces, an opportunity for religious and cultural tourism. In: Trono, A. (ed.) Tourism, Religion and Culture. Regional Development through Meaningful Tourism Experiences. Universita del Salento, Lecce, Italy, pp. 623–632. Aulet, S. and Hakobyan, K. (2011) Turismo religioso y espacios sagrados: Una propuesta para los santuarios de Catalunya. RITUR-Revista Iberoamericana de Turismo 1(1), 63–82. Aulet, S. (2012) Competitivitat del turisme religiós en El mARC contemporani. ELS espais sagrats I El turisme. PhD thesis. Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain. Available at: http://​dugi-​doc.​udg.​edu/​ handle/​10256/​7338 (accessed 29 November 2018). Bautista, E. (2002) Aproximación al estudio del hecho religioso. Verbo Divino, Villatuerta (Navarra), Spain. Berger, P.L. (1995) Invitació a la sociologia: Una perspectiva humanística. Herder, Barcelona, Spain. Cáceres, A.A., Hoyos, A.C., Navarro, R.S. and Sierra, Á.M.G. (2008) Espiritualidad hoy: Una mirada histórica, antropológica y bíblica. Theologica Xaveriana 58(166), 381–408. Caillois, R. (1988) L’homme et le sacré. Gallimard, Paris. Daumas, F. (1997) La expresión de lo sagrado en la religión egípcia. In: Ries, J. (ed.) Tratado de antropología de lo sagrado. 3. Trotta, Madrid, pp. 89–106. de la Maza, L.M. (2005) Fundamentos de la filosofía hermenéutica: Heidegger y Gadamer. Teología Y Vida 46(1–2), 122–138. Díaz, C. (1997) Manual de historia de las religiones. Desclée de Brouwer, Bilbao, Spain. Díez de Velasco, F. (1998) Introducción a la historia de las religiones: hombres, ritos, dioses (2nd edn). Trotta, Madrid. Dilthey, W. and Jameson, F. (1972) The rise of Hermeneutics. New Literary History 3(2), 229–244. DOI: 10.2307/468313. Duch, L. (1997) Antropologia de la religió. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain. Duch, L. (2010) Religió i comunicació. Fragmenta, Barcelona, Spain. Durkheim, E. (1993 (1912)) Las formas elementales de la vida religiosa. Alianza, Madrid. Eliade, M. (1972) El mito del eterno retorno: Arquetipos y repetición. Alianza, Madrid. Eliade, M. (1978) Historia de las creencias y de las ideas religiosas. Cristiandad, Madrid. Eliade, M. (1981) Lo Sagrado y lo Profano (4th edn). Guadarrama/Punto Omega, Madrid. García Bazán, F. (1994) Sankara y lo Absoluto: el Brahman y la caracterización Sat-Jñâna-Ânanda hasta la síntesis del Upadesasâhasrî. Fragmentos de Filosofía 4, 35–58. Grace, D. (2000) Religion in Modern Europe. A Memory Mutates. Oxford University Press, New York. Gray, M. (2017) Sacred sites: places of peace and power. Available at: https://​sacredsites.​com (accessed 14 May 2018). Husserl, E. and Husserl, E. (1992) Invitación a la fenomenología. Paidós, Bellaterra, Spain. Lévi-Strauss, C. (2013) Introduction to the Work of Marcel Mauss. Routledge, Oxford, UK. Lévy-Bruhl, L. (1972) La mentalidad primitiva. La Pléyade, Buenos Aires. Lévy-Bruhl, L. (1985) L’ánima primitiva. 62. Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Müller, M. (1945) La ciencia de la religion y origen y desarrollo de la religion. Albatros, Buenos Aires. Ortiz-Osés, A., Lanceros, P. and Aguirre Monasterio, R. (2005) Claves de hermenéutica: Para la filosofía, la cultura y la sociedad. Universidad de Deusto, Bilbao, Spain. Otto, R. (1917) Das Heilige: Überdas Irrationale in der Idee des Göttlichen und sein Verhältnis zum Rationalen. Trewendt & Granier, Breslau, Poland. Otto, R. (1965) Lo santo: Lo racional y lo irracional en la idea de dios. Revista de Occidente, Madrid. Panikkar, R., Carrara Pavan, M., Ventós, M.D. and Boada, I. (2004) Pau i interculturalitat: Una reflexió filosòfica. Proa, Barcelona, Spain. Reinach, T. (1904) P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye. Manuel d’histoire des religions. Traduit de l’allemand sous la direction de H. Hubert et Is. Levy. Revue Des Études Grecques 17(75), 278–279. Ribera Regull, R. (2007) El Diàleg interreligiós. Fragmenta, Barcelona, Spain. Ries, J. (1989) Lo sagrado en la historia de la humanidad. Encuentro, Madrid. Rubio Hernández, R. (1991) Antropología, religión, mito y ritual. UNED, Madrid. Severino Croatto, J. (2002) Experiencia de lo sagrado y tradiciones religiosas. Verbo Divino, Estella (Navarra), Spain.

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Sharpe, E.J. (1969) Nathan Söderblom and the study of religion. Religious Studies 4(02), 259–274. DOI: 10.1017/S0034412500003656.. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (n.d.) Intercultural dialogue. Available at: https://​en.​unesco.​org/​themes/​intercultural-​dialogue (accessed 25 April 2018). van der Leeuw, G. (1964) Fenomenología de la religión. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México. Vasconi, R.L. (2001) La desustancialización de lo sagrado y el hombre de buen carácter. Tópicos. Rev. de Filosofia de Santa Fe 9, 197–205. Velasco, M. (1982) Introducción a la fenomenología de la religión. Cristiandad, Madrid. Weber, M. (2009) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Norton, London.

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The Symbolism of Sacred Space

Daniel H. Olsen* Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA

Introduction Pilgrimage has been a major motivation for human mobility since the early history of humankind, and is generally considered one of the oldest forms of tourism (Rinschede, 1992; Cohen, 1998; Bremer, 2005). Even though pilgrimage is an important feature in most of the major world religions, pilgrimage and sacred space have seen a revival of sorts since the 1800s in many areas of the world (e.g. Shovlin, 1991; Bar and Cohen-Hattab, 2003; González and Medina, 2003; Coleman, 2004; Forbes, 2004; Van Doorn‐Harder and De Jong, 2006; Eade and Garbin, 2007; Reader, 2007; Jansen, 2012; Rots, 2014). This revival has corresponded, at least since the end of World War II (Lloyd, 1998), with the rise of religious tourism, which, according to some experts, is one of the leading tourism niche markets, with millions of people travelling to religiously themed sites and spending billions of dollars in the process (e.g. McKelvie, 2005; Olsen and Timothy, 2006; Wright, 2008; Timothy, 2011; Olsen, 2013). Advances in transportation, medical, and information and communications systems and technologies, have created faster and more efficient and accessible travel infrastructures that have undoubtedly added to the increasing numbers of people travelling to religious sites (Reader, 1991, p. 69; Királ’ová et al., 2015).

However, the ever-increasing numbers of both pilgrims and tourists to religious sites has brought about questions regarding increasingly complex management issues at sacred sites (Shackley, 2001a, 2001b, 2003; Woodward, 2004; Olsen, 2006), which have also raised questions regarding the contested nature of religious sites in terms of ownership, interpretation, meaning, experience and narrative (Coleman and Elsner, 1995; Digance, 2003; Andriotis, 2009). While the growth of pilgrimage and religious tourism has brought about the corresponding revival of older pilgrimage centres and routes as well as the creation of new sacred religious sites, the semantical expansion of the use of the term ‘sacred space’ to encompass more secular or civil spaces has meant that places not typically tied to religion are now considered to be sacred, including war memorials, government buildings, sports stadiums, Elvis Presley’s mansion in Graceland and even corporate transactions (e.g. Jackson and Henrie, 1983; Campo, 1998; Thompson and Smith, 2001; Alderman, 2002; Gammon, 2004; Vikan, 2012)! As such, what constitutes sacred space in the modern world in many ways defies neat categorization and challenges the traditional historio-spatial sacred/profane binary (Olsen, 2010; Sinha, 2016). In this chapter, discussion about sacred space is limited to the development and maintenance of sacred spaces and places as defined by

*​dholsen@​byu.​edu © CAB International 2019. Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue: Interpreting Sacred Stories (eds D. Vidal-Casellas et al.)

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institutionalized religion, and how these spaces and places are contested yet also a meeting ground for cross-cultural understanding. I begin by briefly summarizing some of the academic shifts that have taken place over the past few decades regarding the study of sacred space (see della Dora, 2015; Greiner, 2015). I then turn to discuss the production and contestation of sacred space with an emphasis on sacred spaces as ‘places in motion’ (Kinnard, 2014), before examining how sacred spaces are being used by religious groups for outreach and to promote cross-cultural understanding.

Shifting Views of Sacred Space Over the past decade or so scholarly work on sacred space has undergone a shift from what Kong (2001) describes as the ‘poetics’ to the ‘politics’ of sacred space; or what Chidester and Linenthal (1995, p. 6) characterize as the ‘divergence between … substantial and situational definition[s] of the sacred’. The poetical or substantial views of sacred space stem from the work of Eliade (1959), who viewed sacred space as an ‘ontological given’ (della Dora, 2015) or ‘ontological reality’ (Owen, 2016); that is, in particular spaces, for whatever reason, a hierophany or a special event occurs where there is a manifestation of the ‘sacred’ or the ‘divine’ or the ‘real’ (Eliade, 1959). These divine ‘irruptions’ make these spaces qualitatively different from the surrounding mundane or profane space (della Dora, 2015); they are deemed to be ‘holy’ (Otto, 1950), ripe with the possibility of encountering or entering into the presence of the holy or the divine (Eliade, 1959), and emit a type of ‘spiritual magnetism’ that draws religious people to them (Preston, 1992). These spaces therefore become an axis mundi or sacred centre (Eliade, 1959) for one or more religious groups, and this centre becomes a critical part of how one experiences religion (Van der Leeuw, 1933; CollinsKreiner et  al., 2006). In order to protect the sanctity of these sacred spaces, religious groups set these spaces apart – usually through the construction of physical buildings replete with religious symbolism, such as churches and temples, and sacralize the space through the performance of religious rituals. This process, then,

creates a binary geography or non-homogenous landscape where there is a differentiation between sacred and non-sacred space. Eliade’s views of sacred space have been contested by numerous scholars, who in essence argue that ‘sacred space may be set apart, but not in the absolute, heterogeneous sense that Eliade insisted upon’ (Chidester and Linenthal, 1995, p. 17). At issue here is the way in which Eliade viewed the ‘sacred’ as an ‘ontological given’. In the same way that cultural geographers have argued that there is no such ontological ‘thing’ as culture (Mitchell, 1995, 2000) – that is, the notion of ‘culture’ as a superorganic entity above human beings with causitive power (see Duncan, 1980) – one could argue that there is no such ‘thing’ as ‘religion’ or the ‘sacred’. In other words, the ‘sacred’ is not a noun (Owen, 2016). Instead of sacred spaces being inherently filled with the ‘sacred’ or something ‘holy’ (Otto, 1950) or ‘real’ (Eliade, 1959), some scholars argue that sacred space is socially constructed; that sacred space is really an empty signifier devoid of any meaning until it is marked as sacred space through signification and sacralization (Van der Leeuw, 1933; Smith, 1978; Eade and Sallnow, 1991; Chidester and Linenthal, 1995). From this perspective, since sacred space is made sacred through economic, social, cultural, psychological and political processes, it ends up being ‘a value of indeterminate signification, in itself empty of meaning and therefore susceptible to the reception of any meaning whatsoever’ (LéviStrauss, 1950, cited in Kinnard, 2014, p. 3). And if sacred space is really an empty signifier void of ontological meaning, then, according to Chidester and Linenthal (1995), a potentially unlimited number of claims and counter-claims about the significance, boundaries, meanings, symbolism, interpretations and narratives, surveillance, maintenance, importance and use of sacred sites can be made at multiple scales (see Olsen, 2008, p. 177) by competing socio-cultural and political groups, or, in the case of religious groups, between two competing religious faiths, groups within the same faith or between religious and secular interests (e.g. Eade and Sallnow, 1991; Coleman

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and Elsner, 1995; Dumper, 2002; Olsen and Timothy, 2002; Digance, 2003; Hassner, 2003; Olsen, 2003; Olsen and Guelke, 2004a; Collins-Kreiner, 2008; Di Giovine, 2011; Schramm, 2011; Sosis, 2011; Samman, 2007; Khaldoun Samman, 2012; Shmueli et  al., 2014). As such, from this situationalist perspective, sacred spaces, as an ‘anchor’ of ‘meaning and power’ (Chidester and Linenthal, 1995, p. 17), are socially constructed and as such are inherently contested, with their meanings, rather than being fixed, being open to multiple interpretations and significations and constantly being reproduced. Therefore, no matter what sacred space is being discussed, or what its historical and sociopolitical context is, at what scale it is being examined or what groups or stakeholders are involved, it will always be contested because of ‘power relations’ (Olsen and Guelke, 2004a). In addition to this shift from the poetics of sacred space to the politics of sacred space, a third perspective on sacred space has emerged in recent years. As della Dora (2015) notes, some scholars have moved to examine sacred space ‘not so much as an empty vessel filled with conflicting narratives and meanings, [but] as a complex texture of materials and affects holding a transformative potential on their users’. In other words, the focus of this line of research follows recent research into emotion, affect, performance and embodiment (e.g. Edensor, 1998; Davidson and Milligan, 2004; Thien, 2005; Pile, 2010), and revolves around the transformative experiences people have at sacred sites and how these experiences affect their religious and personal identities (see Olsen, 2012a, 2012b). This can be seen in research dealing with sacred sites as ‘therapeutic landscapes’ (Hufford, 1985; Gesler, 1993, 1996; Williams, 2010, 2016; Perriman, 2015), or looking at sacred sites as ‘affective space[s]’ that are ‘constructed and experienced through embodied performance’ (della Dora, 2015; see Mitchell, 2001; Holloway, 2003; Knott, 2005a, 2005b; Olsen, 2008, pp. 195–199; Finlayson, 2012a, 2012b; Olsen, 2012b; Bone, 2013; O’Neill, 2013; Willson et al. 2013; Finlayson and Mesev, 2014; Damari and Mansfeld, 2016). One small twist on this line of research has been Kaell’s (2016) recent work on pilgrims who either fail to have transformative experiences at sacred sites or who lose their

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faith as a result of their journey there, raising questions regarding what exactly is meant by a ‘transformative experience’, and what are the types of experiences those responsible for sacred sites hope and encourage visitors to have (Olsen, 2011, 2012a, 2012b).

Sacred Space in Motion Bremer (2004) suggests that spaces and places have two competing dimensions: the locative and the itinerant. The locative dimension of place refers to the sense of permanence and ordered arrangement of a place through recognizable features in the built and natural landscape, while the itinerant dimension of place represents ‘the unstable, ephemeral dimensions of place that highlight mobility, movement, and contingency’ (Bremer, 2004, p. 12). Since there is no neutral or merely physical space (Lefebvre, 1991, p. 36), spaces and places are constantly, over time, being made and remade by institutions and groups through changes in ownership, function and use, meaning and representation (Lefebvre, 1991, p. 50; Young, 1999). As such, spaces, places and landscapes are viewed as social constructions of power, laden with symbolic and iconic political and social meaning; they are never static, but rather are fluid and open to multiple meanings and significations for multiple groups (Tilley, 2006, p. 7). This fluidity leads to a ‘tension between the enduring stability of the locative and the forces of change that characterize the itinerant’ (Bremer, 2006, p. 27). This shifts the meanings of a particular place for particular people and groups over time and allows for the contestation of the nature of a particular space or place through practice and representation. This can best be illustrated by looking at religious sites that are simultaneously considered tourist attractions. Religious sacred sites are not generally built with tourists in mind (Millar, 1999), but rather are distinctive social spaces where religious groups express their faith, values and cosmology in a spatial manner. These sites, as markers of religious territoriality (Stump, 2008) and transmitters of religious and cultural values and identities, serve as spaces of religion memory and ritual (Hervieu-Léger,

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1999), and also mark the presence of a religious group or institution in the cultural landscape. For example, while meeting houses are the most dominant physical symbol of an established Mormon presence, for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the building of a temple, which is accessible only to worthy church members, changes the status of a city or area in the eyes of church members and establishes an ideological and physical centre of the surrounding Mormon community and naturalizes their presence in the area (Hudman and Jackson, 1992; Timothy, 1992; Parry, 1994). Once defined and owned, sacred places require management and maintenance (Kong, 2001). To protect the sanctity of the site, or its ‘sense of place’ (Shackley, 2001b), religious groups and institutions will set boundaries to demarcate this sacred space through building walls, churches, temples or other such buildings. Generally, these buildings will be replete with symbolism that tell the story of the sacralization of the site, teach religious worldviews and cosmology, and help with religious rituals (Olsen, 2012b). Because ‘the meaningfulness of a particular place derives from practices that establish them and maintain them, and from the discursive force of those practices in the communities that regard them as special or peculiar’ (Bremer, 2006, p. 27), sacred architecture, rituals, the management of visitor and staff performances, institutionalized representations and interpretations, and the practice of pilgrimage, help not only to enhance the religious authenticity of a site (Bremer, 2001) and to maintain both religious group identities (Olsen, 2012a, 2012b) and place identity (Kinnard, 2014), but also to reinforce the sacredness of sacred space and naturalize and normalize the presence of religious groups and institutions in and around sacred places (Massey, 1995; Sibley, 1995, pp. 101–110, 185), particularly in postsecular urban settings where religious groups and practices may be seen as ‘out-of-place’ (Beaumont and Baker, 2011, p. 156). However, religious heritage and its associated human-built cultural and historical resources (Richards, 2000) and ritual events have become important in competitive tourism marketing and promotional efforts to attract travellers to tourist destinations (Olsen, 2003). When religious sites are marketed as tourism attractions, they become fundamentally transformed from a sacred

space to a multi-use site where religious and tourist spaces overlap – ‘a simultaneity of places, both touristic and religious’, as Bremer (2004, p. 4) puts it – and representations of sacred sites are taken out of the hands of religious groups (although there are cases where religious groups work with tourism and government officials in the marketing and promoting of their religious sites for tourism purposes; see Tilson, 2001, 2005; Olsen, 2009). The blurring of the lines between sacred and tourist space through tourism marketing and tourist visitation strengthens the itinerant dimensions of sacred spaces, and can result in touristic and religious spatial practices and representations not just co-existing but also becoming difficult to separate. At many religious sites, tourism marketing has caused an increase in casual tourist visitation to the point where they outnumber devout religious believers (Winter and Gasson, 1996; Shackley, 2001b), which adds to the complexity at religious sites where the focus is on the needs of pilgrims and worshippers rather than of non-believing visitors (Shackley, 2001b, 2003; Bremer, 2006). And while many religious site managers may wish to limit tourist visitation to their sites because of the prospect of having their sites commodified and the religious function changed to cater to multi-motivated tourists (Olsen, 2003), the allure of potential revenue generation causes them to open their doors to tourists. As well, believers and worshippers may see the presence of non-believing tourists as being subversive (Hüsken and Neubert, 2012, pp. 6–7), particularly where rituals are concerned. Since rituals, as ‘formally stylized behavior based on scripts or models that is perceived from everyday behavior’ (Hüsken and Neubert, 2012, p. 2), reinforce the sacred nature of that site and also function as a way to socialize or bind a community together, tourists can be viewed negatively if the structure and meanings of rituals are changed or altered to meet the needs of tourists who are either watching or participating in religious rituals (e.g. Shackley, 1999). Indeed, the mere presence of tourists may be anathema to believers, who may feel that tourists view their sacred space as a leisure area or playground rather than sacred space. Conflicts can arise when the religiouslyoriented goals of religious site managers clash with the income-oriented goals of external tourism stakeholders, such as government

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officials, local historical societies or tourism enterprises (Olsen, 2006). Also, since religious sites do not exist in a sociopolitical and spatial vacuum but are affected by political and social trends, sacred sites can be sites of contestation between different religious groups or cultures, like in the case of the Al Aska Intifada in September 2000 between Israel and Palestine (Hassner, 2003; Collins-Kreiner et  al., 2006), and Ayodhya, India, where Hindus tore down a 16th-century Muslim mosque (Shaw, 2000; Kinnard, 2014). Sacred sites can also be the chosen location of protests dealing with identity politics, as was the case of the World Gay Pride week in Rome during the Holy Year Jubilee in 2000 (Luongo, 2002; Mudu, 2002; McNeill, 2003). As well, in some areas of the world governments appropriate sacred sites to suppress certain religious groups and promote a pro-government ideology at these sites. A classic example of this is in Burma, where Buddhist shrines have been taken over by the reigning government who, in turn, reinterprets the shrines for tourists in a sanitized manner, focusing interpretation attention on reinforcing the state’s political and economic claims to the exclusion of the Buddhist views of the sacred site (Philp and Mercer, 1999). While both tourists and pilgrims may seek alternative religious sites to visit when conflict or violence occurs at sacred sites, hurting the travel industry in turn (Osborne, 2001; Collins-Kreiner et  al., 2006), these examples demonstrate that sacred places and landscapes are in motion or works in progress, constantly being renegotiated, renewed, reworked and contested by both groups and individuals, contain multiple meanings for multiple groups (Tilley, 2006, p. 7), and are reproduced (Lefebvre, 1991, p. 26), re-presented (Johnston, 2000) and contested through counter-hegemonic opposition to dominant ideologies through resistance and struggle (Graham et  al., 2000, p. 76).

Tourism, Sacred Space and CrossCultural Understanding Religion is sometimes seen as a vehicle for the exercising of social, political and economic power over others at different scales through

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coercion and anxieties about death (e.g. Stump, 2000; Juergensmeyer, 2006; ter Borg, 2009; Laderman, 2013; Tarico, 2014; Rausch, 2015). As well, religion is sometimes seen as not having much influence in a secularizing world, particularly when there is a perceived decline in influence of religion in the public sphere and a rise of ‘nones’ in terms of religious identification, and declining attendance in European and North American societies (e.g. Vernon, 1968; Olsen and Guelke, 2004b; Baker and Smith, 2009; Cox, 2015; Vezzoni and Biolcati-Rinaldi, 2015; Brenner, 2016). However, contrary to secularists who were predicting the death of religion in both the public and private sphere, religion is alive and well (e.g. Casanova, 1980; Stark and Bainbridge, 1985; Wilford, 2010; Green, 2011; Kaufmann et al., 2012), and has long been a key component in ethnic and national identities, such as European national identities (e.g. Asad, 1999). Religious groups also support society through faith-based humanitarian causes, including international aid and the building and maintenance of hospitals (e.g. Ferris, 2005; Lunn, 2009; Ferdinand et al., 2014; Shumway, 2015). Another benefit of religion to society is its preservation of historical architecture and institutions. In particular, religious sacred spaces form a very important part of the cultural heritage of an area, in addition to acting as places of worship and sanctuary for religious believers. Religious sites are places that where the inner aspects of religion and spirituality can be contemplated by both believers and non-believers (Shackley, 2001b; Collins and Kakabadse, 2006). As noted above, sacred sites have long attracted religious tourists regardless of belief, and as such are marketed and promoted by the tourism industry to attract visitors to their destinations (Olsen, 2003), in part to increase the number of attractions and experiences offered to visitors. At the same time, as an identity-building exercise, tourism encourages ‘the placed encounter between tourist and other’ (Oakes, 2005), and it is through ‘encountering and interacting with different cultures and landscapes [that] modern reflexive subject-making in tourism takes place’ (Olsen, 2012a). Therefore, with increasing visitation to religious heritage sites these sites act as meeting grounds between

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multi-motivated visitors: believers and non-believers and/or pilgrims and tourists. At sacred sites tourists encounter different architectural and aesthetic landscapes as well as people with other worldviews through interaction with the outward side of religion, such as statues, buildings, and holy relics and icons, as well as through engaging with site guides and managers. Through interacting with these objects visitors can become educated about, get a better understanding of, and develop a tolerance for, different worldviews (Olsen, 2012a; Bilim and Düzgüner, 2015). As well, religious sites are places where visitors can access the inner side of religion (i.e. spirituality); where reflection and contemplation are encouraged through providing an atmosphere of worship and meditation for those who wish to communicate with the divine. Even in the case of non-believing tourists (who at some popular religious sites make up the majority of visitors), who are motivated by historic and/or architectural interests rather than spiritual interests to visit a religious site and have little expectation of a spiritual experience, generally report having some sort of emotional experience when visiting these sites (e.g. Jackson and Hudman, 1995; Shackley, 2001a, 2002; Williams et  al., 2007). As tourism is sometimes described as part-pilgrimage and the tourist’s search for authenticity or epiphanies of the self is analogous to the pilgrim experience (MacCannell, 1976; Graburn, 1989; Osterrieth, 1997; Wearing et al., 2016), religious sites can be an integral part of this process in the construction of self-identity through travel. This is why religious sites, as noted by Olsen (2008, 2012a) and Collins-Kreiner (2010), are sometimes considered akin to a ‘Thirdspace’ (Bhabha, 1994; Soja, 1996; Todd, 1997); an ‘in-between’ space that links touristic and religious spatial practices and representations to create a space where, like in the case of ‘communitas’ (Turner, 1973), identity formation and negotiation can take place. Because religious sites are a meeting ground for both believers and non-believing visitors, many religious site managers have come to see their sacred spaces as potentially helping with their religious goals regarding hospitality, pastoral care, outreach and proselytization (Olsen, 2011). When believing visitors travel to sites sacred to their faith, religious site

managers can use sacred space to strengthen their religious identities. At the same time, for non-believing visitors, site managers may engage in what Askew (1997) calls a ‘ministry of welcome’, where efforts are made to make visitors feel welcome, basic information about the history of the site and the ways in which the site embodies religious theology and belief through the combination of art, architecture and liturgy is made available through pamphlets or tours, and visitors are encouraged to pray or meditate in order to gain an authentic religious experience. The hope is that by having some sort of emotion or spiritual on-site experience the religious identities of believers are solidified and the religious identities of believers are shifted towards being at least more sympathetic with the religious faith that controls the site, particularly if the main focus of the site managers is to ‘save souls’ (Olsen, 2012a). In recent years there has been a change of focus from studying sacred spaces as contested space to studying examples of ‘interfaith sacred space’, where sacred space is shared – or at least delineated peacefully – among different religious groups (e.g. Emmett, 2000; Bigelow, 2010; Biddington, 2013; Collins-Kreiner et  al., 2013; Crompton, 2013; Hayden and Walker, 2013; Barkham and Barkey, 2015; Pazos, 2016). Examples of this include sharing worship spaces (Couroucli, 2012; Hayden and Walker, 2013; Sen, 2013; Sinha, 2016; Werner, 2016), pluralistic sacred spaces in urban landscapes (Sen, 2013), multifaith buildings on college campuses (Johnson, 2012; Johnson and Laurence, 2012), multifaith chapels at airports (Hoium, 1994) and, as noted above, co-existing with tourists (e.g. Ivakhiv, 2001; Shackley, 2001a; Woodward, 2004; Olsen, 2006). One example of encouraging religious faiths to share sacred space is the ‘Sharing Sacred Spaces Project’, sponsored by the Parliament of World Religions, where people from different denominations and faiths get together in a religious building ‘to learn from members of its congregation about their faith tradition and the sacred space in which they practice their beliefs’ (Schwendener, 2011). In doing so, people travel to religious sites to understand the faith practices and beliefs of other religious groups, helping to overcome prejudice and to promote peaceful relations between religious faiths through understanding and education.

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The Symbolism of Sacred Space

Conclusion While the concept of sacred space is found in all religions, sacred space is expressed differently in each religion in terms of architecture, use, orientation, access, purpose and maintenance (Scott and Simpson-Housley, 1991; Holm and Bowker, 1994). Religious groups and institutions, in believing that cosmological forces, or god(s) or something otherworldly has manifested itself in otherwise homogeneous space, not only mark, maintain and manage these sites (Kong, 2001), but also utilize these sites to transmit religious and cultural values and identities (Hervieu-Léger, 1999). However, these sites are also sites of contestation, whether it is because of academic discourse, conflict over ownership, interpretation and representation, or the use of these sites for tourism marketing and promotion purposes. However, religious sites function as spaces of cross-cultural understanding. Increasing travel to religious sites means that religious sites are playing an increasingly meaningful role as places where both individual and group religious identity is created and maintained. While people

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travel to religious sites for religious reasons, such as fulfilling a vow, worship and ritual participation (Morinis, 1992), other people visit religious sites because of other less religious reasons, such as curiosity and education. While religious site managers encourage travellers, both believers and non-believers may have liminal experiences to either solidify or shift their religious identities (Tilley, 2006; Olsen, 2012a, 2012b), identity formation is also linked to deep attachments to places (Relph, 1976; Tuan, 1977; Graham et al., 2000; Teather and Chow, 2003; Bremer, 2004). Bremer (2004, p. 3) suggests that both religious followers and tourists demonstrate concern about and attachment to special places. Because of the experiences people can have when visiting religious sites, both believers and non-believers can hold these sites to be special, and, like believers, non-believers also demonstrate concern about and attachment to special places. As sacred sites have become important tourist attractions in many places, there is great potential for religious sites to be used as symbols and spaces of peace and understanding (Bilim and Düzgüner, 2015).

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The Symbolism of the Built Temple

Dolors Vidal-Casellas* Chair Gastronomy, Culture and Tourism Calonge-Sant Antoni, University of Girona, Spain

Much has been written about the symbolism of art, holy art, the relations between art and spirituality, and the like. Experts in holy art hold that there is no such thing as ‘art for art’s sake’; when speaking of holy art, everything has a reason, nothing is accidental. Just as the beauty of different natural features can inspire and change people, so can that of buildings in holy places. The gods have to be able to visit the temple they are to inhabit during their stay on earth, and this also has to be visible to the human gaze. Documentation on the history of religions provides us with thousands of descriptions of holy abodes: of temples, churches, cathedrals, basilicas and holy cities. In the great religions, we see the temple as both imago mundi, and the earthly representation of a heavenly archetype. An example of this is to be found in the provinces of Egypt, where the ‘heavenly fields’ into which heaven was divided were shown. The gods instructed King Gudea of Lagash, in ancient Sumer, on how to build the city’s temple. When building their cities, the Etruscans used the structure of heaven as a model. All royal cities in India were built following the mythical model of the heavenly city in whose Primordial Temple the Universal Sovereign lived (Burckhardt, 2000).

Likewise, architecture occupies a central place in the perception the contemporary tourist has of the places they visit. Some of the world’s most important tourist destinations, whether urban or rural, are connected to an architectural and/or monumental image that represents the past or present of the place. While this is true across much of the world, such a connection is perhaps least evident in sub-Saharan Africa. Tourists visit Nôtre Dame in Paris, Saint Paul’s in London, the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Chartres Cathedral, the Taj Mahal in Agra, Shah Cheragh in Iran, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Dubai and the basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe in Mexico, but there are thousands more holy buildings that serve to define a city, a country, a destination. The religious buildings of the five continents are among the world’s most visited sites; in many places, they may indeed be the only building visited. This work aims to deconstruct such architecture into fundamental elements, shapes, numbers and basic relations, thus rekindling our interest in those places where there is a strong link with the cosmos, the past, the present and, of course, the future. This chapter will not examine the effects of liturgy, music, the spoken word, bells and silences. It will only examine the shape itself, the

*​dolors.​vidal@​udg.​edu © CAB International 2019. Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue: Interpreting Sacred Stories (eds D. Vidal-Casellas et al.)

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group of basic shapes and their symbols; these are powerful, universal forms as they help shape the archetype constructed by the human mind. We are aware that, once we remove liturgical elements, the symbolic value of such places can shed only a partial light. It does, however, provide us with a vision that may be of value. As Aulet et al. (2017, pp. 30–31) say, holy places can be seen as an exponent of the concept of holy space, and are closely related to the landscape where they are located. They are an example of how tangible and intangible heritage are interrelated: buildings respond to specific needs related to the daily routine of the community (including religious needs) but with symbolic meanings. We understand tangible religious heritage to consist of both tangible and intangible elements. This tangible heritage represents, in some way, the holy space.

The tangible and intangible values of heritage are inseparable. While this chapter will refer to the constructed space, in order to understand this, one has also to examine symbols. We will examine this subject as it is where the following three characteristics come together: 1. Holy architecture exists across the five continents and in all historical eras. 2. Its built elements attend the needs of all people – from local communities in small villages to tourists who are visiting from all around the world. 3. Such constructions are part of what may be the most visited places in many destinations and tourist routes. The text is divided into different sections. First, I will reflect on the relation between the temple as a built space and the value of the holy. The holy is an absolute element, intangible, but which in some way manifests itself to be perceived by the human being. I will then examine the process by which a temple is built, above all focusing on how the choice of location responds to a number of questions that are more symbolic than casuistic. Finally, we will examine a number of aspects related to the symbolism of the temple and the meaning or meanings that can be attributed to the different elements and built parts of temples, above all Christian ones, but also relating

them to those characteristics shared with other religious traditions.

The Construction of the Holy, Making Tangible the Intangible Holy space is a place where a temple is built. It is a transcendental meeting place where the ordinary, the profane, the immediate, and perennial cosmic order and plenitude join together. This place that participates in the two realities, or better said, where ordinary reality is elevated to the extraordinary, is a prophetic one, where the individual and, by extension, their community, experiences a healing and enlightening dynamic. ‘Homo religiosus does not choose a sacred place; rather, he/she discovers it. What one discovers is not simply a sacred place; one also finds the place where power manifests itself to be transformed from profane to sacred’ (Eliade, 1999, p. 106). The temple is built following such a revelation, Babylonia, for example, meant ‘relation between heaven and earth’. Following Rosenhald’s 2009 thesis (cited in Morales Schmuker, 2014, p. 4), Morales Schmuker states that a holy space is ‘a field of both force and values that elevates the religious person above themselves, that transports them to a medium that is different to the one the one that their existence unfolds in’. The holy extends beyond images, temples and sanctuaries: ‘it appears in the dominion of emotion and from the sensation of being-in-the-world’. Holy spaces are, therefore, the result of a combination of several levels: the ‘fixed’ (the temple), the ‘non-fixed-fluid’ (the devout, pilgrims) and the imaginalis, the ‘holy circle’ that surrounds the space itself, and defined by the imagination of followers (Meagher, 2018). The construction of such spaces is ritualized and modernized by prayer, meditation and the celebration of specific rites. Religious manifestations form part of the intangible heritage. Places and their material constructions are part of the tangible heritage; they generally provide support for several generations of people and the intangible is celebrated within, in what we call holy spaces. Sacralization practices do not designate an institution, field or system of symbols, but rather recognisable heterogeneities in a continuous social process in a world

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of meaning; one that is therefore neither ‘extraordinary’ nor radically different. Differentiating textures, recognisable heterogeneities that become active at specific moments and/or spaces; far from existing abstractly or having a universal content, they are recognized by natives and acted upon in a range of situations: in geographical discontinuities, marked by different calendars, in everyday interactions, commonplace gestures and ritual performances. (Martín, 2007, p. 49)

Huxley (1992), following Leibniz (González Romero, 2016), propagated the idea of Perennial Philosophy based on a Universalist interpretation of the world religions. They search for the commonplace that underlies religions; there is an underlying unity to the world and at the centre of the various visible manifestations there is a Supreme Unifying being, what Xavier Melloni (2003) calls The One in the multiplicity. Our connection with the holy creates reality. The subtle and the perennial, the guiding thread of man on earth and its ability to sacredly reproduce infinite space into finite, will last through the ages. In reality, it is a higher state of awareness that goes beyond the everyday, distancing itself, and finding the fleeting moment of the revelation of unity in our daily lives. Bucke, Maslow, Wilber, Hani, Guénon and Burckhardt are some of the authors who have established a deep relation with the sense of holy order in architecture; they suggest a simple rereading of the essential in order to once more perceive the value of the constructed as a holy manifestation of man in harmony with the cosmos. The structuring of collective life began with the search for the integration of the human being with the cosmos, the cosmos holding many answers to organizational questions over which man has no power. As everything indicates, this need has always arisen when people have organized themselves as collective beings. This attempt to integrate cosmic totality reveals the religious spirit, taken to be the feeling of an orderly connection with those things that surround us, other beings, life and the cosmos (the absolute). It is this linking spirit, of relinking with the wholeness that man locates, and uses to orient himself and give the world meaning. For a religious group that feels at one with the cosmos, every world founded on their organized

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reality must reveal what is real and absolute (Eliade, 1999). Thus, sociospatial unity arises as a collective body, which is also seen as the totality and expression of the real world. The vision of the world in religious thought is therefore systemic, holistic, and able to perceive and represent totalities and the organic nature of life. Furthermore, beyond the temporary link with the community that has created it, the purpose of the temple is to remain, to stand far longer than the human lifespan, concentrating within it the value of the inheritance and what is passed on to new generations who will repeat the celebratory canon almost unchanged and for many years. This is what we mean by heritage. In order to physically last over time, it has to be conserved, and conserved beyond the mere rational use that a generation may make of it. It also has to be conserved for those people who do not use these spaces as generators and facilitators of living in the transcendent. What are the differences between conserving a monument and a holy building? Almost two centuries ago, in 1837, when France created the first Commission for Historical Monuments, three classes of building were categorized as being worthy of conservation: the ruins of the Ancient World, religious buildings of the Middle Ages and a number of chateaux. The commission’s remit was France, and covered Christian, largely Catholic, religious buildings. What is interesting from our point of view is that earlier and later religious buildings were not deemed worthy of a detailed inventory, nor of study and assessment by the Commission; we can also assume that little effort was given to their conservation. The archetype of the holy Christian religious building took root in the Middle Ages. It was then that the shape of the temple, the social recognition it had and its ability to develop the function of uniting the earthly with the holy through the development of liturgy developed rapidly in the West. Something similar is happening today in countries such as India, where temples are being built across the whole country. The Middle Ages ended officially and definitively in Europe around 1500 ce; thus, France felt that, on one hand, anything built closer to 1837 did not merit so much conservation; and, on the other, that insufficient time had passed for such buildings to be seen as historic monuments – it was too soon to determine

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whether recently constructed religious building would pass the tests that would enable them to survive and act as holy buildings. More recently, Mine, 2013 examined the issue of the restoration of holy buildings, linking aspects such as the protection of their symbolic and holy values with artistic and cultural ones, adding the question of their use or adaptation for other purposes (examples being found in the UK and Holland). What do we call a monument? The word comes from the Latin monumentum, which, in turn, came from monere (to warn, to remind), and is directly linked to memory. The affective nature of a destination is vital; it is not about leaving proof, transmitting neutral information, but about emotion sparking the internal connection, the living memory. In this first meaning, a monument is any artefact built by a community that serves to remind itself of itself or make future generations remember people, events, sacrifices or beliefs (Choay, 1992). Thus, according to Choay’s definition, the monument is fundamentally memory (experienced, emotionally connected to an individual or community), but there is no distinction between a monument built socially by a group of people to commemorate an event, and a holy monument, in the theological sense of the word, which implies modernization, a return to the present, to what is celebrated. The mid-19th century saw the beginnings of a purely normative approach in Western culture; over time this has become both objective and systematic, in which recognition of the cultural heritage of a specific object may depend on its being listed. The start of the 21st century has seen this become less restrictive, above all focusing on how a specific society perceives such heritage. As Vecco (2010) explains, it is not dependent on the material aspect, but rather the value of collective memory and, in the case of the holy, the power of its presence and interior life.

The Place of the Holy, Localization and Structure of Temples Religious spirit and behaviour guide human sacralization of the world; that is, the connection

with this world, as an expression of intuitive thought (Koellreuter, quoted in Le Bourlegat and Castilho, 2004). In the process of organizing life and communicating with the world, part of human nature is the need to locate oneself in time, space and in relation to the cosmos, as a way of orientation, structuring of order and communication within this nature. The fixed point, established in the centre of the cross, built on the cardinal points, meant the place of rupture in collective organized space, the door that led to heaven and the navel of the world, what the Romans called the ‘orbis terrarum’. Hierophany, the manifestation of the holy, occurred at this point of rupture; it facilitated union with the transcendent (Eliade, 1981) and meant the qualitative collapse of spatial homogeneity. Religious behaviour included the worship of those divine beings that lived holiness, as a way to communicate with these gods. The quadrants that resulted from the intersection then became part of the ‘imago mundi’. Cosmic order was established here through a ritual that consecrated the gods, with its own structure and procedures, thus transforming the place into somewhere hallowed (Benévolo, 1983). If the city grew, cosmological and religious rituals extended space, normalizing the territory and reestablishing the limits of protection. Settling in a territory was, therefore, a vital decision, an act of the conception of collective life, an individual world that is different in time but also united with the cosmos. Every element of the organizing pattern around the fixed point of union with the absolute space of the divine was shown as a manifestation of the life and identity of the being, the ‘soul’ born at the moment of conception, the finality of which was eternal life (Wiener, 1988). Therefore, that space that had been consecrated as an orderly world integrated in the cosmos was given the essence of the pure being, it had its own soul, as an expression of cosmic totality. If the cosmos was the absolute, space was the essence of the absolute being and became absolute space, which would last for all eternity. The organizing pattern, established as a way to for beings to communicate with each other and with the totality, always tended to perpetuate itself and endlessly multiply, in a

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common desire for the survival of the essence of the being. The word ‘religion’ comes from the Latin ‘religare’, conveying the meaning of constant integration with cosmic totality. Rituals are religious practices that enable this constant communication with the totality, as the being is constantly recreated. One can be born again and again, so it is a repetitive process of conception that makes the being eternal. Rituals, which show the efforts humans make to connect with what is holy, form the ‘sacraments’, which means communication with the holy (Eliade, 1981). However, the religious spirit repeatedly manifests itself in these linked micro-spaces, resettling new worlds as a kind of integrating spirit in different cultural landscapes. The manifestation of hierophany is indispensable. Holy places may be mountains, the confluence of two rivers – as a symbol of unity in relation to duality – the place where a specific past event that was highly relevant to those who lived there has to be remembered or simply the revelation of a specific space. Sometimes it was the sunlight that fell in a certain place on the summer and winter equinoxes that indicated where to build a holy space. This holy space may be small or big. The size of the building is not important in the perception of holiness. Harmony, balance, and the ability to absorb and spread the perfume of the holy determine the perception of such built spaces. The territorial nature of the holy implies the definition of a fixed point where hierophany can manifest itself; the structures have different degrees of holiness, from the centre outwards. The area around these consecrated spaces is generally considered to be profane, it is where profane activities, such as trade and services take place, but they are directly linked to the dynamic of the holy space. Integration in the networks of such spaces, included in the same cultural context of values and rites, forms religious institutions. Each group comes together around the same values, beliefs, symbols, myths and rites, filling social relations with spirit and religious behaviour and consecrating spaces. In specific cultural contexts, the holy may manifest itself through witnesses that may be subjects or objects that are saturated with the Being, and with miraculous powers. These elements may

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sanctify places that had previously been deemed profane and integrate them into the collectively constructed religious world. The relation between the temple and the city is harmonious, in that the temple is a central point, the axis of the world; other temples, streets, houses, walls, the city itself, all form one enormous temple. In the European Renaissance, the utopia of the ideal city continually sought to reconstruct the perfect harmony of the citytemple. Living in this world of the perfect city, or as perfect as possible, provided the opportunity to be in contact with the divine, every day and in every act in the deepest meaning of existence. Ancient Chinese cities were laid out like models of the universe, on a north–south axis that corresponded to the heavenly meridian. The Royal Palace was built in the place that corresponded to the Pole Star (Humphrey and Vitebsky, 1997). The holy architecture of sub-Saharan, animist Africa is seemingly more modest. It does, however have real force since the whole territory acts as a temple, the Shaman living at the very centre. The reverberation of the name of the holy is powerful; the name chosen by a village’s inhabitants guarantees the balance of the force after the initiation of young people. This tradition prohibits communication with the ‘outside’, as contact with the uninitiated weakens and contaminates the original energy. As we shall see below, this is highly relevant in holy places of all traditions in the case of uninitiated tourists, the non-believers, those who are not aligned with the search for the holy force. A territorial dynamic can be verified of both the holy and the profane, which are interrelated. They are opposed, complementary realities (Durkheim, 1993), and mean that the holy and the profane are classified as opposites. The former is that which belongs to an inviolable, prohibited, separate dominion. The holy is always a religious veneration, the subject of both fascination and abhorrence (Morris, 1987; Reeber, 1998). The profane (from the Latin ‘profanus’, outside the temple) is that which is not, or is no longer, marked by a holy character, and is lacking any religious character (Le Bourlegat and Castilho, 2004). These two modalities form the being-in-theworld, in the existential situations experienced by man throughout history. The holy and the

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profane are the result of the different positions that man conquered in the cosmos and are, therefore, of interest not only to the philosopher, but also to any researcher who wishes to understand the possible dimensions of human existence (Eliade, 1981). In religious thought, every holy building is cosmic; that is, it is made in imitation of the world. This means that the temple is not simply conceived as the result of the inspiration of an individual architect, but is provided by God himself. In Judeo-Christian architectural tradition, the temple is built following a number of heavenly archetypes that are communicated to man by the prophets; such was the case of Noah’s ark, the Ark of the Covenant, Solomon’s Temple or the New Jerusalem. Hani and Quingles (1996) base this on two strictly architectural aspects: geometrical order and ritual orientation. Every creation is a process in which the spirit penetrates shapeless matter; out of chaos comes order. Likewise, an architect who builds a structure using raw materials is imitating the creator, who has been called the Great Architect of the Universe. Hani is convinced that, just as God created everything with weights, numbers and measurements following a mathematical structure, if a building is to be called ‘holy’ it should follow objective, mathematical rules; among these are the laws of divine proportion. But it is not merely this. Every temple must also be an omphalos, a centre of the world where God resides and from which, in his name, the priest may call on the forces that govern the universe. Since the French Revolution, the construction of religious and holy architecture has influenced the Western world not only through the progressive loss of value and modernization of the holy, but it has also shown the difficulties of perceiving holy dimensions in the structures of other cultures. As the study of the history of civilizations has developed, and scientific discourse has given content to the meaning of place, the perception and distinction of the holy in architecture has lost weight. Paradoxically, the considerable increase in the number and frequency of international travellers has led to a need to understand the alien and the known; the historical story has shown an inability to satisfy or even recognize such needs.

In tourism, much of the discourse of audio guides for visitors to consecrated buildings, cathedrals, basilicas, monasteries, sanctuaries and the like focuses on the chronology of building, restoration and those who have worked on the building. As far as the deeper meaning is concerned, there is only silence. The sense and symbolic meaning of the place, of everything that makes it holy, has to use metaphorical or allegorical language; this is a non-literal language, and the communicative tree of the place disappears. The Greek word kosmos means both origin and ornament. The world, as a cosmos, is revealed as a sacred one. Non-cosmic space, the simple shapeless, flat extension that goes nowhere and is unbuilt upon this profane space is, for the religious person, the non-absolute, to some extent what we now call the non-place.

Symbolism of Temple Elements The design and construction of holy buildings is art on its largest scale (Humphrey and Vitebsky, 1997). In reality, humans have prepared a room for the gods to find refuge among us since time immemorial. The order of the universe, through its structures, alignments, expansions and retractions has been reproduced in the models of holy traditional architecture, in time and space. In Jewish tradition, Jerusalem is an earthly city that joins heavenly Jerusalem; this city of heaven on earth that is the temple forms the centre of concentration from which order, peace, the past and the future, and love all irradiate. The traditions of Vanarasi, Tenochtitlan, Mecca and so many others mean the same, the heavenly temple. When discussing the traditional meaning of the Christian temple, the formal and organic conception of the built temple comes directly from the word of God: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works. (Ex. 31: 3–4)

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And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle. (Ex. 25: 8–9).

David gives Solomon the rules for the building of the temple: Thou hast commanded me to build a temple upon thy holy mount, and an altar in the city wherein thou dwellest, a resemblance of the holy tabernacle, which thou hast prepared from the beginning. (Wis: 9.8).

Symbolism is the direct, unbreakable link between a material object and its spiritual meaning; a way to make a spiritual reality tangible. An example of cosmological symbolism can be found in the eye; in the Hebrew world the sea is represented by the white of the eye, the earth by the iris and the temple by the pupil. Geometric and numerical forms have a special meaning in Christian symbolism. The circle and the square are widely repeated symbols; on the metaphysical level they represent two aspects of divine perfection. As we shall see, the holy temple is reduced to the cube and the sphere; the nave is a cube, while the dome or vault are spheres. The vertical line goes ever upward to heaven, which is where we look when praying, and divine blessings come from above. The special spherical element of the dome or vault is reflected horizontally in the semi-circle of the apse, making this the most earthly heavenly place.

The base, squaring the circle The circle and sphere represent the limitless unity of God, his infinity and perfection. The square and the cube are stable forms and images of his immutability and eternity. On a lower symbolic level – the cosmological – these two symbols summarize all created nature, in its essence and dynamism. This relation between the circle and the square is the foundation of holy architecture, that which forms that basis on which the whole building is conceived and constructed. According to this, the heavenly archetype of the holy building is a cube capped with a sphere. The vertical dimension is also highly important in the temple, as it is the natural dimension of

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prayer; the symbolic direction from which God descends to man and man ascends to God. More recently, Costa and Bonetti (2016) have shown this association between the vertical and the holy in the perceptive assessment of geometrical objects. Using a forced choice format, the researchers showed participants a series of paired three-dimensional shapes and asked them to choose the object they felt was most holy. Vertical, high shapes were consistently deemed to be more holy than lower, horizontal ones. This discovery is consistent with the results of Herzog et al. (2013); they discovered that the preferences for surroundings that had been specifically designed to be places of worship were predicted by the perceived calm, visual richness and the care/maintenance of the building in question. There is therefore a relation between environmental attractiveness and the holy. Plato believed that the divine model is necessary for happiness. Philosophical thought over the ages has tried to define the patterns of harmony and order that can offer lasting peace. For Jung (2014 (1969)), the circle with a square is the relation between psyche – the circle – and body and matter – the square. Mystical thought has become the universal symbol par excellence. In ancient times circles had a heavenly, protective meaning. Heavenly circles can represent heavenly hierarchies and stages in spiritual development. The circle is a symbol that is both feminine and masculine (Humphrey and Vitebsky, 1997). A circle – feminine – inside a cross – masculine – means union. This can be seen in China, northern Europe and the Middle East, among other places. While the circle has no divisions, beginning or end, we have divided it into 360°, the number of days of the ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian year; the other five were given over to celebrations. The dynamic nature of a dance around a circle serves to sanctify a space, to help in making it a particularly holy place. The seven times that Muslim pilgrims walk around the Kaaba – holy cube – or the times that young Hindu brides and grooms walk around a table are just two examples. The circle and the square, which correspond to the heavenly and earthly domains, join in the intersection between the sphere and the cube, or the circumference and the square in an

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octagon. In Christianity, the number eight represents life after death, the Resurrection. The octagon can be found in numerous Romanesque Italian baptisteries, those of Pisa and Florence being just two of the better-known examples. In summary, the circle or sphere is the symbol of divinity because it has no beginning or end. In its interior, rays coexist in a single unit, and any one point contains all straight lines, all unified with the place from which they begin. The change from the sphere, circle, arches to rectangular shapes symbolizes the Incarnation. Thus, the square and the cube embody the principles of bedrock, foundation, immutability and eternity. The circle and square are primordial symbols in metaphysical order. They represent divine perfection. In cosmological order, the circle is the shape and activity of heaven. It is an instrument of the divine activity that controls life on earth. The square is substance, earth, the refuge of heaven. The square sets and crystallizes circular movements, time cycles, heavenly movement. In some way the square and the cube condense, capture and order the divine activity represented by the circle. This is one way in which humans have, since ancient times, objectified the heavenly abode on earth. An example can be found in the layout of a Christian temple. The word ‘basilica’ comes from the Greek basileus, meaning ‘king’. That symbolism that had been related to the figure of the Roman emperor (Roman), and visualized in art, architecture and imperial ceremony, would become associated with the Christian God. The plan is the basic shape of any temple. A circular plan is used in baptisteries (where Christians celebrate baptism). Baptism is seen as a symbolic death and resurrection. A cross-shaped plan establishes a relation with the crucified figure of Christ. The Latin cross layout symbolizes Christ, the central square represents the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). The Greek cross layout symbolizes the equality of the four arms, the rising movements made by the individual and the community become a love for all. This can be seen in the horizontal arms of the cross. Another example is the Hindu mandala. It is the most compact model of the universe,

a diagram that represents the structure of the universe, and is used in rituals and meditation (Humphrey and Vitebsky, 1997). The mandala is the floor plan of the temple in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The mandala combines two primordial shapes, the circle and the square; the former is heavenly, the latter, earthly. The circle fits inside the square, thus originating the meeting between heaven and earth, the mystical and the earthly, the object and the material, which, as it is holy, shines and activates its force permanently, fed by the shape itself and by prayer. In other words, prayer, in this privileged space, becomes joined with the centre of creation and unleashes all its potential, all its power. The mandala with the four cardinal points opens itself to the world and, as with the Christian cross, has a centre, an axis where all force is concentrated in communication with the axis of the universe. The Greek cross, with four equal arms, in movement and dynamism draws the sphere. The mandala is used as the plan of the temple, so that, once built, the temple is the structure of the universe and a privileged space for meditation and spiritual union since, inside it, man is as if he were in heaven. The Buddhist temple of Borobudur, in Java, is mandala-shaped and is, at one and the same time, stupa, altar, cosmic axis, centre of the world, the body of Buddha and the teaching of Buddha. The pilgrim ascends stairs and horizontal corridors where sculptures accompany him on his internal ascent, from the world to heaven, losing his interior shadows and taking part in a ritual of ascension until reaching the temple’s central stupa, at the highest point.

Orientation and route inside the temple While the symbolism of the Christian temple is not identified with a specific architectural style, it is true that Romanesque and Gothic, between the 10th and 15th centuries, are the styles where most elements of Christian symbolism are to be found. Cosmological symbolism can be found in numerous cultures, across both time and space. Theological symbolism is the result of cosmological symbolism. The Christian temple is oriented

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in a manner that symbolizes the movement of the faithful eastwards. The main door though which worshippers enter is on the western side; as the sun sets in the west, this represents the world of the dead. The other end of the temple, where the devout focus their gaze, faces east, where the sun rises; the east represents Israel, birthplace of Christianity. In ancient times, the location of the Christian temple was determined by using the Vitruvius method. A stick was placed in the ground and a circumference drawn, the stick being the central point. The maximum separation between the morning and afternoon shadow indicated the decumanus axis, which goes from east to west. Christianity adopted Vitruvian order. Cosmological symbolism is at the base of all culture, and has been present across time and space. Theological symbolism modernizes cosmological symbolism. Entry to the Christian temple is through the western door, the axis furthest removed from the east. It symbolizes the path from darkness to light, from chaos to holy order. Approach is made passing the atrium of the catacombs or cemetery, entering the door where there is a relief of the Last Judgement and one approaches the altar (Burbridge, 1992). Passing through the doorway of a holy space is equivalent to starting a symbolic pilgrimage to accede to a higher reality. In Christian tradition, the church door symbolizes Christ, ‘I am the door of the sheep (…) I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture’ (John 10: 7–10). A further example is to be found in Japanese shintó, one of the most noteworthy and common elements of which is the large door (torii) that provides access to the venue (Pérez Prieto, 2011). The door symbolizes the border between the profane and the sacred worlds. It is a conduit as both worlds come into opposition and communicate in the doorway. Passing through the doorway symbolizes the movement from the profane world to the spiritual. The door also synthesizes the temple’s basic forms, it is a rectangular niche, like the nave (the earth), covered by a semi-circular arch like the vault (heaven). The rectangular door and semi-spherical tympanum once more show the cosmic, mystical symbol of the union of heaven and earth.

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The circle that forms part of the regular layout of the temple becomes a rose window. This image represents eternity, the image of an endless beginning. The labyrinth can be found on the floor of many important temples, most of them are placed at the start of the nave, close to the door. As if it were a mandala, the labyrinth is formed of a series of concentric circles or octagons. In the labyrinth we find the circle represented once more, symbolizing the path of life, the journey that takes us from the ephemeral to the eternal. This seems to wish to represent the knotted cord of the masons’ guild, symbolizing the link that joins them. Grace is obtained in this Ariadne’s thread, which both follows the route of the labyrinth and comes out from it. The way, the path that symbolizes the movement needed in order to become a spiritual being. The altar is a rock, its symbolism completed by the dome that covers the sanctuary; once again we see the relation between the square and the circular. The vault or dome is the symbol of heaven, while the square or rectangular altar represents earth. The altar must be placed over the shetiyah stone, the first stone, that of the origin, which is laid before the temple is built. The shetiyah stone forms an imaginary pillar that rises until it meets the keystone, in the middle of the dome. Three steps lead to the altar, symbolizing the constituent ternary of man.

Other elements In some Christian temples, one can descend to the crypt, a subterranean space in hell. There only the presence of a saint’s relics and the prayers of a believer will make the soul ascend, taking us to the main nave, where one generally finds one or two apses, and, in some cases, the domes. Domes, as I have mentioned, are heavenly spaces in both shape and name. They are a meeting place, the holy space of copula. Columns join the lower and upper parts of a holy building like trees of life, the community of believers. Ever since Egyptian temples, forests of columns have risen upwards from the earth; there is also a second movement, from up to down, and both represent spiritual renewal. Arches are elements present in Romanesque and Gothic Christian temples. The Romanesque

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rounded arch is in the apse and represents the victory of Christ; post-Romanesque, the arches move outside, above the doors that gave access to the temple. The three patterns of Gothic art symbolize the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), which is represented by three people sitting next to each other. The column symbolizes the structural element that connects the lower and upper levels; as the church’s soundness and stability depend in a large part on the columns, these are used to express the strength that sustains a religion. On a more metaphysical level, columns represent the tree of life. The paschal candle is a further element connected with columns. It represents the column of fire that led the people of Israel across the desert. Easter night, through the rite of immersion in the baptismal font, becomes a light for all believers, and in particular, a Light for those being born or dying. Burning lights are present in sacramental liturgy throughout the year and bring with them the quality of the vision, the reaching of a higher state of mystical connection with the universe. The bell-tower is not a primitive element of Christian architecture. The earliest churches had no towers, and, when they began to be built, they may well have served for defence and as look-out points. However, bell-towers, as they began to form part of holy buildings, developed a special symbolism. The Romanesque bell-tower has a number of sections and levels. The numbers 3, 4 and 7 are frequently repeated. This tall building is an element that is seen to be, at one and the same time, ascendant, a cosmic mountain and the stages of the maturity of the spirit. The baptismal font contains water. It was originally located outside the temple, next to the main door. Before entering the holy world (the temple), the worshipper had to distance themselves from the profane world; water both purified and regenerated. The baptistery is now on the northern side just inside the church, and its main feature is still the font of holy water, which is circular and often octagonal. The rose window is another example of a circular shape representing eternity. The medieval rose window comprises a number of stained glass panels that let light in and connect with the sun and the divine universe (Nieto Alcaide, 1978). The multi-coloured glass is set in Grisaille

lead, and lets the Light into the church. Christ is normally represented in the centre, illuminating the holy space inside the church every second of every day. Cosmic and theological sanctity united. We have to see that classical-era Gothic stained glass served two purposes: the symbolic configuration of space, and being the conduit of iconographic programmes in accordance with the iconographic meaning of the cathedral. (Sebastián and López, 1994, p. 345)

The stairway of the temple also symbolizes communication between the earthly and the divine worlds. The mere fact of climbing stairs represents intellectual progress, and spiritual evolution. This is a spiritual dimension and the efforts of man to rise in search of wisdom. Not all towers are bell-towers. Just as the stairway symbolizes the nexus between the heavenly and earthly worlds, it is a symbol of ascension towards the divinity. In Romanesque architecture, the division of the tower into a number of levels can be interpreted as stages towards the maturity of the spirit. The bell is found inside the tower or belltower. The bell has a very clearly defined holy character, it is baptized as if it were a baby; the rite consists of purification through the use of holy water, and incense, furthermore, it is anointed with oil, given a name and dressed in white clothing. The bell baptism ceremony strengthens it and enables it to exorcize malign influences. Therefore, the bell not only emits sound waves, but also purifies and sacralizes both air and space. The vault is the circular element that covers part of the temple, it is normally found directly above the altar. The vault encompasses two states. It was first associated with the underworld of hell; they used to cover small underground spaces such as crypts and catacombs. Its second state is as the cover of the temple itself, making a clear reference to the heavenly dome. The word cloister comes from Latin and means ‘closed’. It is an architectural simulation of paradise, a private place in which to connect with the divinity. A possible interpretation of the meaning of the cloister may be connected with the mystery of the Incarnation, where Mary is the enclosed garden. As one contemplates one’s soul, the cloister can be read as a symbolic

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system; the universe where the microcosm finds the connection with the macro-cosmos. A space where man empties himself of himself to enter the spiritual world. In Christianity, gardens are places for reflection and renewal. There are two notable features to gardens, the fountain, and the well. The fountain, in the centre of the garden, is a symbol of permanent renewal, it is also a life source itself, the pure water cleansing and feeding the body. The well is a synthesis of the three elements of cosmic order, earth, water, and air. The well is a living path between all three.

The mandorla The mandorla is a symbol that consists of a halo of light that surrounds the representation of the body of holy beings or people. It is represented in oriental and occidental medieval art. One of the oldest is that of Santa Maria Maggiore in Roma, which dates from the 5th century. The proposed symbolism is attributed to Saint Victor of Marseilles. The mandorla is associated with the vesica piscis (fish bladder) and, from a geometric point of view, is a figure formed of circles with the same radius; these circles intersect, so that their centres are on the perimeter of others, leaving an almond-shaped area. From the artistic point of view, the mandorla is generally divided into three parts, the brightest being furthest away from the physical body, showing the action of the Trinity. From the holy point of view, it has been important in a number of religions and historical periods, including in the Cabbala. In 6th-century Christian art, the mandorla had become an attribute of Christ in scenes depicting the Transfiguration and Ascension. The mandorla would later extend to other areas of Christ’s life. While it survived in the East, it would, however, lose its predominant role in the West from the 15th century on. It represents unity and the female. Or, to put it another way, the Creator appears on being born of Woman. Christ, the Virgin Mary or the Saints are surrounded by a halo in medieval Christian art. This is assumed to be the supernatural radiation or luminosity that surrounds

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divine figures. The most common representation is that in which Christ sits on a throne, in all his majesty (Christ Pantocrator) surrounded by the mandorla. The left side of this circle is matter, and the right, the spirit. This figure is the antithesis of all kinds of dualism. Thus, it also symbolizes the perpetual sacrifice that renews the creating force through ascension and descent (appearance, life and death, evolution and involution). The halo has been interpreted as a remnant from the worship of the sun, the symbol of fire that expresses supernatural energy and the visualization of spiritual light. Halos are present in most images of Buddha since the 1st century ce, and are also to be found in Egyptian and Ancient Greek art. The growth, propagation and acceptance of oriental Byzantine icons from Russia, Greece, Georgia, Armenia and neighbouring countries, above all since the 1980s, shows that the representation of the divine is best understood through the traditional static, somewhat hierarchical, image of the East than through the representations themselves.

Numerology and the Holy The greatest Greek art, and in particular the architecture of its temples, was a type of psychogogy that directed the inner world to the outer, aiming to find an awareness of the divine in the visible world through harmony and relations among man, the world and the divinity. This is the formula of all holy art, but what distinguishes Greek art, the Greek soul, is having comprehended Beauty, as the reflection of the divine in the visible, in its mathematical form, as number and proportion, two realities on which all aspects of the Logos as a higher intellect and reason are based. Every Hebrew letter possesses a numerical value. Gematria is the calculation of a numerical equivalence of letters, words or sentences; gematria uses this base to propose a better understanding of the interrelation of a number of concepts, exploring the relationship between words and ideas. The assumption is that numerical equivalence in these techniques is no mere coincidence.

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From the instant the world was created through the word of God, or Logos, each letter represented a different creative force. Thus, the numerical equivalence of two words reveals an internal connection between the creative potential of each. The Shaar HaIjud VeHaEmuná of the Tanya tells the tradition of the establishing of the absolute value, the ordinal, the reduced and the reduced integer, in the function of the order and numerical value of words. Gematria is a constructive process based on the meaning of words and names. For example, 8 is the risen, 26 is YHWH (in Hebrew) and 888 is ΙΗΣΟΥΣ, the Greek name of Jesus. In the Middle Ages, this numerical–divine symbolism was transmitted through the Platonic mysticism in the works of Saint Augustine. From there it reached the builders of cathedrals (Bonell, 1999). This is why there are numerous examples of gematria in many medieval temples. One of the most noteworthy is in the Cathedral of Saint Pierre and Saint Paul, Troyes (France). The keystone is 88 ft 8 in. from the ground; at the time the cathedral was being built – and throughout the whole medieval period – the number 888 was identified with Christ. Using gematria, this number is the result of adding the letters of ΙΗΣΟΥΣ; thus, Ι (10) + Η (8) + Σ (200) + Ο (70) + Υ (400) + Σ (200) = 888. Some of the pillars of Troyes Cathedral measure 6 ft 6 in. and there were 66 such pillars. Furthermore, the angle used to calculate the cathedral’s height ‘hides’ an 26° angle, once more referring to YHVH, the Hebrew name of God, There is also a connection with the Book of Revelations of Saint John. The cathedral has 144 windows – the 144,000 Hebrews who are chosen. Likewise, Nôtre-Dame Cathedral in Paris is 390 ft long; in gematria this means ‘city of the heavens’. An identical number and message is found in the French church of Saint-Lazare, in Autun, ‘hidden’ in the measurements of the three windows of the transept (Hani and Quingles, 1996). The Hindu altar has 360 bricks representing the days of the year, and 360 stones that represent the nights. Forty-one ceques, or viewpoints, irradiate from the Sun Temple of Cuzco, related to events in Incan memory.

A further example is to be found in Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Família. This temple was begun in 1882 and funded by the public. In the numerical lattice of its proportions, the average proportion is around 7.5. The height of the human figure, obtained through two super-imposed squares shows a proportion of body and head of 1/7 or 1/8. The numbers 7 and 8 are highly symbolic in Judeo-Christian belief. The number 7 represents perfection and 8 the plenitude of the Resurrection (another dimension). The base average of Gaudí’s proportions is 7.5, that of someone who wishes to move from perfection to the plenitude of Resurrection. Inside the temple, the average proportion worked with is 12 (columns). Twelve apostles, 12 doors to the temple in Jerusalem, the 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 months of the year that, together, form one, the year. In the construction of tri-dimensional space, Gaudí worked with the paraboloid, which he considered a magnificent symbol of the Holy Trinity. Two straight, parallel generatrices are supported by a third, uniting them as Father and Son, related by the Holy Spirit. The arborescent columns take rising helicoid forms, like souls desirous of contemplation. The geometry becomes mystical, literalism and the spiritual meaning becoming one (Puig, 2010).

Concluding Thoughts The construction of temples responds to some basic principles of holy art. Art is not holy simply because it is designed for worship, just as many paintings are not religious simply because they deal with a ‘religious’ subject. Art is holy when it does not leave me intact, when it makes me participate in a greater life. (Garaudy, 1994)

Temples represent the materialization in a specific place and time of that which is considered holy. As Aulet and Hakobyan (2011) say, there is a series of considerations to be taken into account when talking of holy spaces.



First, they are holy spaces because they share the symbolism of the centre of the world: the point of convergence, coordination and ordering, balance and harmony.

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They are places where there has been a manifestation of the holy (hierophany). This can occur in various ways, but is often linked to elements of nature that are holy in character (water, stone, forests), as well as those natural areas unreachable by man and that somehow convey that feeling of smallness of the human being, mentioned by Otto (1965). ‘All religions, as cultural phenomena, have used natural symbols to come closer to the mystery of the world’ (Duch, 1978). Finally, there is a whole range of architectural symbols. From an architectural perspective, religious buildings, especially temples, are the physical place where the holy space materializes. Therefore, their architecture is anything but random. Each part symbolizes or shares one of the symbols representing the holy. This is discussed at length in the literature (Guénon, 1995; Hani and Quingles, 1996; Burckhardt, 2000, among others).

Temples are, therefore, built spaces where the tangible and intangible, the perennial and the eternal, the holy and the profane, all come together; where a number of symbolisms that are common in different traditions become present and let visitors from different origins and religious traditions find a common central thread. An example of a temple built in the 19th century may help in understanding this idea: the Sagrada Família. Gaudí, with his roots in 19th-century Western culture, inheritor of public, orthodox and some unorthodox traditions, drank from numerous sources. Building on the temple began in 1882, funded by public donations, under the patronage of a lay religious foundation, the Spiritual Association of Devotees of St. Joseph. The temple displays a wide range of symbolic elements that follow the perennial principles of holy architecture, objectified following tradition. Some authors, such as Puig (2010, pp. 58–62) have even wondered if the symbolic reading of Gaudí’s architecture has formed a retrospective allegory, or whether the architect himself deliberately designed it based on his knowledge of the architecture of the holy. Puig approaches Gaudí’s work from a symbolic perspective.

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Gaudí applied the knowledge he had gained from holy tradition showing how far removed we are from this constructive thread that has developed since the dawn of humanity into an enormous spiritual tapestry. Gaudí’s building can be read on many levels; it is basically nothing more than a piece of gold work that is able to absorb and raise the obscurity of humanity and let God fill the believer with the desired grace. In effect, it is a Western mandala, perfectly understood by visitors from the East who are far removed from Christian tradition. The Sagrada Família is not oriented on an east–west line as it is built on an earlier neogothic apse, designed by Francisco de Paula del Villar. The structure of the Sagrada Família is based on the prophetic visions of Revelations. The aim is for both heaven and earth to merge into one, and for the New Jerusalem to descend and live in the midst of humanity, symbolized by the great cosmopolitan metropolis, Barcelona. The dictionary defines ‘cosmopolitan’ as the ability to consider that the rights and duties of all are the same, regardless of their origin, social, cultural and financial status. In Revelations 21–22, heaven descends to earth, and the city of God becomes the city of men. And the city of men, the city of God. Seen from above, the basilica forms a 180-m-tall pyramid with unequal sides on a rectangular base (90 × 60). This is all inside a hexahedron that is also irregular, but proportional. As it has been said above, the square represents the Incarnation, the earth, just as the pyramid represents stability, but Gaudí plays a dynamic game in which the asymmetry evokes Jesus Christ as the beginning and end of history, the Alpha and the Omega, death and resurrection, the keystone, the highest vertex ‘built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone’ (Ephesians 2: 20). In a short summary of art and building that dates from 1878, Gaudí wrote that the first building in any new city should be its temple. It should be the first (Barcelona was refounded in 1888, at the first Universal Exhibition held in the city); it should be the tallest and that which gives the city its name. Nowadays, although the Sagrada Família is still far from finished, it is the

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most visited site in Barcelona and forms part of the city’s skyline. The Sagrada Família is an urban sanctuary that enables visitors from far and

wide to feel the symbolism of holy art, to shroud themselves in mystery and feel the touch of peace, the transcendent.

References Aulet, S. and Hakobyan, K. (2011) Turismo religioso y espacios sagrados: una propuesta para los santuarios de Catalunya. RITUR-Revista Iberoamericana de Turismo 1(1), 63–82. Aulet, S., Mundet, L. and Vidal, D. (2017) Monasteries and tourism: interpreting sacred landscape through gastronomy. Revista Brasileira de Pesquisa En Turismo 11(1), 175–196. DOI: 10.7784/rbtur. v11i1.1221. Benévolo, L. (1983) História da Cidade. Perspectiva, Sao Paolo, Brazil. Bonell, C. (1999) La divina proporción. Las formas geométricas. Edicions de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Burbridge, H.A. (1992) Turismo religioso y santuarios: Una propuesta para la Argentina. Comisión Episcopal de Migraciones y Turismo. Secretariado Nacional para la Pastoral del Turismo, Buenos Aires. Burckhardt, T. (2000) Principios y métodos del arte sagrado. José J. de Olañeta, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Choay, F. (1992) L’allégorie du patrimoine. Seuil, Paris. Costa, M. and Bonetti, L. (2016) Geometrical factors in the perception of sacredness. Perception 45, 1240–1266. DOI: 10.1177/0301006616654159. Duch, L. (1978) Historia y estructura religosas. Aportación al estudio de la fenomenologia de la religión. Edebé/Bruño, Barcelona/Madrid. Durkheim, É. (1993) Las formas elementales de la vida religiosa. Alianza, Madrid. Eliade, M. (1981) Lo Sagrado y lo Profano (4th edn). Guadarrama/Punto Omega, Madrid. Eliade, M. (1999) Historia de las creencias y las ideas religiosas. Paidós, Barcelona, Spain. Garaudy, R. (1994) Transcendència i instransccendència en l’art actual. In: Corredor-Matheos, J. (ed.) El sagrat en l’art. Cruïlla, Barcelona, Spain. González Romero, F. (2016) Leiniz: Dios, que es perfecto, ha creado el mejor mundo. RBA, Barcelona, Spain. Guénon, R. (1995) Símbolos fundamentales de la ciencia sagrada. Kairós, Barcelona, Spain. Hani, J. and Quingles, J. (1996) El simbolismo del templo cristiano (original edition, 1962). José J. de Olañeta, Palma de Mallorca. Herzog, T.R., Gray, L.E., Dunville, A.M., Hicks, A.M. and Gilson, E.A. (2013) Preference and Tranquility for houses of Worship. Environment and Behavior 45(4), 504–525. DOI: 10.1177/0013916511410422. Humphrey, C. and Vitebsky, P. (1997) Sacred Architecture, Models of the Cosmos, Symbolic Form, and Ornament: Traditions of East and West. Duncan Baird, Boston, MA. Huxley, A. (1992) La filosofía perenne. Edhasa, Barcelona, Spain. Jung, C. (2014 (1969)) Analytical Psychology. Routledge, London. Le Bourlegat, C. and Castilho, M.A. (2004) Lo sagrado en el contexto de territorialidad. Polis [online] 8. Available at: http://​journals.​openedition.​org/​polis/​5973 (accessed 5 April 2019). Martín, E. (2007) Gilda, el ángel de la cumbia: Prácticas de sacralización de una cantante Argentina. Religião & Sociedade 27(2), 30–54. DOI: 10.1590/S0100-85872007000200003. Meagher, B.R. (2018) Deciphering the religious orientation of a sacred space: disparate impressions of worship settings by congregants and external observers. Journal of Environmental Psychology 55, 70–80. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.12.007. Melloni, J. (2003) L’u en la multiplicitat: Aproximació a la diversitat i unitat de les religions. Editorial Mediterrània, Barcelona, Spain. Mine, T.Z. (2013) Adaptive re-use of monuments ‘restoring religious buildings with different uses’. Journal of Cultural Heritage 14(3), S14–S19. DOI: 10.1016/j.culher.2012.11.017. Morales Schmuker, E. (2014) El lugar de la religión. Espacios sagrados y prácticas de sacralización de los alemanes de Rusia en la Pampa Central. Colonia Santa María, 1908–1939. Secuencia 90, 123–145. Morris, B. (1987) Anthropological Studies of Religion: An Introductory Text. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

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Symbolism of the Built Temple

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Nieto Alcaide, V.M. (1978) La luz, símbolo y sistema visual (el espacio y la luz en el arte gótico y del Renacimiento). Catedra, Madrid. Otto, R. (1965) Lo santo: Lo racional y lo irracional en la idea de dios (original edition, 1917). Revista de Occidente, Madrid. Pérez Prieto, V. (2011) Espacios sagrados en el cristianismo y otras religiones. Actas del Congreso Internacional de Arquitectura Religiosa Contemporánea 1–II, 92–97. Puig, A. (2010) La Sagrada Família segons Gaudí. Comprendre, Barcelona, Spain. Reeber, M. (1998) Les grandes religions dans le monde. Editions Milan, Toulouse, France. Sebastián, S. and López, S.S. (1994) Mensaje simbólico del arte medieval: arquitectura, liturgia e iconografía. Ediciones Encuentro, Madrid. Vecco, M. (2010) A definition of cultural heritage: from the tangible to the intangible. Journal of Cultural Heritage 11(3), 321–324. DOI: 10.1016/j.culher.2010.01.006. Wiener, N. (1988) The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society. Perseus Books Group, New York.

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Images as an Embodiment of the Sacred

Roger Ferrer Ventosa* University of Girona, Spain

Introduction Images are a graphic system of communication, the synthetic-figurative, different from the analytic-discursive as used in alphabetic writing. In the following pages, I will focus especially on those images that allude one way or another to the sacred, taken as a space that is open to the transcendent (Eliade, 1952, pp. 227–231), in the words of a scholar who may be the greatest exponent of the so-called religionism in religious studies. Images can be used to express ultimate truths in a more effective way than texts or words, getting round the limitations of texts: illiteracy or the fragmentation in various languages. In many religious traditions, sacred or mythical images are so close to the real thing that they are, or can become, the same (Gombrich, 1978, pp. 123–130, 170–180). That idea makes iconoclasts nervous. It also explains the destruction, as well as the financial (getting hold of gold, ivory or silver) or pragmatic motives (using the material to build something else), with examples like the destruction of statues of gods, from the incidents in the late antiquity to the more recent ones, with the Buddha statues in Afghanistan. The fear of the analogic symbol being taken for real gripped Catholicism for a long time. Especially in view of the iconoclastic

criticism from the Reformation (Gombrich, 1978, pp. 145–159), in spite of the strong talismanic content that relics and Catholic imagery have always had. Let us think about the etymological meaning of the word ‘icon’, which comes from the Greek word eikon. It means not only image but also similarity: the likeness between the portrayed figure and the mythical character. Since nobody knows the physical aspect of Jesus Christ, and that knowledge would be completely irrelevant, the said similarity must refer to Christ’s substance or energy – or any of the other representations of the divine in other traditions. The god represented in the icon has taken that form (Eck, 1998, p. 38). That implies knowing by the presence and not the representation, says Corbin (1977). To the mythical–magical conscience, an image is not only a representation of the thing: it is more than that; it is the thing itself, at least partially. It is part of its reality and it works as its alter ego, hypostasis or avatar; contrary to the semiotic theory, signs and images are the same thing now. It is a dimension of reality. We can find a paradigmatic case in the theory of statues in pharaonic Egypt.1 Whatever happens to the body of the image will happen to the physical body or soul too. In some Asian cultures, the goal of the image in this sacred sense is to incarnate the divine

*​roger.​ferrer@​udg.​edu 58

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in artistic matter, to give shape to a rock until you turn it into a recipient of divine energy. For example, in Tantric Tibetan Buddhism, icons are a real part of the Buddha and they transmit a living presence (Thurman, 1996, p. 49). In general, for those kinds of images, we conceive of the materials themselves as having spiritual value per se. For example, in the medieval Christian doctrine, golden and ultramarine could improve its power in metaphysical terms. We can also observe this kind of idea in art from pharaonic Egypt (Ball, 2003, pp. 97–102). In Indian tradition, art is the mediator between the sphere of the mythical and the human, between the mundane and the divine. According to Diana L. Eck, specialist in art in Indian cultures: … because the image is a form of the Supreme Lord, it is precisely the image that facilitates and enhances the close relationship of the worshiper and God and makes possible the deepest outpouring of emotions in worship. (Eck, 1998, p. 46)

This type of relation is specific to the Indian subcontinent, but we can apply it to other religious practices, with variations. Seeing these kinds of images is established as a way to interact between the divinity and the believer in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism. The believer receives the energy of whatever is represented through contemplating the icon. The divinity gifts him his darshan, his look, and the act of seeing it is a darshan itself. Not only does the believer look at the divinity, but also the other way around (Fig. 5.1). Thanks to sacred visual art, many metaphysical ideas take shape and can be communicated through symbols and metaphors. They have the ability to synthesize many ideas and concentrate them in what it shows. Giulio Camillo, author of the Theatre of Memory, from the 16th century, wrote that since the human language is not able to describe the divine, it needs to use signs and metaphors (Camillo, 1990, pp. 59–62). The Spanish poet and philosopher Chantal Maillard explores this subject further: It would be the privileged form of intersubjective communication of ‘the sacred’. Art as poiesis or creative ability completely adopts this property using the poetic word, creating metaphoric

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structures that will in turn be used as a vehicle for new metaphors. (Maillard, 1992, p. 127, own translation)

In the mythical conscience state the image acquires a status of substantial reality, part of the world of things. That way of experimenting with what’s real explains the huge power attributed to talismans in magical thinking. Epistemologically, images have a stronger initial force because of their capacity to concentrate a complex meaning within them and to remove the limitations that come with verbal language. One obviously cannot say that the image is universal in the case of the sign, but many countries know what a cross means, while there can be hundreds of languages in those countries. Images accumulate a great pneumatic power, with no relation to the verbal. In one of the most famous magic books in history, Clavicula Salomonis, the thaumaturgic power became concentrated in the object itself or the images, in such a way that they could even be useful for an illiterate: ‘the magical material was valued for its practical presence and performance’ (Barbierato, 2002, p. 160). According to Cassirer, with the change from mythical conscience to religious conscience, there was an oscillation: at first, we would ask about the real content of the image, only to later change the question and ask about the existence of what is pictured in the image. However, conscience in its aesthetic phase stops being considered empirical reality; it enters the illusory, more as an expression of the creative force of the artist and less as a magical autonomous force (Cassirer, 1955, pp. 260–261). Despite the obvious and discredited evolutionist anthropology he flaunts, he still points out the change of status of the image between the religious and the secular. Anthropologist David Lewis-Williams sees three origins in the creation of images: first, fixed mental images while we experience them; second, mental images that we remember; and finally, a more reflecting look, in which we contemplate the other two (Lewis-Williams, 2005, pp. 200–201). In fact, Lewis-Williams establishes in the image an explanation of the development of the Homo sapiens in place of Neanderthals. His thesis on primitive conscience is that Homo sapiens developed an ability to manage mental images that contemporary Neanderthals lacked. Human conscience

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Fig. 5.1.  Kali Goddess idol at the Kalighat Kali Temple, Kolkata. (Courtesy of Sankarruku at Wikipedia.)

includes the ability to consider mental images, generating them in various states of conscience, remembering those mental images and discussing them with other people within an accepted framework (Lewis-Williams, 2005, p. 96): the one of arts. According to Lewis-Williams, that imaginal proto-speech constitutes one of the steps of the

human constitution – a theory that will not be easily proven despite its brilliance – which would separate Homo sapiens from the Neanderthals. According to Mircea Eliade, the new interest in the psychological dimension in the symbolic, which took shape at the beginning of the 20th century, has to do with the increased

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attention to the cultural discourse of tendencies born in Asia or the more precise study of the so-called primitive people (Eliade, 1962, p. 7ff). A Peruvian ayahuasquero explained his idea of the gnosis when interviewed by an anthropologist. For this purpose, he used images, since he believed that to be a more appropriate way of thinking about the sacred. In Shamanism, images, metaphors and illustration of stories are used that prove to be the best methods of transmitting knowledge (Narby, 1998, pp. 82, 156). Intuition, both artistic and more general, can be regarded as the faculty of knowing without it coming from a rational process. A cognition based on contemplation, knowing from looking. Therefore, this faculty uses images as a form of knowledge instead of logical verbal forms or mathematical formulae. ‘Thinking through images’, to quote Neoplatonists and paraphrasing Benjamin. This way of thinking was already raised by Neoplatonism, maybe due to the use of images in initiation movements in Ancient Greece. However, this idea was updated in the 20th century, from Benjamin with his images that think, to the link with the mythical thinking they are radiations of, in the words of Jünger. Images can connect us to the myth, with the present and the wondrous as an attack to the world of facts. In conclusion, images must save the present (Molinuevo, 2001, pp. 48–53). Let us go back to the archaic Greek culture. Soul, psyché, was conceived as something close to the air, the breath. It escaped through the mouth or through dying people’s wounds if they had any. It slipped away from the body, being now referred to as eidolon, image or idol, the shadows that populate Hades – images that are unattached to the body, disembodied souls, simulations of human beings (Gómez de Liaño, 1992, p. 87).2 According to Corbin, the sacred image is the one that is fundamental in allowing the soul to know itself. It is the imaginal form (Corbin, 1977). Among all of them, the ones that help the most at that ontological level are the sacred ones, mythical, characteristic of the psyche. Images are considered as a simulation but also as the essential soul of the thing. In the Greek sacred rites, the Eleusinian Mysteries, the weight of transmitting knowledge was in the visual and not the verbal aspect. That is why

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Aristotle thought symbolic language was the appropriate one to show the mysteries, the initiation rites that attempt to shape people’s spiritual being. The representation was carried out without logical demonstrations (Wind, 1980, pp. 1–17).3 In those rites, the sacred knowledge consisted of a vision instead of a logical discussion. First came the image and then the word that explained it. In the Zohar, this order is affirmed in the communications between God and humanity: first one, then the other one. In fact, Bruno Snell draws an etymology of knowledge that links it to images. In his analysis of the origins of certain concepts in Ancient Greece, he talks about the notion of spirit – as an intellectual ability – as stemming from the apparition of nóos as an intellectual organ by analogy with the eye, related to eidolon, since eidenai means ‘to know’ with a root in idein, ‘to see’, or with more precision, ‘to have seen’ (Snell, 1953, p. 18). We can deduce the weight of the knowledge of certain images in the consolidation of the idea of intellectual knowledge as something with clear concomitances with what we have seen. Imagination, thanks to its language of images, allows us to understand things that would otherwise be impenetrable. The art historian M. J. Balsach states: having an imagination (imago-imitor) is seeing the world as a whole, since the goal and power of images consists in ‘making you see’ that which is refractory to the concept. (Balsach, 2007, p. 131, own translation)

One of the meditation techniques found in many religions consists of capturing in images what sacred knowledge we want to remember, as happened with diagrams and mandalas in Tibetan Buddhism, Orthodox or Catholic doctrines with their icons, Hindu religious art, etc. Images created by the internal sense are phantasmatic images, created by imagination, creations or connections with mundus imaginalis. The idea of the imaginal basis of consciousness came to expression particularly when the issue concerned human knowledge of a divine or spiritual register of the real, that is, in the context of a desire to prove the depths of the visible. (Miller, 1998, p. 72)

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Patricia Cox Miller suggests some examples: Plutarch, according to whom gods expressed themselves through poetic circumlocutions, images and metaphors,4 or Plotinus, who stated that accessing the invisible had to go together with a mastery of the metaphorical world. Images and archetypes are nothing more than the mortal remains of the imaginal experience (Corbin, 1971, p. 19). Archetypes use mental images to communicate their information. As with other matters, they are useful for our imagination and also for storing it in our memory according to the Renaissance memory technique. In that intellectual line, closer to Neoplatonism, images captured or generated by imagination are related to Platonic ideas, though better understood according to the Neoplatonic meaning; imagination allows us to connect with them, with temper as a virtue to fuel by these processes, which allow us to pick up ideas and essential images better at the same time. Images are good for making the sensitive reach the supersensible sphere or the other way around – for the intelligible to be embodied in the physical in a way that the latter can understand.5 One of the axial theories of the Renaissance philosopher Ficino is that the celestial, elevated, is printed in the sensitive. At least there is a notion of it, thanks to the number, the figure or shape and

the light, perhaps the most powerful realities at that level (Ficino, 1996). The 18th-century mystic Emanuel Swedenborg argued that spiritual truths can be understood through natural images, in the language of imagination ‘the truths and goods of the internal man appear as an image’ (Swedenborg, 2009, p. 283). According to Neoplatonics, codification in symbolic language must make it easier for reason to decode and then sense the psychic realities that are otherwise unreachable by reason (Fig. 5.2). Imagination adapts the information from the corresponding worlds. Furthermore, it produces symbols that translate information from the intelligible to the sensitive and make it understandable: it translates what has been experienced through the senses into data, images or rational concepts. Plotinus postulated that the matter from the sensitive world acts as an image of the intelligible. Platonic tradition considered verbal discourse useful in the terrestrial world but completely useless in the intelligible world, where the truth is grasped in a second and without the need for verbal discourses or logical arguments (Gombrich, 1978, pp. 145–159); we can understand then the value of the visual. Therefore, according to this school of thought, images turn the multifaceted chaos

Fig. 5.2. Botticelli, Spring, circa 1480. (Courtesy of Wikipedia.)

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of the sensitive into a key that our soul can understand. At the same time, the intuitions of the intellectual sphere also transform into symbols for the practical reason of understanding transcendental truths. These kinds of images about sacred subjects make it easier to understand anything that belongs to a system that takes into account the construction of the imaginary. They translate the transcendental language into a level that is understandable by reason, in the form of allegoric code. However, the complexity of the divine prevents the supreme from being reduced into figures. It can present images of anything, imago mundi, without being reduced into them. The 20th-century neo-Kantian thinker Ernst Cassirer suggested that any image in the world requires that the multiple impressions of the sensitive focus on spiritual units; that objectification transforms certain representations derived from certain impressions (Cassirer, 1955, pp. 29–59). The spirit analyses and discriminates the accidental from the accessory. We can apply the Neoplatonic theory directly to the memory in the Renaissance Hermetic way, like Bruno or Camillo. This intervenes with the creation of a phantasmagorical world of figurae, thanks to which the soul is able to translate and understand ‘realities existing on an ontological level inaccessible to direct experience’ (Couliano, 1987, p. 34). In Neoplatonic ontology, the ideas from the divine intellect turn into images in the anima mundi. We can count meditation techniques among the methods to create figures. According to Renaissance Hermeticism, art was used to stimulate the type of meditation that would set the figurae. That is, the ghostly figure that makes the psyche turn to introspection – image as the ghost of what is reflected, as well as shadow, especially if it refers to magical images – the opening of the oculus spiritualis. According to the theories from Renaissance Hermetics, a vision that has been unveiled like that allows us to contemplate superior ontological levels (Couliano, 1987, pp. 37–38). According to the method proposed by Aby Warburg, strongly influenced by his studies on Renaissance Hermetics and Neoplatonics, the image condenses energy, in a register that can keep a certain strength concentrated in the figures, colours or other plastic elements. Every image concentrates but also communicates

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information. Warburg thought especially about the folds in nymphs’ clothes as a sign of vitality. Warburg thought up the pathosformeln, dynamograms charged with energy. Pathosformeln, as they were formulated by Warburg (influenced by the theory of symbols) stay in a latent state. They wait for the receiver to activate them, so they can communicate the polarized energy they contain. Certain magical images, as well as myths, act as deposits of a certain energy connected to them that is activated in the receiver. Its effect acts especially in the emotional sphere, the pathos dimension. Images go to the most primary area of the psyche, the area that has desires and emotions, activities that are closely related to imagination. In fact, they constitute the lexicon and syntax of the psyche itself. The survival of some figures or myths that are related to some figures or stories is a necessary part of the emotional, soul impact, which must have these forms that have been repeated generation after generation. However, in order for an image to gain ‘life’ it has to enter a subject, as Agamben expressed (Agamben, 2007, pp. 53–54), unload its energy into the receiver. Thus, not only the artists but also the public put into work those concentrations of memory that are images. They ‘give them life back’, a metaphor used by Agamben (2007, pp. 34–35). Gómez de Liaño considers images the most powerful signs: The energy in images is superior to any other sign. Therefore, they can affect humans in their entire being. Not only intelligence learns from contemplating them, but all other faculties and organs, like sensitivity, imagination and affection, vibrate and are moved in its presence. (Gómez de Liaño, 1992, p. 282, own translation)

Thanks to them, the soul procures energies coming from the superior world for her; shapes, simulations and signs are vehicles (…) Images or certain signs are like deposits of an energy or virtue of higher order, which constitutes the essence of the soul life. (Gómez de Liaño, 1992, p. 288, own translation)

For Renaissance Hermeticism, image is not a part of the whole, but a reflection that comprises the whole. The Corpus hermeticum aims to prove the existence of a Hermetic God. Its argument is

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the beauty of human bodies (Corpus hermeticum V, 5–6, in Copenhaver, 2000, p. 19), turned into a vast number of different images, a divine creative act then copied by painters or sculptors. This forma mentis backs up the magical mentality. We can even find variations of the theory of the image as a microcosm in thinkers from the 20th century. In Walter Benjamin’s theory of the images that think, we can observe the influence of historical materialism but also of magical thinking and Neoplatonism – especially in its initial theory of beauty – with a unique combination of Platonic idealism positioned in a social dimension, with images that define a world. That is when we conceive of these images as the ruins of an entire universe, in allegoric terms, which maintain the aroma of its origin in reality. Images present a constitutive order of what exists and they become a ruin of their historical context. Benjamin paid close attention to said context. The images in the mind are trails that will activate the memory. Thanks to that whatever is hidden will be expressed, a universe can be revealed, monadistic expressions of an idea that can be materialized through them. For that thinker, art works as an imago mundi, a representation of what exists, to his ideas, on secondment to the Platonic school; for example, the aforementioned Neoplatonics from followers of Hermetics and Late Antiquity during the Renaissance. This is art as a monad that expresses a vision of what is real and could not be manifested any other way. Benjamin thought that every allegoric image condenses the quintessence of a historical moment. That is, a series of associations, a dialectic tension, put into circulation by the image and willing to be activated when it makes contact with the receiver. As well as Cassirier, Benjamin was highly influenced by Leibniz neo-Kantianism, whose roots were in Plato. His system contained ideas from Kant’s transcendental idealism, which he combined with Marx’s historical materialism (especially from Lukács). This makes sense if we take into account the weight of history in Benjamin’s ideas. The use of images to explain what is most central in human culture has not only been central in religion, but also historically in pedagogy. Europe’s pedagogic tradition valued ad oculos over the verbal alternative, since they considered

it more lasting (Gombrich, 1978, p. 144). The use of images for educational purposes was exploited for the persuasion of the occupants of new territories with languages different from the European ones. The religious orders that worked in catechizing were the ones that explored ways of making their message understandable, such as Franciscans, with Valadés. Jesus’s company stood out in that endeavour. Jesuits complied with the counter-reformist ideology, as it was formulated in the 25th session of Trent and their icon imperialism (Flor, 1995, p. 379). This required them to preach the values of the Jesuit counter-reform, using the method of Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises, which use both loci and imagine with mnemonic goals (Flor, 1995, pp. 147, 379). In the case of Spain, it was obviously with the Native Americans that they most put it into practice. Bartolomé de las Casas stated: Sometimes they forget some words or particularities of the doctrine they are preached about the Christian doctrine. Since they cannot read our writing, they ingeniously write the doctrine themselves in their figures and characters, using the figure that corresponded in voice and sound with our term. When we said amen, they used a fountain, and then a maguey, which in their language bordered amen, call it ametl, and the same procedure would be used with everything else. I have seen a big part of the Christian doctrine written in their figures and images, which they read as I read in our words in a letter. That is a remarkable ingenuity artifice. (Acker, 1995, p. 410, own translation)

Depending on the alphabet, they used two methods: one of them was including tools or objects that had a similar shape to a letter; the other one consisted of including animals or things known by indigenous people whose initial or the phonetics of the name in the Native American language was the one to which they referred (Acker, 1995, p. 404). The experiments conducted on Native Americans or Asian countries seemed to prove they were at a more primitive stage. They thought philology confirmed that, with their ideographic languages. For that reason, missionaries frequently use the strategy of

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preaching with the help of paintings (Flor, 1995, pp. 317–320). In fact, at least with America, the fact that some Amerindian cultures already used images for pedagogy made the task easier. According to César Chaparro Gómez, Amerindian cultures such as the ones from the Valley of Mexico used images to help keep information in their memories. The teacher showed drawings and the students sang stories or myths linked to every image (Chaparro Gómez, 2002, p. 123). In the utopia The City of the Sun, written by Campanella at the beginning of the 17th century, they make stories from the old Renaissance yearning for a language through images with a pedagogic sense. The character Sin, who is in charge of sciences in the ideal city, ordered the painting of murals and curtains of the city with drawings of stars, maths, minerals, metals, drinks, animals, herbs, trees or countries. With them, they could visually illustrate the citizens, using the frescoes as a lesson, as a combination of image and words (Campanella, 1981, pp. 18–20). Shortly after the release of The City of the Sun, that way of understanding sacred images started to get lost. The worldview of the image as a connection to the sacred and as a universal language declined during the 17th century. In Hume and Locke’s theory of the spectator, the language or the image represent something of the world; they are no longer a microcosm of the whole. That idea drew attention again during Illustration, in the sense that images, just like words, no longer had an internal relation, sacred, with whatever they represent. It is another one of the points of the disenchantment of the world. ‘Language has withdrawn from the midst of beings themselves and has entered a period of transparency and neutrality’ (Foucault, 1970, p. 56). The ontology of the previous image, characterized by the similarities between the elements, the analogies between ambits, beings, objects, was replaced by a theory of signs, semiotics, whose classical version by Saussure relates a concept to an image. One of their differences is that in semiotics the assignations of links for symbols are arbitrary, or at least have no relation with the framework of correspondence and their liking or disliking of a subtle or hidden component. Rationalism follows the example of the Biblical God in the creation of the Genesis and separates, in this case, the words or the images

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of the things (Foucault, 1970, pp. 42–44). That epistemology of the division that kills the connection is the base of the system of hegemonic thinking since the 17th century, of a constitutional dualism. Rationalist conceptualism is only interested in the concept it holds. An almost aphoristic sentence from biologist T. H. Huxley, grandfather of Aldous and Julian, represents that rationalist opposition against imputing a transcendental essentialism to the name: ‘names are noise and smoke; the important point is to have a clear and adequate conception of the fact signified by a name’ (in Toulmin, 1985, p. 60). Doctor Huxley is a great example of the pre-eminence of concept in rationalism from the 19th century. This chapter will conclude with one last essential point for the matter: aniconic destruction. The problem of images has been central in our culture. We previously indicated one of the names for an image, eidolon, in Classical Greece. That etymology already shows the root it shares with idols. That is why various tendencies of monotheist religions have historically suspected of them. A big part of Judaism, Islamism or Protestant Christianity has avoided picturing the sacred. In one of the traces of Christian iconoclasm Augustine of Hippo states in his City of God that the foolish inhabitants of the earthly city do not worship God; they are not his image. Instead, they prefer to worship images of mortal men, of birds, quadrupeds or reptiles, hence venerating the creature and not the Creator (City of God XIV 28, in Augustine, 1966, p. 408). Even philosophical–religious currents that are more prone to them, such as Neoplatonic Hermetism, were also aware that his enormous power could pose a threat for humanity. Images, symbols, art, have the ability to reveal and orientate – but also disorientate. They transmit an energy that guides but also confuses. In the Hermetic Asclepius, they already warn of the disorienting power of certain images with a negative charge: Not all have gained true understanding, Asclepius. They are deceived, pursuing, on rash impulse and without due consideration of reason, an image that begets malice in their minds and transforms the best of living things into a beastly nature with brutal habits. (Asclepius 7, in Copenhaver, 2000, p. 70).

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In the same way, even despite the aniconic root that may derive from a certain idea of monotheism in the three religions of the Book and the revelation, we can find strange and contradictory episodes of sudden utilization of the images. A typical example is Moses with his idea of creating a snake effigy to help the people of Israel. In the journey through the desert, many of them were bitten by fire snakes and died. Yahweh told Moses to create a bronze snake and place it on a pole. Upon seeing it, people who had been bitten healed, proving the healing power of the image. That image, precisely, showed what was evil and feared by those people (Numbers 21: 4–9). Because of that, the reservations towards imagery among

aniconic believers or in Plato look more like the ones of someone who fears something dazzling and thus terrifying (Fig. 5.3).6 Given the central role of images and their strength, especially those focused on the sacred, it would be advisable to study them as an epistemological tool, central for encapsulating and spreading knowledge, even more if we are referring to religion. Creating a science about them becomes as valuable as it is unreachable. At least that is what Wouter Hanegraaff, Hermetism investigator, sceptically states, aware of the weight of more than 2000 years of monotheism in its aniconic root and their corresponding fear towards them (Hanegraaff, 2007, pp. 132–134).

Fig. 5.3.  Master of Taüll, Christ Pantocrator, circa 1125. (Courtesy of The Yorck Project, from Wikipedia.)

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Images as Embodiment of the Sacred

For that great recommendation of a science of images, religious tourism can be of great help. Given the importance of sacred images, we can imagine the value that tourism of that kind has had and still maintains. It is an object of visits to learn more about our own beliefs and those of others. The artwork or religious fervour were created to become close again with the divine, and we visit the temples and sanctuaries to contemplate said paintings or sculptures or relics. Religious tourism may be an irreplaceable anthropological tool for improving our understanding of humanity

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and its cultures – in addition to the delight it gives us. Thanks to it, we can become experts in that specific way of thinking through images, which joins Neoplatonism and Benjamin. As Wittgenstein stated in Tractatus: ‘What can be shown cannot be said’ (Tractatus LogicoPhilosophicus 4.1212, Wittgenstein, 1955, p. 79). That does not deny one of the great virtues of cultural tourism, since looking does not exclude talking. We can admire great works of art and worship the history of religions while at the same time we ask and wonder about their meaning.

Notes The mummified body became a sign of the soul being, of the Ba, of the Ka… In any case, the hieroglyphics did not represent the things; instead, it was about the elements of cosmic creation themselves. In fact, in Ancient Greece statues identified with the portrayed in the same way as in pharaonic Egypt, as if it was a part of its being (Snell, 2007, p. 98). 2 Eidolonas a double or replica of the dead, who has travelled to Hades (Snell, 1953, pp. 8–9). Mental phantasmatic images received the name of eidola from the epicures, who derived the idea from platonic eidos (Marvell, 2016, pp. 111–112). 3 Even though the philosopher Pico della Mirandola did think that words can intervene in mysteries, he thought they had to be transmitted through enigmas, without writing. They had to be communicated soul to soul through living words: Picodella Mirandola, 2012, p. 253ff. 4 (De PythiaeOraculis [Wherefore the Pythian Priestess Now Ceases to Deliver Her Oracles in Verse], 407B–F, 25–27). In that specific passage, Plutarch points out the fondness of oracles for expressing themselves through poetic and enigmatic language, metaphors, ambiguity. 5 Enéadas [The Enneads] II, 4, 15, in Plotino y Porfirio, 1992, p. 435. That idea can be observed in Plato already: the Timaeus concludes repeating the idea of beauty and perfection of the universe, which Neoplatonics like Plotinus later retook, at times even contradicting themselves. Timaeus states that the universe constitutes the sensitive image of the intelligible god: Timaeus 92c. 6 Gombrich states that, despite the critique, in what concerns images, the Platonic attack was only towards Greek art. On the other hand, the Egyptian one, with their aspiration towards an immutable tradition, got much closer to the realm of ideas (Gombrich, 1978, p. 147). That is, that for Plato, what was censurable is that images lost their link with the intelligible. In fact, in the Neoplatonic theory of images, divine ideas are presented in this visual record, and not only as an idea, because otherwise human beings would not perceive them or would be dazzled (Gombrich, 1978, pp. 152–154). 1

Acknowledgements This chapter has been written thanks to the support of the FPU (Formación de Profesorado Universitario, University Staff Formation) Grant Programme from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport of Spain, and thanks also to the support of the Project HAR2014-55271-P from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competiveness. In addition, the author would like to express his sincere gratitude to Mriganka Mukhopadhyay and Susanna Vergés for their advice.

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References Acker, G.V. (1995) Dos alfabetos amerindios nacidos del diálogo entre dos mundos. La ‘découverte’ des langues et des écritures d’Amérique: Actes du colloque international, Paris 7–11 septembre 1993, A.E.A, Paris, pp. 403–420. Agamben, G. (2007) Ninfe. Bollati Boringhieri, Turin, Italy. Augustine (1966) City of God. Vol. IV. Books XII–XV. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Ball, P. (2003) Bright Earth. Art and the Invention of Color. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Balsach, M.-J. (2007) Joan Miró. Galaxia Guttenberg, Barcelona, Spain. Barbierato, F. (2002) Magical literature and the Venice Inquisition from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. In: Gilly, C. and Heertum, C. V. (eds) Magic, Alchemy and Science 15th–18th Centuries. The influence of Hermes Trismegistus. Vol. 1. Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana/Biblioteca Philosophica Hermetica, Florence/Venice/Amsterdam, Italy/The Netherlands, pp. 159–175. Camillo, G. (1990) L’idea del teatro e altri scritti di retorica. Edizioni RES, Turin, Italy. Campanella, T. (1981) The City of the Sun. Journeyman Press, London. Cassirer, E. (1955) The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. Volume 2: Mythical Thought. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. Chaparro Gómez, C. (2002) El Atrio del Tabernáculo de Dios, un ejemplo de teatro de la memoria en la Rhetorica Christiana de Diego Valadés. In: Bernat Vistarini, A. and Cull, J.T. (eds) Los días de Alción. Emblemas, Literatura y Arte del Siglo de Oro. José J. de Olañeta, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 121–140. Copenhaver, B. (ed.) (2000) Hermetica. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Corbin, H. (1971) L’homme de lumière dans le soufisme iranien. Éditions Présence, Barberaz, France. Corbin, H. (1977) Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. Couliano, I.P. (1987) Eros and Magic in the Renaissance. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Eck, D.L. (1998) Darsan. Seeing the Divine Image in India. Columbia University Press, New York. Eliade, M. (1952) Images et symboles. Gallimard, Paris. Eliade, M. (1962) Méphistophélès et l’Androgyne. Gallimard, Paris. Ficino, M. (1996) Book of Life. Spring Publications, Woodstock, CT. Flor, F.R. (1995) Emblemas. Lecturas de la imagen simbólica. Alianza editorial, Madrid. Foucault, M. (1970) The Order of Things. Tavistock, London. Gombrich, E.H. (1978) Symbolic Images. Studies in the Art of the Renaissance II. Phaidon, Oxford, UK. Gómez de Liaño, I. (1992) El idioma de la imaginación. Ensayos sobre la memoria, la imaginación y el tiempo. Taurus, Madrid. Hanegraaff, W.J. (2007) The trouble with images: Anti-image polemics and western esotericism. In: Hammer, O. and von Stuckrad, K. (eds) Polemical Encounters. Esoteric Discourse and Its Others. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands/Boston, MA, pp. 107–136. Lewis-Williams, D. (2005) La mente en la caverna: la conciencia y los orígenes del arte. Akal, Madrid. Maillard, C. (1992) La creación por la metáfora. Introducción a la razón-poética. Anthropos, Barcelona, Spain. Miller, P.C. (1998) Dreams in Late Antiquity. Studies in the Imagination of a Culture. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. Molinuevo, J.L. (2001) Estéticas del naufragio y de la resistencia. Institució Alfons el Magn nim – Diputació de València, València, Spain. Narby, J. (1998) The Cosmic Serpent. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York. Pico della Mirandola, G. (2012) Oration on the Dignity of Man. Cambridge University Press, New York. Plotino and Porfirio (1992) Enéadas I (Libros I–II) y Vida de Plotino. Gredos, Madrid. Snell, B. (1953) The Discovery of the Mind. The Greek Origins of European Thought. Blackwell, Oxford, UK. Swedenborg, E. (2009) Heaven and Its Wonders and Hell. Swedenborg Foundation, West Chester, PA. Thurman, R.A.F. (1996) El Tibet, El Buddhisme Tibet I El seu art. In: Rhie, M., Thurman, R.A.F. and Prats d'Alós-Moner, R.N. (eds) L’art sagrat del Tibet: saviesa i compassió. Fundació ‘la Caixa’, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 28–51. Toulmin, S. (1985) The Return to Cosmology. Postmodern Science and the Theology of Nature. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. Wind, E. (1980) Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Wittgenstein, L. (1955) Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd, London. Marvell, L. (2016) The Physics of Transfigured Light. The Imaginal Realm and the Hermetic Foundations of Science (2nd edn). Inner Traditions, Rochester, VT.

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Bible and Religious Tourism: Some Cultural Proposals

Joan Ferrer* University of Girona, Spain

Introduction: The Bible The Bible is the ‘great code’ (Northrop Frye) of Western culture. It is a unique library: written in three languages of the ancient world (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek), in many literary genres (narrative, poetry, letters, etc.), over many centuries; it is in the hearts of religious people – Jews and Christians – and in the foundations of cultural history in the Western world. The following reflections are intended to contribute ideas for incorporating the Bible into the religious and cultural world of tourism of our times. In fact, pilgrimages to the Holy Land – those of both ancient times and of today – form part of a dynamic that we could, in a broad sense, call religious tourism. Here the perspective is very different: it is about proposing a unique dialogue between some aspects of the great narration that the Bible represents and various artefacts of the world’s cultural history. The latter are found in museums and libraries everywhere and are proposed here as a theme for culture and tourism precisely because of their value in relation to the reading and interpretation of the Bible.

A Newspaper Article On Thursday 11 February 2016, the Ara newspaper published a news article by Isidre Estévez

stating the following: ‘Einstein was right: gravitational waves exist. Scientists in the United States have detected waves produced by the collision of two black holes. The finding confirms the theory of relativity.’ Our world usually tends to be happy when it receives news of this kind, which reveals the confidence humanity is acquiring in its knowledge and scientific understanding of reality. But there is a disturbing question that makes me deeply anxious when I hear news such as this: ‘What does this mean for our lives?’ The search for meaning is, for me, the fundamental question of all knowing. The Christian experience always seeks meaning in the Holy Scriptures, which constitute the great narrative capable of giving meaning to reality. The books of the Bible are carriers of such powerful words that they award meaning to all reality. The news of the great scientific discovery that I have just referred to and was published in all of the world’s newspapers brought to mind an old poem – a prayer, in fact – from the book of Psalms: The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words;

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their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. (Psalm 19: 1–4)

There is a superior wisdom in this text: it refers to God, the source of meaning for all reality. The old Psalmists, who knew nothing of modern physics or the theory of relativity or its very complex equations, knew that everything had meaning and that meaning was a given reality – a gift, which is received through grace – and that humanity, in dialogue with these old books, can uncover this meaning. Just as each person discovers that his or her life forms part of a story, which his or her parents gradually reveal to them, the great library of the religious history of humanity that is the Bible gradually reveals the possibility for meaning that resides in all reality, as it refers to God, which is the mystery of the world.

Like a Game of Mirrors The Bible contains such powerful words that the history of Western culture refers to it constantly: culture has been mirrored in the Bible and, in some way, art and culture have marked our understanding of the Bible and the mystery of God that it reveals to us. On these pages we will follow some episodes from this game of mirrors – which is actually a hermeneutical process of recognition and providing meaning – between the Bible and the history of culture.

He Who Fell from the Horse The Bible carries an impressive weight in the history of Western art and literature. In fact, it is impossible to expect to understand something in any of the great museums of Europe without having a minimal biblical knowledge. The power of certain artistic representations of the text has been so great that it has become part of the cultural history of the West. A single example will suffice to illustrate the power of artistic interpretations of the holy text. The painting by Caravaggio (1571–1610) preserved in Santa

Maria del Popolo in Rome represents the fall of Paul on the way to Damascus, according to Luke’s narration in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 9 (Fig. 6.1). The text is as follows: Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’ The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. (Acts 9: 1–9)

It is the famous text known as ‘the fall from the horse’. A careful reading of the text, however, shows that Luke never refers to horses or allows us to suppose there are any in the scene. The narration simply says that Paul falls to the ground and, after the experience of talking to the risen Lord Jesus, gets up and continues on the road to Damascus. Furthermore, from a historical point of view, Paul is not likely to have travelled by horse simply because in the ancient world horses were fundamentally a weapon of war, comparable, perhaps, to modern-day combat vehicles. Simple people travelled on foot or mounted on a humble animal like the ass. ‘Falling from the horse’ has almost become a proverbial expression in Catalan to refer to a person who has changed their view of reality or their way of behaving. The horse, however, is the great painter’s interpretation of a text where the animal is not in fact present. It is a process of cultural appropriation interpreting the text: the great lords and kings of the Renaissance era did travel on horseback, so it was almost natural that Paul’s journey to Damascus and his fall on the way were interpreted and painted as a fall from a horse.

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Fig. 6.1.  The Conversion of St Paul, by Caravaggio. (Source: Wikimedia Commons.)

Israel Israel, the people of God, are constantly present in the Holy Scriptures, but their appearance in history is quite singular. The name of Israel first appears in a text that can be accurately dated to an Egyptian stela that was intended to represent this people’s death certificate. This stela, measuring 3.16 m in height and 1.63 m in width, was discovered by Sir Flinders Petrie near Thebes in 1896 and is currently

housed in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo (Gallery 13 on the ground floor: JE 31408). It contains 28 lines of hieroglyphic text and is understood to be from the year 1208 bce. During the summer of the fifth year of his reign, Mernepta, son of the famous Pharaoh Ramses II, launched an important military campaign against Libya. This great triumphal stela is dedicated to this victory (23 lines of text). In line with the rhetorical and boastful style of the Pharaohs’ political propaganda, the text then goes on to describe

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the situation surrounding other enemies: Hatti, the Hittites, Canaan – the name of the country, Ascalon and Gezer – two well-known cities on the coastal plain, Ianoam – thought to have been in Transjordan, Basan or Hauran, near a tributary of the Jarmuc – and Israel and Kharu, which at this time must have been a synonym for Canaan. In line 26, the name of Israel (Yasir’il) appears with the Egyptian determinative that designates an ethnic group (not a city state): a man and a woman above three small lines, with the explanation ‘Israel is laid waste. His seed is no more.’ In the 13th century bce, Israel was, therefore, according to Egyptian sources, a human group that may have inhabited the region of Transjordan and that the Pharaoh boasts of having destroyed. The first mention of Israel outside the Bible is therefore its death. From here, the story begins of the people of God, Israel, which the Bible – the great library of the people of Israel – would describe from the perspective of its faith in God, which gave it its origins. The ancient prophet Hosea would go on to articulate this in his admirable poetry: ‘When Israel was a boy I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son’ (Hosea 11:1).

The Anti-exodus In 1789, Napoleon Bonaparte began his socalled Egyptian campaign. The political objective of the expedition lay in Britain and France’s rivalry for world domination. Napoleon’s expeditionary team was accompanied by a large group of scientists – historians, botanists, designers – whose impressive work was published between 1809 and 1829. The title of the monumental collection, which consisted of 23 volumes in its first edition, was Description de l’Égypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l’expédition de l’armée française, publié par les ordre de sa majesté l’empereur Napoléon le Grand. The work has exerted an incalculable cultural influence, since it paved the way for Egyptology to be first seen as a science. Volume III (Thebes, Karnak-A. pl. 40) has the engraving from the temple of Karnak in Thebes, which represents the battle of Kadesh (1275), when the armies of the powerful

Pharaoh Ramses II (1279–1212 bce) faced the Hittite king Muwatalli. The engraving is very worn nowadays, but at the end of the 18th century the draughtsmen of the Egyptian expedition could clearly see that the Pharaoh’s chariot stood in the waters of the river Orontes and that the bodies of his enemies floated around him. It is surprising that no scholar has associated the engraving from the temple of Karnak with the facts from the Exodus: the great narration of the departure from Egypt across the water is the literary expression of an event that constituted the antithesis of the almighty and victorious Pharaoh’s glory: Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.’ Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing towards it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen – the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider has he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his host has he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: your right hand, O Lord, has dashed in pieces the enemy. (Exodus 14: 26–15: 6)

The Word of God has the power to transform reality and to interpret history through different eyes that allow us to tell other stories: stories of salvation, God’s work.

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Bible and Religious Tourism

In the Magnificat, Mary formulates it sublimely. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors. (Luke 1: 51–55)

The Commandment The people of Israel have hardly left any artistic trace in history. If we did not have the Bible, we would know almost nothing about them: a few inscriptions in ancient Hebrew and several references in chronicles from the great empires of the ancient world. All in all they would constitute little more than a marginal people who lived in the mountainous area of Palestine at the end of the Bronze Age and during the Iron Age, and which for some inexplicable reason managed to survive deportation by the powerful neo-Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar and continue through the Hellenistic and Roman eras. If it were not for this wonderful library that is the Bible, the culture of Israel would be a marginal thing, of interest only to archaeologists and historians of the Ancient World. The Bible is a unique phenomenon, however: it contains more pages on history, religion and literature than the entire production of the great empires of Egypt and Mesopotamia, which survived over millennia and possessed incalculable power. The Bible enshrines the power of the word and prevents representations for theological reasons: You shall not make to you any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. (Exodus 20: 4)

The only possible image is the human person, which is the image of God. All other representations are idols and must be destroyed. Since Israel has not left any images to posterity, our only option is to examine the Hebrew

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manuscripts passed down in the holy text. The Hebrew Bible has reached the modern world thanks to the great Masoretic manuscripts, so called by the Masoretes, the wise people who preserved the authentic text of the Bible between the 6th and 9th centuries ce with a set of critical and explanatory notes copied in the margins. They are manuscripts consisting only of text. The fragment reproduced below corresponds to Deuteronomy 6.4 according to the Leningrad Codex (L), the oldest complete preserved manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. It was copied in Cairo in 1008–1009 by the scribe Shemuel ben Yaaqob, who worked from the reliable manuscripts of Aaron ben Moses ben Asher from Tiberias. It consists of 491 pieces of parchment and belonged to the collection of the scholar Abraham Firkovich (purchased by the Imperial Public Library in 1862) before being moved to the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg. The manuscript forms the basis of all modern editions of the Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Old Testament, which have been used to translate the biblical text into the various modern languages. ‍



The text of Israel’s great profession of faith contained in the verse ‘HEAR, Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is ONE’ is marked by two Masoretic notes that indicate two singular features of the text. They are two letters with a point above them, a convention that indicates they occur only once in the entire text of the Bible: the last letter of the first word of the profession of faith (shema) is an Ayin written in a larger font than normal. It is worth recalling that the Hebrew alphabet has no capital letters. The same happens with the last letter of the profession of faith (ehad): the dalet is also written with a larger body. What could such a unique note in this verse of the Bible mean? The note added to this fundamental verse by the learned scribes, who conveyed the biblical text with such care, was to make readers realize that before them they have a particularly singular text of Israel’s profession of faith, which contains the only commandment of the Word of God, namely to listen to this Word. It is worth recalling at this point that in the Jewish tradition – and this teaching is very

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significant – the Decalogue is not called ‘the ten commandments’, as in the Christian tradition, but the ‘ten words’, because in reality there is only one fundamental commandment: to listen to the Word of God. As Deuteronomy 8.3 teaches and the Gospel according to Matthew 4: 4 reminds us: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Genesis 3 Even though the expression never appears in Sacred Scripture, the famous narration of what St Augustine called the peccatum originale (‘the original sin’) in Genesis 2: 4–3: 24 has been studied and represented countless times over the centuries. However, I think that nobody understood the text of Genesis in such depth as the miniaturist who designed Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, a precious codex preserved in the Musée Condé de Chantilly and illustrated by the Limbourg brothers (15th century), refined representatives of the international gothic, already on the path to realism (see Fig. 6.2). Folio 25 contains a delicious scene that is in itself a wonderful interpretation of Genesis 3. The first image, which is what interests us here, represents a nude Eve talking to the serpent, who is wrapped around ‘the tree that is in the middle of the garden’ (Genesis 3: 3). The artist understood that this serpent that speaks – and which is therefore not described in any zoology treatises – had the tail of a serpent, but the face, surprisingly, is that of Eve herself. The text contains an answer to that disturbing question about the origins of evil which so concerned the wise men of Israel, and the culmination of which is found in the text in Genesis: Whence came evil? The people of Israel experienced evil throughout their history and formulated it in terms of sin. We see this very clearly in the famous prayer delivered by King Solomon when consecrating the temple of Jerusalem: ‘When they sin against you – for there is no one who does not sin – and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near’ (1 Kings 8: 4–6). This evil cannot come

from God, as in the ancient Mesopotamian myths that told of men being formed with the blood of a fallen god, meaning evil had a divine origin. God had created a good world: ‘God saw that all that he had made and it was very good’ (Genesis 1: 31). How, then, can the eruption of evil in a good world be explained? The wise men of Israel who wrote the stories of the origins, which constitute the proemi of the Holy Scriptures, knew that evil came from the human heart, even though people have been created good by God himself. There is a mystery of iniquity that cannot be explained. Israel formulated it through a mythical narration in which a serpent deceives humans and they allow themselves to be deceived. However, humans are not Evil, with capital letters, because there is someone who tricks us. Thus, the wise men of Israel, who loved the creation of God, tell us we do evil; that is, we are not radically evil. Genesis 3 expresses a prayer of love towards humans, with all their weaknesses. This is the reason for the figure of the serpent, which serves to express that evil does not come from God, nor from man, at least not in the first degree or in a radical way. This wisdom was the one that was perfectly understood, I think, by the miniaturists who in the 15th century drew the beautiful book of hours today known as Les Très Riches Heures for the nobleman Jean de France, the Duke of Berry. In it, the face of the serpent is a mirror of Eve’s face, because evil, which consists in not listening to the voice of God and paying attention to the voices of others, has a face that resembles each of ours.

The Birth of the Lord Father Raymond E. Brown (1928–1998), who was one of the greatest Catholic scholars of the Holy Scriptures of the 20th century, wrote two particularly significant works: one dedicated to the birth of the Lord (The Birth of the Messiah, 1993) and another to the death of the Messiah (The Death of the Messiah, 1994). Someone once asked him: ‘Father Brown, when will you write a book about the resurrection of the Lord?’ And the wise man’s response was conclusive: ‘I have

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Fig. 6.2.  The Garden of Eden, by the Limbourg brothers. (Source: Wikimedia Commons.)

already written two books about the resurrection of Jesus’. Indeed, the central point of the Holy Scriptures is the resurrection of the Lord. The great focus that illuminates the entire Bible is the resurrection of Jesus. We are faced with the paradox that even the Hebrew Bible is such a complex library that its centre is outside itself: in another library, that of the New Testament. All

of the Scriptures are read starting from the resurrection of the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth. The painting I have chosen for the culmination of this brief itinerary through the history of the effects of Sacred Scripture is entitled La Natività del Cristo (Novgorod, 1475) and belongs to the Abrosiano Veneto Bank collection. It is, to me, an exceptional work because the anonymous painter was able to express in a stunning

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way this truth that affects the whole history of the interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures, and he depicted it by painting the cradle of the baby Jesus in the form of a tomb. We are faced with a paradox, but we can only speak of the birth of Jesus starting from his resurrection, which is the culmination of God’s work. Paul formulates this clearly in the greeting in his Letter to the Romans: ‘which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead’ (Romans 1: 2–4). The mystery of the child born in Bethlehem can only be meditated in the light of the cross and the resurrection. To arrive at this understanding is to have entered into the profound message of the Holy Scriptures. The painting is a biblical poem. The babe in swaddling clothes is like Solomon: ‘And when I was born, I began to breathe the common air, and fell upon the kindred earth; my first sound was a cry, as is true of all. I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths’ (Wisdom 7: 3–4). Jesus lying in this singular ‘manger’ evokes the prophecy of Isaiah 1: 3: ‘The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger’. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the sign of the divine filiation of all the baptized because of her virgin motherhood. By embodying humanity and being born as a man, God confers a completely new meaning onto the life and death of humans: God does not tire of humanity, but rather transfigures it and makes it divine. Mary is the realization and the figure of this truth.

Conclusion The Bible is the ‘great code’ for the cultures of the world (Verbum Domini p. 110). In its rich library, the Word of God resounds and the men and women of all times, who hearing the reality of the prophecy of the old prophet-pastor Amos – ‘The days are coming when I will send a famine through the land: not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord’ (Amos 8: 11) – perceive, as if it were a whisper, the same God made Word that, as Isaiah announced, with the incomparable force of his voice, tells us: As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55: 10–11)

Our understanding of the Word has been enriched throughout the centuries: the examples included in these pages are intended to provide only an approximation of the boundless treasures that can be drawn from it – to paraphrase the Gospel according to Matthew 13: 52 – both old things and new, which help us to meditate on the mystery hidden in this Word on which our life depends, as stated in the old book of Deuteronomy 32: 47.

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Revalorization of Europe’s Natural Areas of Spiritual Value and Pilgrimage Routes: Inspirational Tendencies

Josep M. Mallarach1* and Josep Gordi2 Silene Association, Olot, Spain; 2University of Girona, Spain

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Introduction In an age marked by positivism and materialism, in which technocracy is the predominant form of domination and exponential growth trends have created impacts of global magnitude, overcoming the Earth’s biocapacity, it is reasonable to suggest that we are in a new geological era, the Anthropocene (Zalasiewicz et al., 2008). In recent times there have been interesting compensatory phenomena to the ideological spread of materialistic globalization, one of the most paradoxical of which is the development, in many European countries, of a set of tendencies that share an interest in rediscovering or revalorizing the recovery of natural spaces of spiritual or sacred value. This circumstance is of particular significance in those more secularized countries that were the birthplace of the materialism and reductionism that, by means of political, economic and cultural colonialism, have spread all over the world in the past two centuries. This chapter examines the evolution of the sacred in the conservation of nature, together with a series of reflections and initiatives relating to the conservation of the heritage of natural places of high spiritual value and the lines

that connect them, that is to say, the pilgrimage routes. The section on inspirational tendencies also considers a number of interesting developments in environmental education linked to these landscapes, and these guide the final discussion, which centres on the need to expand the perspective of the models for the governance of protected natural areas that currently prevail in most European countries and adopt more inclusive, fairer and more equitable approaches. Since time immemorial, the European continent has been criss-crossed by numerous roads and paths that link or connect natural spaces with spiritual and religious values. Since the birth and consolidation of the first sacred places, these lines traversing the territory have been consecrated and articulated by means of a very diverse set of buildings of a religious nature: megaliths, temples, sanctuaries, oracles, hermitages and monasteries, which we can call sacred nodes. These nodal sites at which people paused and gathered and the network of paths that unite them configured an authentic sacred geography, one that has been transformed over the course of time, with both the sites and the paths being characterized by singular elements that, in many regions, have conserved their function from prehistory to the present day. This system of

*Corresponding author: ​mallarach@​silene.​ong © CAB International 2019. Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue: Interpreting Sacred Stories (eds D. Vidal-Casellas et al.)

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nodes and linking paths forms an elaborate network that, at certain times and in certain countries, has unfolded to embrace sizable expanses such as whole mountain ranges, lakes, peninsulas or islands, considered as being endowed with intrinsic values, holy or sacred natural spaces extending over large areas. One example would be the Montsant, in Catalonia, which has a great number of shrines, hermitages and monasteries, and these, together with the sparse population and the verticality of its cliffs and ravines, create an atmosphere that justifies its name of ‘holy mountain’. Another example is Meteora, in Greece, with its group of monasteries dating from the Middle Ages on sandstone and conglomerate pinnacles, where natural rock and building come together in a striving upward to the sky. That the origin of such sacred nodal sites is earlier than that of the cities is demonstrated by the oldest sanctuaries in the world, like that of Göbekli Tepe, the work of south-eastern Anatolian seminomadic peoples of about 12,000 years ago, long before the development of agriculture (Schmidt, 2011). The roots of this sacred geography are very ancient and diverse, given that over the centuries many cosmologies and spiritual traditions have existed in Europe, often co-existing with and overlapping one another. There are countless well-documented examples of this, such as the church of Santa Maria dei Greci in the Sicilian city of Agrigento, built on the remains of a Greek temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, which was built as an isolated structure on top of a sacred hill or temenos, like the temples in the nearby Valley of the Temples; indeed, fragments of the temple’s Doric columns can still be seen in the walls of the church. Another example is the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel on the coast of Normandy, erected on the site of an important megalithic shrine on the summit of what is now the island. Sanctuaries have been built and rebuilt in sacred landscapes time and again, very often reusing elements of the earlier structures, in locations that have long been considered privileged in spiritual terms. It seems that since prehistoric times it has been an established practice for people to walk to visit sacred places, in some cases for weeks or months or even years, as attested by the numerous pilgrimages that still exist in various parts of

the world among indigenous peoples, including those that are living today in northern Russia, such as the Nenets or the Sel’kup. The Latin peregrinus means a foreigner or alien, someone who has fled from their habitual familiar environment. A pilgrim, then, is one who leaves the security of home, family and community to set out on a spiritual path, with faith and trust, but with no certain knowledge of whether they will return, or if they will reach their goal, and with the conviction that if they do return they will surely no longer be the same.

Spiritual Landscapes in the Course of History In the far north of Europe, and especially in the northern Scandinavian peninsula and the Kola peninsula of Russia, the native peoples have lived in and watched over sacred landscapes of tundra and taiga for thousands of years. In the Sami indigenous tradition, the key concept of the maintenance of life (birgejupmi) applies to virtuous forms of relation to the natural world and to the preservation of personal and collective health, both physical and spiritual (Porsanger, 2012). In the Baltic countries too, sacred natural sites linked to pre-Christian traditions abound, as in the Maausk of Estonia, which includes hundreds of sacred groves or hiis (Kaasik, 2012). Central and eastern Europe are especially rich in sacred natural spaces associated with various pre-Christian civilizations, such as that of ancient Dacia, which is kept alive in the Carpathian mountain range. The earliest Greek texts bear witness to ancient temene. A temenos is a sacred natural precinct on a mountain, on an island, in a lake or in a forest, where in ancient times a sanctuary was established, first built with mud or wood, and centuries or millennia later with stone. The mythological and religious traditions of ancient Greece reverence innumerable sanctuaries in nature, linked to a host of guardian deities, and connected by a great network of pilgrimage routes, especially to the major propitiatory temples and oracles. The veneration of natural spaces unaltered by any human intervention is a common feature

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of most European peoples during the Roman empire, be they Celtic, Germanic, Slavic or other. The Roman historian Tacitus (1st century ce) tells us that the Germanic tribes ‘conceive it unworthy the grandeur of celestial beings to confine their deities within walls, or to represent them under a human similitude: woods and groves are their temples; and they affix names of divinity to that secret power, which they behold with the eye of adoration alone’ (Tacitus, 1942). This prompted the Roman legions to cut down great swathes of these forests as part of their effort to impose Roman culture on the Germanic tribes. The poet Lucan, in his poem Pharsalia, recounts the destruction of a sacred grove near Marseille in which Julius Caesar himself had to wield the axe on account of his legionaries’ fearful respect for the consecrated status of the place. With the Edict of Milan, the Jewish holy city of Jerusalem, which had grown up around the Second Temple on the hill of Zion, razed by the Romans in the year 70 ce, rose again from the ruins and became the first Christian holy city and a place of pilgrimage for European Christians. It should be noted here that, in addition to Jerusalem, since the 4th century the Christian pilgrimage has always taken in a number of natural sites associated with important moments in the life of Jesus, such as the River Jordan, Mount Tabor, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Beatitudes or Lake Tiberias. An illustrious pilgrim who devoted much effort to enabling Christian pilgrims to visit the Bible lands in safety was Francis of Assisi (1182–1226), who had always hoped to set foot on the ground where Jesus walked. As the latter period of his life coincided with the Fifth Crusade, whose violence he deplored, he travelled to Egypt to meet the Sultan, Al-Kamil. The outcome of the unexpectedly cordial meeting between Francis and Al-Kamil was the granting to the saint and his friars of a safe conduct to visit the holy places (Tolan, 2009), which laid the basis for the subsequent Franciscan custody of the Holy Land, active until today. Over the centuries, the Eastern Christian churches have developed strong spiritual links with nature. For example, in the Balkan countries they have consecrated trees (zapis) and designated groves as excommunicated (aphorismeno) in order to protect them (Stara, 2012),

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and kept alive sacred rituals with nature that were already in decline in the Latin Church and had all but disappeared in the reformed churches. It is also important to point out that Christian monastic communities following rules of life such as those of St Basil the Great (4th century) in the east, and St Benedict (6th century) in the west, have faithfully protected and managed extensive natural territories and spaces in the most diverse ecosystems in Europe since the fourth century, overcoming time and again the traumatic effects of successive revolutions, confiscations and disestablishments such as those that occurred in many European countries in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries (Mallarach et al., 2016). Of note among the natural spaces established with religious principles by the Roman Church are the Sacri Monti of Lombardy and Piedmont, and the Carmelite deserts, created on the basis of a 16th-century model, initially in the kingdom of Castile and Aragon, to accommodate contemplative retreats ‘in the presence of the beauty and harmony of the universe’ (Ruíz and Husillos, 2008). Natural spaces preserved for their spiritual value were much more extensive in those territories in which the traditional communal systems of earlier regimes were maintained in one form or another. A unique example is the autonomous monastic state of Mount Athos (Ágion Óros), in the north-east of present-day Greece, which has survived from the Byzantine Empire to the European Union. Under the Ottoman caliphate, Mount Athos was home to the largest monastic community in Europe, with some 700 settlements and a population of up to 50,000 monks and hermits, established on a mountainous peninsula, which has conserved more than 1000 years of monastic management an exceptional natural and cultural heritage, and was listed as a Natural and Cultural World Heritage Site (Speake, 2002). It is also worth mentioning the recognition accorded to landscapes with spiritual values in Ottoman Europe, with a range of natural spaces being preserved according to Islamic principles. Some of these were centred on sites where the Sufi communities of the Balkans (tekijes) were gathered, in carefully selected and managed areas where each element of the landscape was held to be an explicit sign of God and a tangible support of the spiritual path (tariqa) of

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which there are still notable examples in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Hadzimuhamedovic, 2012). Another type of natural space with spiritual values, administered under the waqf mortmain system, and still found in some parts of Turkey, was managed to meet social needs (orphans, widows, mosques, madrasas and other charitable purposes), and in some cases stewarded as a nature reserves or hima. Last but not least are the sacred natural spaces preserved by Alevi-Betkashi communities and inspired by a vision of nature that synthesizes several pre-Islamic cosmologies with Islam. Rigorously protected natural sanctuaries of this kind were present in Ottoman Albanian and abounded in several provinces of Anatolia (Lyratzaki, 2012). This list of examples makes no claim to being exhaustive, but is intended rather to give an idea of the diversity of religious and spiritual motivations that have underpinned the conservation of nature and the landscape throughout European history.

The Impact of Materialistic and Positivist Modernity The majority of Europe’s spiritual natural areas or cultural landscapes, actively conserved by traditional systems of governance for centuries, were seriously affected by the profound changes that followed from the Industrial Revolution, which originated in the 17th century and spread across Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries and gave rise to a series of social, political and economic revolutions. The massive confiscations carried out by the new liberal states in the extensive lands managed by religious organizations (which in many European countries managed 20–35% of the territory) had devastating effects on the conservation of nature and the associated spiritual values. As materialistic reductionism spread, the diverse yet co-existing traditional visions of nature supported by indigenous, Judeo-Christian and Islamic cosmologies, reinterpreted in many countries by old folk traditions and Romanticism, entered into conflict and steadily lost ground, first in urban centres and subsequently in the rural areas that depended on them.

The two World Wars marked a very important break, the impact of which has still not been studied from the perspective that concerns us here. Many of the old natural areas and spiritual landscapes were privatized or placed under public ownership, the more fortunate becoming part of a new generation of protected natural spaces as national parks or nature reserves. Only a few, generally isolated in remote places, were able to retain the old traditional forms of conservation, in a more or less precarious way, throughout the 20th century. Traditional conceptions of nature were reinterpreted in many countries, losing a large part of their cosmic dimension, and this process was rapidly accentuated in central and northern Europe, where the reformed churches predominated. The theological concept of Creation characteristic of the three Abrahamic religions and the ayat concept of natural phenomena as signs or divine miracles in Islam, together with the sacred vision of nature typical of Eastern Christian churches, were all supplanted by the utilitarian view, which sees nature as no more than a material resource. Mention must be made, however schematically, of the political and economic causes of this crisis. The accelerated globalization of commerce in agrarian, livestock and forestry products has condemned the rural economy to ever-greater volatility and vulnerability and damaged many local ecosystems. The predominance of economicism, which has engendered a speculative financial economy concentrated in a few hands, has weakened the real or productive economy. Industrialization and the accelerated mechanization of agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry have impoverished the diversity of rural landscapes and weakened the resilience, security and sovereignty of the food supply in most countries. The increasing subordination of political institutions to the powers that be, which operate through technocrats, has been detrimental to the exercise of democracy and to freedom of information, while the implementing of ever more ambiguous, prolonged and complex mechanisms in the taking of important decisions impedes transparency in evaluating and establishing accountability and facilitates corruption and the impunity of interest groups in the agro-business, energy and pharmaceutical industries.

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Positive Turning Point Reactions to the global destructive tendencies grew stronger and more diverse throughout the 20th century. From the academic point of view, a significant turning point was the publication of the ambitious United Nations Environment Programme study ‘Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity’, with its numerous examples from around the world, demonstrating that in many places the conservation of nature has been and continues to be intimately linked to culture and spirituality (Posey, 1999). This study marked the beginning of a new phase in policies of nature conservation. The concept of ‘cultural and spiritual’ values had a significant impact on the subsequent policy documents and positions of the most influential international organizations in the conservation of nature, such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). At the IUCN’s Fifth World Parks Congress, held in Durban (South Africa) in 2003, representatives of indigenous peoples from around the world put forward a cogently argued critique of Western technocratic approaches to

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nature and denounced the injustices resulting from the so-called ‘Yellowstone model’ of protected natural areas, which has led to the forced displacement of more than 100 million people worldwide. This led the Congress to approve the first recommendations to integrate cultural and spiritual values into the strategies, planning and management of protected natural areas, and to set up a work group on the spiritual and cultural values of protected natural areas within the World Commission on Protected Areas. One of the first outputs was the IUCN Best Practice Guidelines for Sacred Natural Sites (Wild and McLeod, 2008). The Delos Initiative, focusing on sacred natural sites found in technologically developed countries, has specially developed in Europe. Since 2003 both the World Commission on Protected Areas and the IUCN General Assembly itself have passed several resolutions or recommendations concerning the spiritual values of nature (Table 7.1), which are fostering numerous initiatives around the world. Although someone living in Western European might have a contrary impression, at present more than 85% of humanity have links to one of the great religions, and religious institutions are among the most resilient and

Table 7.1.  IUCN Resolutions concerning the spiritual values of nature. Year

Resolutions or recommendations

2003

Rec. 13

Integrating Cultural and Spiritual Values in the Strategies, Planning and Management of Protected Natural Areas

2008

Res. 038

Recognition and Conservation of Sacred Natural Sites in Protected Areas

2008

Res. 4056

Rights-based Approaches to Conservation

2008

Res. 4052

Implementing the UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples

2008

Res. 4099

Acknowledging the Need for Recognizing the Diversity of Concepts and Values of Nature

2012

Res. 147

Supporting Custodian Protocols and Customary Laws of Sacred Natural Sites

2012

Res. 2012

Respecting, Recognizing and Supporting Community Conserved Areas

2012

Res 5094

Respecting, Recognizing and Supporting Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Territories

2012

Res. 009

Encouraging Collaboration with Faith Organizations

2014

n.a.

The Promise of Sydney

2016

Res. 033

Recognizing the Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Nature in Protected and Conserved Areas

Title

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influential organizations in the world (Palmer and Finaly, 2003). In recent years many conservancy bodies, aware of the need to increase social support for the conservation of natural heritage, have promoted formal alliances and collaborative ventures with religious organizations. Gary Gardner has formulated this in a call for the total commitment of ecologists and believers, and in so doing has fostered interest in exploring the contributions of other cosmologies, worldviews and religions to the conservation of nature, in the application of initiatives and biocultural approaches to the conservation of the natural heritage and to building alliances and cooperating with religious organizations at the regional and local level (Gardner, 2002).

Inspirational Tendencies Among the most inspirational trends in the conservation of nature to have emerged in the past decades, it is worth noting the following: 1. The evolution of the evaluation of protected natural spaces from exclusively naturalistic approaches to more holistic appraisals, using trans-disciplinary approaches, including the cultural and spiritual significance of nature (Verschuuren and Brown, 2018), often thanks to the incorporation of landscape-based principles. 2. The gradual shift from approaches based on top-down legal and normative frameworks to others based on fundamental rights, including the traditional codes, customs and responsibilities of local communities and populations (Verschuuren and Brown, 2018). 3. The evolution from the exclusive consideration of material values towards the inclusion of cultural and spiritual values and meanings. The acceptance of this latter tendency has entailed going beyond merely tangible cultural attributes to recognizing the importance of the intangible cultural heritage (Berkes, 1999). This change of paradigm has made way for approaches that have demonstrated the extent to which the spiritual meaning of nature – with all the associated religious values – has throughout history been – and in many parts of the world is still – one of the most

powerful forces for the conservation of nature (Harmon and Putney, 2003). 4. The rediscovery, revaluation and gradual recovery of forms of spirituality linked to nature, such as retreats with meditation and contemplation practices in natural spaces, walking pilgrimages, and so on, with the incorporation, in some cases, of practices from Eastern traditions, such as tai-chi or qigong. 5. The greater visibility of the spiritual values associated with nature, especially in exceptional places, as a result of international agreements such as the European Landscape Convention (Council of Europe, 2000) or the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. These approaches have led territorial planners and managers of rural environments or protected natural areas to take into account related intangible factors, such as aesthetic, identitarian and others. 6. The gradual recognition of the sacred values of certain natural spaces and their traditional custodians has made it possible to develop forms of protection for these, beyond the specific natural framework in which they are situated. For example, both the IUCN and UNESCO formally recognize sacred natural sites and the roles of the custodians that take care of them. 7. The emergence of national and international guidelines oriented towards recognizing these values and their incorporation in areas of nature conservation. A Spanish example is El patrimonio inmaterial: valores culturales y espirituales. Manual para su incorporación en las áreas protegidas (Mallarach, 2012), and an international example is the Best Practice Guidelines on the Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Nature in the Governance and Management of Protected and Conserved Areas under preparation by the IUCN Specialist Group on Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas. 8. The recovery and enhancement of pilgrimage paths, based on walking, slowness, silence and peaceful enjoyment of the landscape. The last third of the 20th century witnessed another unexpected phenomenon in many European countries, in the form of parallel initiatives to restore,

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reestablish or revitalize ancient pilgrimage routes in several countries, duly followed, at the start of the 21st century, by the creation of new pilgrimage routes, even in the more secularized countries and in those where the influence of Lutheran reform had eliminated them. It is true, of course, that motivations have changed. Apart from Eastern Europe, where the religious and spiritual motivation still prevails, elsewhere it is often combined with consideration of health, leisure, sports or even local development. Examples include the revitalization of the Way of Saint James in Galicia, the recovery of the Via Lauretana and the establishment of the Via Francigena and the Ignatius of Loyola route in Catholicism, the Sufi pilgrimage routes in Bosnia-Herzegovina, some Christian and Muslim inter-confessional pilgrimage routes such as Mount Rumija (Montenegro), the revitalization of longabandoned pilgrimages such as the one to Lindisfarne (England), the massive growth of historical pilgrimages such as the Rocío in Doñana (Andalusia) or modern pilgrimages linked to contemporary Marian apparitions in natural spaces such as Lourdes (France) or Fátima (Portugal), which attract millions of pilgrims every year. 9. In the educational sphere, it is generally accepted that the experience of children in urban environments, with a largely sedentary way of life, an excessive use of electronic devices and little or no contact with nature has pathological effects, among which are increasing ecological illiteracy, biophobia and a profound disconnection from the seasonal cycles. For that reason, more and more alternative models are appearing, with the aim of restoring the deep links with nature in order to live it: to get wet, to get dirty, to get scratches and scrapes, to touch, to climb trees … to explore nature, and in so doing embrace practices of interiorization such as meditation or contemplation. In short, children are being encouraged to live nature once more as a wise teacher that assists us in our personal and social growth (Freire, 2013). Various European countries have transformed their educational systems in order to impart the school curriculum in natural spaces. By 2007, Denmark already had 290 schools

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teaching in the open air, while Sweden had 420, and Germany over 2000. More and more educationalists are insisting on the relationship between nature and spirituality, in teaching us to how to cultivate full attention, serenity, intuition and inspiration (Hueso, 2017). At the level of university education it is worth noting the development of initiatives like the postgraduate course in spiritual values and meanings of nature: perception, communication, management and integration at the University of Girona, Catalonia, since 2015. 10. In leisure education, where contact with nature has been better conserved, we must emphasize the role of the scouting movement – both religious and secular – in promoting spiritual ties with nature, by way of languages and practices in keeping with local needs, cultures and conditions (World Scout Bureau, 2011).

Discussion Having attempted a brief survey of the historical evolution of spiritual value in the conservation of protected natural areas in Europe, and listed some of the main inspirational tendencies, we consider that the discussion may revolve around the following core ideas:







That institutions and organizations with responsibilities for protected natural areas promote the incorporation in the management and governance of these of positive attitudes towards and respect for all those natural and cultural manifestations that are based on spiritual values. The provision of guides and good practice documents for managers of protected areas and conservation organizations, drawing attention to the extraordinary contribution of the value of the sacred in the history of the conservation of nature in Europe, together with the presentation of best practice examples on the incorporation of spirituality in management and governance. The creation of sensitization materials (leaflets, handbooks, etc.) based on good

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practices in promoting access to natural spaces rich in spiritual values. The promotion of training in this area at the professional and university level,

providing both conceptual and practical tools to overcome fragmented approaches and ideological barriers to holistic approaches, including spiritual values.

References Berkes, F. (1999) Sacred Ecology: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Resource Management. Taylor & Francis, Philadelphia, PA. Council of Europe (2000) European Landscape Convention. European Treaty Series No. 176. Council of Europe, Florence, Italy. Freire, H. (ed.) (2013) Educar con la naturaleza. Cuadernos de Pedagogía, Madrid. Gardner, G. (2002) Invoking the Spirit. Religion and Spirituality in the Quest for a Sustainable World. Worldwatch Institute, Washington, DC. Hadzimuhamedovic, A. (2012) The challenge of protecting spiritual values of Bosnian cultural landscapes through Annex 8 of Dayton Peace Accord, Bosnia. In: Mallarach, J.M. (ed) Spiritual Values of Protected Areas of Europe. German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Bonn, Germany, pp. 47–54. Harmon, D. and Putney, A. (2003) The Full Value of Parks: From Economics to the Intangible. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD, USA. Hueso, K. (2017) Somos Naturaleza. Un viaje a nuestra esencia. Plataforma Editorial, Barcelona, Spain. Kaasik, A. (2012) Conserving sacred natural sites in Estonia,. In: Mallarach, J.M., Papayannis, T. and Vaisanen, R. (eds) The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe: Proceedings of the Third Workshop of the Delos Initiative – Inari/Aanaar2010. IUCN and Vantaa, Gland, Switzerland, pp. 61–74. Lyratzaki, I. (2012) Alevi-Betkashi communities in south-eastern Europe: spiritual heritage and environmental consciousness. In: Mallarach, J.M., Papayannis, T. and Väisänen, R. (eds) The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe: Proceedings of the Third Workshop of the Delos Initiative – Inari/Aanaar, 2010. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, pp. 95–108. Mallarach, J.-M., Corcó, J. and Papayannis, T. (2016) Christian monastic Lands as protected landscapes and community-conserved areas: an overview. PARKS 22(1), 63–78. Mallarach, J.M. (ed.) (2012) Spiritual Values of Protected Areas of Europe. German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Vilm, Bonn, Germany. Palmer, M. and Finaly, V. (2003) Faith in Conservation. New Approaches to Religions and the Environment. The World Bank, Washington, DC. Porsanger, J. (2012) Indigenous Sámi religion: general considerations and relationships. In: Mallarach, J.M., Papayannis, T. and Väisänen, R. (eds) The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe: Proceedings of the Third Workshop of the Delos Initiative – Inari/Aanaar, 2010. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, pp. 37–46. Posey, D. (ed.) (1999) Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity. UNEP and Intermediate Technology Publishers, London. Ruíz, A. and Husillos, I. (2008) El Desierto de Las Palmas. Historia y vida. Gráficas Castaño, León, Spain. Schmidt, K. (2011) Göbekli Tepe: A neolithic site in southwestern Anatolia. In: Steadman, S.R. and McMahon, G. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Speake, G. (2002) Mount Athos. Renewal in Paradise. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. Stara, K. (2012) Northen Pinods National Park excommunicated forests. In: Mallarach, J.M. (ed.) Spiritual Values of Protected Areas of Europe. German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. BfN Skripten 322, Bonn, Germany, pp. 69–74. Tacitus (1942) Complete Works of Tacitus. Perseus Books, New York. Tolan, J. (2009) Il santo dal sultano. L’incontro di Francesco d’Assisi e l’Islam. Laterza, Rome. Verschuuren, B. and Brown, S. (2018) Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Nature in Protected Areas:Management, Governance and Policy. Routledge, London. World Scout Bureau (2011) Guidelines for religious and spiritual development. Available at: http://​scout.​ org/​es/​information_​events/​biblioteca/​spiritual_​development (accessed 22 January 2019). Zalasiewicz, J., Williams, M., Smith, A., Barry, T.L., Coe, A.L. et  al. (2008) Are we now living in the Anthropocene. GSA Today 18(2), 4–8.

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Interpretation Tools for Religious Heritage

Maia Kanaan-Amat1*, Neus Crous-Costa2 and Silvia Aulet2 ÜdelBac Association, Val del Bac, Spain; 2University of Girona, Spain

Introduction How can visitor numbers to sites be increased and, at the same time, their understanding of the place be enhanced? How can the needs and expectations of visitors and tourists be taken into account, to promote contact with a heritage that is fragile and irreplaceable, without affecting its value? Interpretation plays a crucial role in the protection, exploitation and mediation of natural, cultural or immaterial heritage, including religious heritage, and thus becomes one of the answers to the previous questions. The information given in sacred spaces is key to ensure a warm welcome, but it is also a key element to explain to visitors the nature of the site, whatever their background. Destinations’ quest for differentiating their tourism offer from competitors becomes, too, a source of symbolic transformation of genuine local resources into tourism recreation products as part of the trend to reinforce local cultural traditions and identities. More and more there is an intense connection between these two tendencies of representation as local, religious, historical and cultural identities and as tourism experiences. (Scheer and Williams, 2003, p. 62)

In the field of tourism destination management, we must bear in mind the existence of two

important trends. On the one hand, the growing interest of European society in cultural heritage. On the other hand, an apparent change in the consumption of tourist resources: more sensitive, visual and based on the use of the five senses. These two trends must coexist in the interpretation and presentation of religious heritage, without falling into excessive banalization or touristification. Within this framework of growing interest in cultural heritage, sociocultural resources are becoming more and more important, and interpretation tools are a key element. In the case of sacred spaces, as representative spaces of identity and transmitters of core cultural values, it is important that interpretation tools emphasize regional traits. To show, to allow discovery, to arouse interest, to teach, to inform, to amuse, to inspire dreams, etc. are some of the objectives of interpretation. Interpretation is a major ingredient of dialogue and communication. Although the theory of interpretation was originally related to natural spaces (as originated by Tilden in the 1950s; Tilden, 2006), progressively it began to encompass heritage as an indivisible concept, since cultural aspects are inseparable from natural ones. This vision assumes a change in the strategies of site heritagization, especially since the 1980s. But the interpretation is not limited to natural and cultural sites: it has also been opened to

*Corresponding author: ​info@​udelbac.​cat © CAB International 2019. Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue: Interpreting Sacred Stories (eds D. Vidal-Casellas et al.)

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ethnology, industry, crafts, historical towns, archaeology, etc. It aims to provide explanations and information about the sites in two main areas:

• •

The surroundings: circuits, observation trails, discovery itineraries, landscape reading points, etc. On-site: spaces that host permanent or temporary exhibitions, visits organized and commentated by interpreting guides, etc.

Except for on some occasions (see, for example, Kiely, 2014), religious objects themselves receive little attention from the academic perspective of interpretation. However, many museums around the world include or focus on exhibiting religious artefacts. It was Pope Francis (2015) who emphasized the role of art not only in evangelization but as something capable of offering consolation and hope to all, connecting the past with the present and encouraging the approach between societies and social classes: Museums must welcome new forms of art. They must open their doors wide to people from all over the world. To be an instrument of dialogue between cultures and religions, an instrument of peace. Be alive! They should not be dusty collections of the past only for the ‘chosen ones’ and the ‘Wise’, but a vital reality that knows how to guard that past and to tell it to the man of today, starting with the humblest, and so, all together, with confidence, dispose ourselves to the present and also to the future. The art has in itself a salvific dimension and must be open to everything and everyone, and offer everyone consolation and hope. (Pope Francis, 2015, p. 9)

In this chapter, we will focus on non-personal interpretation tools in museums and interpretation centres and how they can transmit the values of religious heritage. The objective is to reflect on the core values of religious artefacts for the societies that created them, contrasting with the way in which these pieces are exhibited today in museums and similar environments.

Principles and Objectives of Interpretation Interpretation is the process of communication in which an interpreter makes an explanation to

a group of people about the characteristics and meaning of a given site. Tilden (2006) states that the purpose of the interpretation is to stimulate in the visitor, listener or spectator the desire to extend the horizon of their interests and their knowledge and to help to understand the great truths that hide behind the facts, not only by simply reciting the facts or the name of the things but by loving heritage. Interpretation is not a closed field; rather it is in a state of permanent evolution. Communication strategies based on interpretation, as pointed out by Camarero Izquierdo and Garrido Samaniego (2004), take into account aspects such as consumer behaviour, recreational learning and educational psychology; they are usually used by educators, interpreters and communication professionals who work in contact with visitors with the aim of transferring the history of an object or place from the language of the expert to the language of the visitor. Specifically, in the case of sacred spaces, visitors need guidance to know what they should look at and what is significant. We must bear in mind that there is a growing ignorance of the symbolism and values linked to religion (either one’s own, or an unfamiliar religion). This is especially true in the case of foreign visitors, who may have a totally different cultural and religious baggage. The first objectives of interpretation are to make the site speak for itself, giving the visitor access to the most varied information possible in order to allow him to understand what he is visiting. Tilden (2006, pp. 36–37) proposes six principles to take into account to develop the heritage interpretation activity:

• • •

What is being seen must correspond to the explanations and should include some element related to the visitor’s experience to get their attention. The information is not an interpretation but it is included in the interpretation, awakening interest and transmitting it in a way that inspires the visitor. Interpretation is an art that combines many other arts and where qualities such as creativity and imagination are paramount, and interpreters have to be good communicators.

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Interpretation Tools for Religious Heritage

• • •

The main objective is to provoke a positive feeling in visitors by creating emotional links between visitors and the place. Interpretation has to be holistic: it must present the whole site instead of a part, and must equally be addressed to the human being as a whole. Information must be transmitted to the target public, adapting it according to the market segment and the location of the resource.

Beck and Cable (1998) propose a different set of principles, based on Tilden’s, adding reflections about new aspects, such as technology. Its incorporation into interpretive programmes must be done with care and caution. In addition, the Ename Letter recommends paying attention to the following aspects:





• • •

• •

Access to heritage is a universal right. The public consideration of its meaning must be facilitated by an effective interpretation, maintained in a stable manner, involving a wide spectrum of communities associated with these places, as well as visitors and other stakeholders. The interpretation of patrimonial spaces must be based on systematic and well-documented evidence, collected according to accepted scientific methodologies and using traditional sources of living cultures, if appropriate, according to the place. Interpretation of heritage spaces must refer to the broader context: the social, cultural, historical and natural framework. Authenticity has to be respected. The interpretation plan must be sensitive to the environment and to its sustainability in order to promote a balanced and coherent development from a social, economic and environmental point of view. Interpretation must actively involve all the groups and communities involved. Interpretation requires continuous research, training and education; it is a living process that has to incorporate the advances that are taking place in this area.

Beyond these principles, three broad spheres of interpretation can be identified (Castells, 2001):

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1. The emotional or sensitive sphere. The presentation of the objects, as well as the decoration of the exhibition, the designs and the choice of materials, colours or lights, can have various effects on the visitor: evoking in them a sense of majesty, sacredness, triviality, dramatization, etc. 2. The ideological sphere, which generates, among others, a historical, economic, sociological or religious explanation of the territorial reality. 3. The instrumental sphere, which helps the visitor to understand the complexity of what he sees through reconstructions, schemes, schematic or detailed plans, animated, motionless or interactive models, photographs, audiovisuals and films, interactive instruments, etc. In the specific case of sacred spaces, it is necessary to analyse which tools are the most appropriate according to the characteristics of each place and where and how to place them, taking into account that by doing so we can provide multiple benefits to these spaces, such as favouring the comprehension of the visitor, increasing his satisfaction, reducing vandalism or inappropriate behaviours and meeting the needs of the place for conservation and other purposes (Morales Miranda, 2001).

Interpretation Spaces for Religious Heritage In the development of an interpretation plan, it is necessary to determine which means are to be used. In the field of interpretation, there are two types of media: personal means and nonpersonal means. These means are applicable to the different interpretation spaces that exist. Interpretation tools, both personal and non-personal, are applicable to any interpretation spaces. Apart from personal means (guided tours and their derivatives), there are many examples of non-personal interpretation tools found in museums, monuments and interpretation centres. Depending on the element, the audience you want to reach and the message to be transmitted, you must choose those that may offer the best results.

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Interpretation centres are cultural facilities whose function is to offer a learning environment and reveal to the public the meaning of the cultural and/or natural heritage. Starting from the definition that Tilden (1977, initially published in the 1950s) elaborated for interpretation, the concept of an interpretation centre was established in North America (different from a visitor centre). Thus, its main function is to ‘decode the current reality and the historical past of a territory’ (Martín Piñol, 2009, p. 53) in such a way that the potential value of any type of heritage of a place: cultural (material, ethnographic, etc.) and natural (landscape, ecology, etc.), can be realized, both for the local population and for tourists. One of the secondary purposes is to awaken the desire for knowledge of the territory and, therefore, the consumption of tourist products. To this end, interpretation centres use different media that propose different visions depending on the public. It is an equipment conceived to hold exhibitions (in one or several units) to reveal the meaning of some patrimonial element applying the methodology of interpretation in its communication strategies to the public. (Asociación para la Interpetación del Patrimonio, 2012)

Unlike museums, interpretation centres do not have the purpose of conserving collections. These centres allow visitors to gain better knowledge about cultural and natural values, providing them with the necessary information about the possible uses of the site. Their presentation strategy is based, above all, on scenographic exhibitions, with the support of technological and audiovisual elements to promote the discovery of heritage. Serantes (2004) presents a critical view of the situation of interpretation centres as equipment that serve as a basis to raise problems that may be common in other spaces. For example:





There is a certain legal void in the area of interpretation centres since they are included in European regulations, which problematizes their definition and makes them harder to regulate at a national level. The distribution of the centres is not subject to any centralized planning (geographical or other). Generally, the centres



are newly created spaces, so one needs to think of the best possible location in each case, taking into account accessibility and sustainability. The understanding of the interpretation centre as an objective and not as a resource can also lead to problematic issues due to the cost of maintenance, the impact it generates, etc. The centre has to complement or to be a support for the cultural or natural sites and many times managers lose sight of this.

One example of an interpretation centre, which we highlight here, is the Centro de Interpretación del Misticismo (CIM) of Ávila Centro de Interpretación del Misticismo (n.d.). CIM was created in 1990 with the aim of creating a differentiated cultural tourism product unique in Europe and linked to one of the main unique elements of the city. The centre is offered as a compendium of universal mysticism and as a work of art with mystical features, since not only the content was especially designed for the place, but also the building. In addition, it has an active programme of teaching, research, documentation and dissemination of topics related to mysticism. This is offered along with the spiritual itinerary of Saint Teresa (of Ávila).

Museums and religious art collections The museum is defined as an institution at the service of society. Museums are specialized cultural spaces that expose a collection with a museological project. The definition of a museum has evolved over time based on changes in society. Since its creation in 1946, the International Council of Museums (ICOMOS) has continued to update this definition to keep it matched to current realities. A museum is a permanent, non-profit institution, at the service of society and open to the public, which acquires, preserves, studies, exhibits and disseminates the material and immaterial heritage of humanity for the purposes of the study, education and recreation. (ICOMOS, 2007)

This is the classic and probably the most internationally accepted definition of a museum and

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in it we find the main difference from the interpretation centre: the latter does not have collections but, as Terrisse (2017) points out, it uses immersive processes to communicate a certain aspect to the visitor. Apart from their conservation and documentation functions, another of the core functions of museums is dissemination. To spread, according to the dictionary of the Spanish Academy, is to ‘propagate’, ‘to extend’, ‘to make something available to the public’, but it can also be defined more specifically as ‘to put within the reach of the generality of the people something previously reserved for a minority’ (Moliner, 1990) or ‘… making a complex, cultural, scientific or technical issue available to everyone’ (Mota, 1988). Museums commonly use reproductions, texts, multimedia systems (from videos to augmented reality), interactive facilities (hands-on experiences), games and, in a broader sense, any other resource. The effort to engage visitors with the subject at hand can lead to a mistaken comparison between a theme park and a museum (Puydebat, 1995), with the consequent risk of trivialization of the objects and the values associated with them. Religious artefacts exist for a reason within a community, which creates them to fulfil a specific function. Otto (1965) mentions the importance of the link between artefact and experience, an encounter with the transcendent, with the mysterium tremendum et fascinosum, which leads us not only to imbue religion with the system of beliefs, customs and rituals of a particular society, but also with the experiences of individuals, at both a personal and collective level, for which religious (magic) artefacts play a fundamental role. Religious artefacts are commonly exhibited in museums, taken out of their contexts and separated from the actions for which they were conceived. The reasons that they have ended up inside a showcase are diverse: they may have fallen into disuse due to the disappearance of the religious practice, they may be archaeological findings, they may have been displaced from their original location for reasons of conservation and to avoid looting, and they may be trophies resulting from explorations or wars, for example. Museums that include religious artefacts in their exhibitions and collections can have a

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very different focuses (art, archaeology, history, ethnography, applied arts, music and, in some cases, even science and technology). Gombrich (2003) references a quotation from Haskell in which he tells us about the distinction that we so lightly make between art and religion: Art, too, belongs to the necessary expressions of humanity. In fact, it could be said that the genius of humanity expresses itself in a more complete and more characteristic way in art than in religion. (Gombrich, 2003, p. 83)

Religion, as a component of the cultural substrate of a human group, is indiscernibly connected with many of the modern fields of knowledge. The astrological observatories of antiquity had deep foundations in the sacred worldview. Today we exhibit the objects related to it in a science and technology museum (or in the interpretation centre located next to the observatory). Carvings in the form of divinity can be found both in art museums (as a product of artistic techniques) and in ethnography museums (as a manifestation of a group’s religious beliefs). In any case, both examples fail when they circumscribe the object to a specific field of knowledge, instead of framing it in the complete picture: the worldview of a specific cultural group. The arrangement of religious objects in a museum – whatever their subject – causes an alteration in their characteristics, perhaps physical, and certainly practical, and the discourses that are created around them contribute to suppressing their transcendent or spiritual dimension. In short, they are far from their central (spiritual) value, which is rarely conserved or restored beyond the purely anecdotal. Certainly, there are exhibitions that try to reproduce the original effect. This is the case with the Romanesque paintings exhibited in the National Art Museum of Catalonia. Removed from the walls of the churches of the Pyrenees in the early 20th century for reasons of conservation, they were arranged in the halls of the museum reproducing as faithfully as possible the structure of the original temple. In spite of that, their original function is lost, even more so when they are contemplated by people unaware of the message that the paintings reveal. This example leads us to expose a discussion that is becoming recurrent. When an object is

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removed from a temple to be exhibited in a museum for conservation reasons, often, if the temple is still in use, it is replaced by as faithful a copy as possible. This copy is made at a different moment in time, by an artist with different skills from the original artist. Therefore, it is essentially a ‘mere copy’. Now, which image should be considered ‘real’: the one that was originally conceived for the temple and has perhaps passed centuries in it, but which is now far from spirituality in a cold showcase; or its copy, perhaps of lesser literal value, but to which prayers and rituals are now directed? From the point of view of a living religion, what is the image ‘in operation’? Further, as Lehuard asks, in the catalogue of the African Art exhibition of the Fundació Caixa de Girona, (Lehuard, 2005, can we consider in the same way the exhibition in a museum of religious objects from our own culture and those from other cultures? Incorporating pieces from other cultures and civilizations into a museum can have multiple meanings: it can represent the will to know the other, to approach another culture, to foster an intercultural dialogue, but it can also be seen as a legacy of colonialism, the supremacy of a Western discourse over the rest of the world, since this situation is found mostly in Western museums (we will hardly find a carving of a Romanesque Virgin in a Chinese museum).

European religions in European museums: Christianity To understand the role played by religious artefacts in contemporary European museums, one must understand the situation of religion and Christianity in today’s society. Authors such as Esteve Secall (2002) (foreword by González Ruiz) and Díez de Velasco (1998) explain and justify the religious phenomena linked to the productive systems of society. Thus, Díez de Velasco (1998) classifies religions into three major groups: preagricultural societies, traditional societies and the religions of industrial and post-industrial societies. In part, the current religious crisis of the world is explained because part of the religions that we consider universal today was ‘designed’ for an agricultural-based society that has very little to do with the current situation.

The current religious panorama is complicated: on the one hand, the growing trend of some religious factions is true; while, on the other hand, other religions speak of a crisis of faith and loss of values. According to Maslow (1991) and his theory of the pyramid of needs, once the primary needs are met other, more subtle, ones arise. As a consequence of the industrial model and the application of capitalist premises, the realization of the highest needs in the pyramid has been associated with material accumulation: a model that, now, is in crisis in favour of self-realization. Therefore, the adaptation of the current religious forms goes through the formulation of disciplines of self-knowledge. As pointed out by Sharpley and Jepson (2011), and somehow tying in Díez de Velasco and Maslow, although religion in the traditional sense is in decline, modern societies remain religious in their own way, leading to the deinstitutionalization of traditional religions. In this context, what about the works and artefacts of the sacred art of Christianity exhibited in museums? In general, due to this process of deinstitutionalization of religion and secularism of contemporary society, it seems that in many European countries, despite declaring themselves to be Christians, it is more a question of a cultural legacy than of actual practice. As pointed out by Nelsen et al. (2001) the influence of religion on cultural factors is undeniable, as well as the role it plays in the economy and in the development of European policies. In general, the elements of sacred art can be found in public museums or in museums that depend directly on religious institutions and bishoprics (the so-called episcopal museums). The Vatican Museums are the best example of the latter group. The direction of the Vatican Museums demands the evangelizing function of sacred art, beyond beauty. As explained by Martínez López (2008), the Vatican Museums are a type of museum that adopts traditional exhibition systems, above all from the conservative and investigative point of view, structuring the collections in chronological order and with an important absence of information supports. It is a visit based on aesthetic contemplation but without didactic or educational spirit. In this sense works of sacred art are decontextualized and do not actually fulfil their original function.

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Interpretation Tools for Religious Heritage

This is a trend often found in the presentation of these works of sacred art. In contrast, a second trend is represented by the Catharijneconvent Museum in Utrecht, The Netherlands, promoted by the Ministry of Culture, which, taking advantage of the building of a convent that was the seat of the archbishopric, exhibits different works of sacred art. The philosophy of the museum is based on the idea that Christian heritage in The Netherlands is extremely important and should be known for its beauty, history and meaning. Dutch society is highly intercultural and the religious landscape evolves rapidly. The museum offers spaces for different interpretations and experiences without requiring adherence to a specific faith or philosophical or historical thought. The tasks of the museum go beyond the simple collection or dissemination of knowledge and incorporate aspects such as the promotion of networking to exchange knowledge or the development of multidisciplinary research around the art, culture and history of the church (Museum Catharijneconvent, n.d.). Beyond the exhibited collections, activities, visits, etc., the museum gives advice to those organizations that request it in the field on how to explain how to treat religious heritage by asking questions such as what is the literal or emotional value of the object, what is the historical or artistic value or what was its function in relation to the whole or the building where it belonged? Finally, to illustrate the role of works of Christian art in European museums, there is a third trend based on the iconographic story. The Monastery of Montserrat (Catalonia, Spain) is a Benedictine monastery that, among its facilities, has a museum (Museum of Montserrat; Abadia de Montserrat, n.d.) with different art collections. These collections are not of sacred art but pieces that have been donated or bequeathed to the monastery for their artistic value and that, in many examples, deal with profane subjects. However, the museum includes the Nigra Sum collection, dedicated to the iconography of the image of the Virgin that is in the church of the monastery. The image of the Virgin is a Romanesque wood carving from the late 19th century, who is venerated for being the Patroness of Catalonia. This space contains a varied sample of artistic and popular materials that help to explain the iconographic evolution

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of this image, allowing visitors to see the antiquity and universality of the devotion to the Virgin of Montserrat, also known as Moreneta. In this case, it is an attempt to explain the history of devotion to a carving from the contemplation of different related pieces.

Distant religions in European museums: A general perspective When it comes to exposing the artefacts produced by a culture that are endowed with a practical function (in the magic domain and not a mere decorative souvenir) Szczepanowska (2013) describes the differences in museology and museography in Western Europe and those of other cultural groups. Not only can the role of museums differ from one setting to the other, but also the ethics and sensitivity in relation to the artefacts differ greatly. Possibly the most striking cases are the centres that expose human remains. In general, in Europe, it is not questioned whether it is appropriate or not to expose human remains found in archaeological sites. It seems natural (or naturalized) to display the skeletal remains of our prehistoric ancestors. Probably the inhabitants of the Neolithic would have had another opinion about how publicly a funeral trousseau and the corpse should be displayed, or if it should be removed from its grounds at all. The same considerations would apply to Egyptian mummies, on display in many museums around Europe and the world. As a concrete example, although little-known internationally, we can consider the case of the San warrior, dissected in the mid-19th century and later exhibited at the Darder Museum (Banyoles, Spain) since 1916. In 2000 it was finally returned to his original tribe in current Botswana. Human remains can cause a deeper impression more easily than objects, even if they are sacred objects for ‘others’ (and therefore it is not something that appeals directly to the centre of our being). But we must not forget that many groups, for example, the Native Americans or the Oceanic Aborigines, endow sacred objects with life. Putting them in a showcase, decontextualized and in view of everyone at any time, at the risk of being manipulated

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by personnel who, although competent from a technical point of view, show no sensibility towards their core nature, does not seem adequate. And it is inadequate to such an extent that it affects the group’s physical and emotional well-being. Here different mechanisms come into operation, as for example the taboos and the cultural norms on who can have access to which objects (since the object is the means to reach the divine, if not the divinity itself). It is not in vain that the Maori have developed a specific ethical code for the museumization of their objects (Szczepanowska, 2013). As an example: at the Chickasaw Cultural Center (Sulfur, Oklahoma, United States) a placard can be read explaining why the group chooses not to include objects related to burials among the exhibits. Linked to their ancestors and, therefore, sacred, they belong to the domain of the transcendent, and moving them from the funeral sites is equivalent to interrupting the spiritual development of the ancestors. The display case next to this explanation contains some original ceramic fragments and reproductions of some objects that can be part of a burial. Accompanying this same showcase is another text: the copy of a letter sent by the head of the Chickasaw group to the political leaders of the United States, denouncing the fact that several (non-Native) individuals had disturbed the rest of the ancestors in various funeral places, violating the American legality. All this information, together with the selection of original objects, reproductions and installations (from a forest to the reproduction of a contemporary tribal dance) help the visitor to get an idea not only of a list of historical facts but also of the worldview of the Chickasaw. Note that this centre is dedicated to the cultural diffusion of the Native American Chickasaw tribe and it is tribe members who manage it.

The Heritage in Situ Here, the heritage is presented in situ along with the necessary interpretive mechanisms to highlight its most significant characteristics. It is the opposite concept to that of museums: while in museums heritage is out of its original context, in this case, it is about heritagization

of the elements by linking them to the original environment. The enhancement of the heritage, both natural and cultural, will require different types of interventions. According to the ‘Basic Guide to the Interpretation of Heritage’ (2006) of the Diputación de Barcelona, the intervention typologies can be summarized at three levels:

• • •

Basic level: there is simply an adaptation of the visit, physically, with or without interpretive signalling. Second level: complementation through a permanent exhibition. Third level: musealization.

In the case of sacred spaces, it is necessary to analyse which tools are the most appropriate according to the characteristics of each place. These can be located in the heritage site itself and in the surrounding environments, or in different spaces of the facilities, always trying to respect the values of space. Some tools can be:







Information panels or posters that supply information about the nature of the place and its characteristics. They can provide information about norms of behaviour, about aspects related to pastoral care and about historical, artistic and cultural aspects. They can also contain information on mass times and dates of activities (guided visits, meetings, etc.) and services that are available to visitors. They can be placed at the entrance of the church or outside, in the parking lot or at the entrance of the facilities. Information brochures that make the visit easier and help to understand the place. They can be available to the visitor at the entrance of the church or at the entrance of the restaurant, shop or hostel services. They must be clearly different from promotional brochures. Guided tours, either on specific days and times or on request. Due to the importance of this aspect, it will be dealt with in a separate section.

Depending on the places and their highlights, apart from the facilities available, other services may be offered to visitors: audio guides, models, exhibition halls, interpretive circuits, etc.

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New technologies are a relevant resource, especially because they allow information to be transmitted without having to fill the walls of the spaces thus desacralizing their nature. Options such as downloads of information from web pages, QR codes or augmented reality systems allow for audience-tailored resources and, if adequately designed, without causing damage to the site. In sacred spaces, especially the most complex in terms of infrastructures and equipment available, information and awareness of the visitor should not be limited to the temple space. Adjoining spaces must also be included. For example, souvenir stores must sell items that contribute to creating awareness. Likewise, accommodation services would also have to contemplate this possibility, offering diverse material to the guests, either by placing it in the rooms or by assigning a specific space to contain this information. Parallel to the concept of interpretation at the heritage site, interpretation strategies based on territorial planning have come into use, such as open museums or museum territory. An open museum and museum territory are two concepts that respond to the same idea and the same need: to create heritage management tools with a territorial perspective, adapted to the current demands of social use of heritage and local development. Both concepts derive from the French ecomuseum with which they share an integral and territorial vision of the cultural and natural heritage and connect with the AngloSaxon tradition of interpretive planning. An example of territorial interpretative planning would be the Alghero case (see Diputació de Barcelona, 2006). Alghero is a town north of the Sardinian coast where the Territorio Alghero Museum project was structured as part of a European project (Terra Incognita) that began in 1996. The methodology of the museum territory is a strategy for the insertion of heritage in territorial planning and development policies, with special emphasis on sustainability and the realization of new proposals aimed at promoting cultural tourism. To this end, two interpretation centres were installed, one in the Terra Gate Tower and the other in the San Juan Tower. The nautical area of Palmavera was also opened and the Museum of Sacred Art was installed in the

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church of Rosario. At the same time, a dialogue was established with tourism stakeholders (to encourage the creation of new proposals), with agro-food companies (with the idea of promoting the museum territory brand) and with stakeholders from the historical centre (to develop urban image measures). The structuring of the musealized territory involved the creation and remodelling of different infrastructures to offer visitors the mechanisms for heritage interpretation:



• •





The tourist information centre of the musealized territory is located in the Puerta de Tierra Tower, the old entrance to the city, symbolizing the entrance to Alghero and its territory. In this space, the visitor is offered a global view of the cultural, historical and natural heritage. The centre for the interpretation of the historic centre is located in the Tower of San Juan and is the starting point of the historical site. The Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art is located in one of the old palaces of the city that later became a church. Here an exhibition of the Christian ecclesiastical patrimony of the city and of the churches administered by the diocese is on display. There are three itineraries through the historic centre: the Catalan circuit (Vía Catalana), the religious circuit (Vía Sacra) and the circuit of the towers (Vía delle Torri), which can be followed by guided or self-guided tours (printed guide). The archaeological park of the musealized territory includes the most important sites, from the Nuragic period (sanctuaries, villages, necropolis) to the Roman period.

This experience won the Federculture Cultural Management Award and is an example of how to integrate religious spaces and sacred art into a holistic proposal to present the history and identity of a place.

Final Considerations The travel industry was recognized as a factor for world peace at the conference ‘Tourism: A Vital Force for Peace’ (1988) and recent voices

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join this call for recognition (Sarah, 2015). To foster tolerance through travel it is imperative that appropriate discourses are created and disseminated. Regarding the dissemination of values and the promotion of intercultural dialogue, the tourism industry must recognize its responsibilities not only as a transmitter but also as a mediator between an unfamiliar visitor and a culture that can make valuable contributions to the daily life of the visitor if it is understood correctly. Despite its fragility, cultural heritage is an important factor in the maintenance of cultural diversity in the face of increasing globalization. Understanding the cultural heritage of different communities contributes to the host group selfesteem, dialogue between cultures and promotes respect for other ways of life. The general director of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, Taleb Rifai, pointed out that we suffer from different types of deficiencies: the lack of tolerance and understanding is one of the main ones. Religious tourism is one of the engines that unites people of different origins in the same cause: the admiration and protection of tangible and intangible heritage. Beyond religious tourism, bringing spaces and religious objects closer to people by valuing their spiritual dimension can be a powerful tool to extend bridges between different cultures and religions.

Possibly some sacred or cosmological aspects that we try to explain today through static objects are better understood through experiences, in the same way that Buhigas (2016) postulates that the understanding of the symbol must necessarily be through an experiential process. This is already an existing trend in museums: more guided tours and more workshops are scheduled for all ages than ever, and the same is true for the tourist sector with the growth of the niches of active tourism and creative tourism. In the case of living cultures, transmission through experiences is not only particularly relevant but relatively easy to carry out. However, from the moment that people outside the cultural group have access to sacred practices, the shadows of the great sociocultural threats that tourism entails come onto the scene: actions or omissions that can be read as disrespectful, trivialized and overfrequented. To illustrate this tension, let us contrast the profound impression that the Mass at Nôtre-Dame de Paris caused Stendhal with the many equally Christian churches that restrict the access of travellers. Finally, there are some studies on the effects of the musealization of sacred spaces that would improve the traveller’s visit (Aslan, 2014). However, this entails the consideration of whether the visitor’s experience is really spiritual in some sense, or simply artistic and/or historical.

References Abadia de Montserrat (n.d.) Museu de Montserrat. Available at: www.​museudemontserrat.​com (accessed 9 November 2017). Aslan, R. (2014) The museumification of Rumi’s tomb: Deconstructing sacred space at the Mevlana Museum. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage 2(2), 1–16. Asociación para la Interpetación del Patrimonio (2012) Qué ES La interpretación? Available at: www.​inte​ rpre​taci​onde​lpat​rimonio.​com/​es/​ique-​es-​la-​interpretacion-​del-​patrimonio (accessed 14 November 2018). Beck, L. and Cable, T.T. (1998) Interpretation for the 21st Century: Fifteen Guiding Principles for Interpreting Nature and Culture. Sagamore Publishing., Urbana, IL. Buhigas, J. (2016) Mitología Y simbología de las religiones monoteístas. Escuela de Atención. Available at: https://www.​youtube.​com/​watch?​v=​8A2883fF43o (accessed 18 January 2019). Camarero Izquierdo, C. and Garrido Samaniego, M.J. (2004) Marketing del patrimonio cultural. Pirámide, Madrid. Castells, M. (2001) La era de la información: Economía, sociedad y cultura. Volumen II: el poder de la identidad. Siglo XXI Editores, México.

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Centro de Interpretación del Misticismo (n.d.) Museo Ávila Mística. Available at: https://​avilamistica.​es (accessed 14 November 2018). Díez de Velasco, F. (1998) Introducción a la historia de las religiones:hombres, ritos, dioses (2nd edn). Trotta, Madrid. Esteve Secall, R. (2002) Turismo y religión: aproximación a la historia del turismo religioso. Servicio de Publicaciones e Intercambio Científico de la Universida de Málaga, Malaga, Spain. Diputació de Barcelona (2006) Interpretar el patrimoni: Guia b sica (D). Diputació de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Available at: https://​www1.​diba.​cat/​llibreria/​pdf/​36577.​pdf (accessed 18 January 2019). Gombrich, E.H. (2003) Los usos de las imágenes: estudios sobre la función social del arte y la comunicación visual. Debate, Barcelona, Spain. ICOMOS (2007) Definición del museo. Available at: http://​icom.​museum/​la-​vision/​definicion-​del-​museo/​ L/1 (accessed 15 June 2017). Kiely, T. (2014) ‘Resurrecting Harry Clarke’: Breathing life into stained glass tourism in Ireland. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage 2(2), 6. Lehuard, R. (2005) A propòsit de la bellesa a Àfrica. In: Calzada, A. (ed.) Art africa: col·lecions privades de Barcelona: exposició: del 22 de juliol al 18 de setembre de 2005. Fundació Caixa de Girona, Girona, Spain, p. 127. Martín Piñol, C. (2009) Los centros de interpretación: urgencia O ModA. Heritage and Museography 1, 50–59. Martínez López, V. (2008) Estudios de público en los museos vaticanos. Editorial Bubok, Seville, Spain. Maslow, A. (1991) Motivación y personalidad. Días de Santos, Madrid. Moliner, M. (1990) Diccionario del uso del español. Gredos, Madrid. Morales Miranda, J. (2001) Guía práctica para la interpretación del patrimonio: el arte de acercar el legado natural y cultural al público visitante (2nd edn). Junta de Andalucía. Consejería de Cultura, Seville, Spain. Mota, I.H. de la. (1988) Diccionario de la comunicación. Paraninfo, Madrid. Museum Catharijneconvent (n.d.) Museum Catharijne Convent. Available at: https://www.​catharijneconvent.​nl (accessed 18 January 2019). Nelsen, B.F., Guth, J.L. and Fraser, C.R. (2001) Does religion matter? European Union Politics 2(2), 191– 217. DOI: 10.1177/1465116501002002003. Otto, R. (1965) Lo santo: Lo racional y lo irracional en la idea de dios (Original edition, 1917). Revista de Occidente, Madrid. Pope Francis (2015) La mia idea di arte. Edizioni Musei Vaticani – Mondadori, Ciudad del Vaticano– Milán. Puydebat, J.-M. (1995) Le château d’Auvers: une entreprise culturelle et touristique innovante. Cahier Espaces (58). Available at: https://www.​tourisme-​espaces.​com/​doc/​1654.​chateau-​auvers-​entreprise-​culturelle-​touristique-​innovante.​html (accessed 18 January 2019). Sarah, A.A. (2015) For more tolerance we need more … tourism? TED. Available at: https://www.​youtube.​ com/​watch?​v=​TVtgb153S6I (accessed 18 January 2019). Scheer, M. and Williams, J. (2003) Regional interpretation and symbolic representation of religion and heritage in respect of tourism: Exemplified by a short portrait of the ‘ciudad de cultura’ (Santiago de compostela). In: Fernandes, C., McGettigan, F. and Edwards, J. (eds) Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage. ATLAS Special Interest Group 1st Expert Meeting. ATLAS, Fatima, Portugal, pp. 61–70. Serantes, A. (2004) Los equipamientos de educación ambiental en galicia: un recurso para la divulgación del patrimonio natural. A: Ecosistemas 2004/2. Available at: www.​aeet.​org/​ecosistemas/​042/​educativa1.​htm (accessed 18 January 2019). Sharpley, R. and Jepson, D. (2011) Rural tourism: A spiritual experience? Annals of Tourism Research 38(1), 52–71. Szczepanowska, H.M. (2013) Conservation of Cultural Heritage (1st edn). Routledge, Abingdon, UK. Terrisse, M. (2017) Le centre d’interprétation dans tous ses ses états. Éditions Complicités, Paris. Tilden, F. (1977) Interpreting our Heritage (3rd edn). University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC. Tilden, F. (2006) La interpretación de nuestro patrimonio. Asociación para la Interpretación del Patrimonio, Pamplona, Spain.

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Religious Tourism, Pilgrimage: Manifestation of Peace and Enlightenment in Contemporary Religions with Special Reference to Islam

Tariq Elhadary* Necemettin Erbakan University, Faculty of Tourism, Konya, Turkey

Introduction This chapter claims that religious tourism, pilgrimage tourism, not only has the common advantages of tourism in general but also leads to enlightenment and peace. It is a journey to the pilgrimage routes of different religions, that is, Buddhist, Christian, and Muslim. As stated by Raj and Griffin (2017, p. 4): ‘religious pilgrimage is common in many religions and is one of the more formalized methods of visiting sacred sites to fulfil people’s religious motivation’. Jews and Christians go to Jerusalem, Hindus visit the Ganges, Muslims make their pilgrimage to Mecca, Buddhists meet at Sarnath, etc. Even though pilgrims go to different places and come from different backgrounds, they are all involved in the search for meaning and spiritual growth (Davies, 1988). Themes such as tolerance, forbearance, forgiveness, enlightenment and peace will also be dealt with, and exemplified in different religions and beliefs. Travelling to the places of pilgrimage in India, Catholic pilgrimage sites in the UK and Ireland, and the annual pilgrimage to Mecca will be explored. Christian teachings and the teachings of Buddha on the topic of pilgrimage will be

discussed. Verses from the Qur’an and Hadith, the preaching and deeds of Muhammad, will be presented and discussed, and Hajj statistics, newspaper coverage, pictures and video clips will be analysed. The chapter attempts to explore the impact of pilgrimage on people’s lives in general, and Muslim lives in particular. How are Muslims supposed to behave and deal with their fellow Muslims during Hajj? How can facts on the ground prove or negate that peace prevails among the pilgrims from all walks of life? Pilgrimage is a global language. It is a human virtue. We share or rather should share the same virtues. It is no longer a tangible it is an abstract, though Muslims have them both: the concrete and the abstract aspects of spirituality. This chapter is an attempt or a call to bring us all closer to human virtues. It is only in this way that we may witness recession in the wars and conflicts that have deprived millions of the right to live in peace! Chan Khoon San (2001, p. 11) confirms: ‘For the majority of Buddhists, going on a pilgrimage to the holy places mentioned by the Buddha, is a once-a-lifetime undertaking. A pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred place as an act of

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Peace and Enlightenment in Contemporary Religions

devotion and faith.’ It is obvious that Buddhism, like Christianity and Islam, holds that faith is the leader of moral mental states because its chief characteristic is the purification of the mind. Chan Khoon San (2001, pp. 11–12) states the proper code of conduct for a pilgrimage, which we observe in other religions and beliefs as well: ‘by showing reveration or reverence at the holy shrines, one is able to purify one’s thought, speech and action. In this way, the pilgrim is endowed with the morality of Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action.’ The way Buddhism associates each place with a certain event in the Buddha’s life is in parallel with the Muslim Hajj rituals in Islam and also with Christianity. As an example, we could mention the case of Jerusalem: For Muslims, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam, after Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia. It was also the direction of Islamic prayer before God allowed Prophet Muhammad to pray towards Makkah instead. For Jews, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the most sacred site and is the location of the Wailing Wall. The motivations of Jewish pilgrims are based on their desire for an emotional experience. The Wailing Wall is an ancient stone retaining wall built for the Second Temple, which surrounds the whole Temple Mount plaza. The Wailing Wall is a place where Jewish prayer is directed. For Christians, the Temple Mount is significant because the Jewish temple located here was where Jesus prayed daily and later preached to his believers and delivered the holy message of God. Therefore, it is regarded as the holiest location for Christians to visit in the old city. (Raj and Griffin, 2017, p. 4)

The purpose of pilgrimage across all religions is to reach and form a mental picture to condition the arising of wholesome mental states when visiting a particular place. The pilgrimage trip will entail certain difficulties and that is apparent on all pilgrimage routes but all religions also incite their followers to ‘endure any discomfort without complaint but with patience and loving kindness’ (Chan Khoon San, 2001, p. 13). David Alton in Pilgrim Ways is of the same opinion – that pilgrimage seeks harmony and peace with God:

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Writing something about the holy places of Catholic Britain and Ireland is not meant to be a walk down memory lane but an aid in planning our journeys of faith. Being made whole is the purpose of the Christian journey. The destination is to be brought into harmony and into peace with God. Pilgrimage often brings the grace to deal with all the things life throws at us and to prepare for death as well.

David emphasizes that: pilgrimage is not about processing around broken stones, however ancient and venerable their provenance may be. But the broken stones can become a metaphor for our broken lives. Being in those holy places reminds us that we are not alone: that others have travelled these highways and byways who first before; that all pilgrimages have a final destination; and that always on the road with us is the unknown, unrecognized pilgrim who first appeared on the road to Emmaus. (Alton, 2002, p. 6)

The Purpose of Pilgrimage Pilgrimage has one common purpose to achieve in all statements of faith: to reinforce mindfulness, wisdom, virtue and piety. Q2: 197 articulates the pilgrimage purpose as such: The Hajj is during specific months. Whoever decides to perform the Hajj – there shall be no sexual relations, nor misconduct, nor quarrelling during the Hajj. And whatever good you do, God knows it. And take provisions, but the best provision is righteousness. And be mindful of Me, O people of understanding.

According to Turner and Turner (1978, p. 6-7) pilgrimage is a liminal phenomenon with an initiatory character. Initiation can be defined as a process aimed at achieving the spiritual passage to a superior stage: the transformation of the profane into the ‘initiated’ via the means of a series of symbolic acts that give the feeling of dying to be reborn in a new/better life. The man who by means of initiation reaches the knowledge of the sacred will continue to live in the profane world, but will do it better thanks to the support he has acquired. Thus, some authors have studied the pilgrimage from an anthropological approach, as a ritual of initiation.

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Chan Khoon San (2001, p. 13) states: the holy shrines are also conductive places for pilgrims to reflect on the Buddha’s virtues and practice mindfulness to develop wisdom. But it should not end when one has returned home. After the journey is over, one should always try to recollect the joyful moments spent at holy places to keep them vivid in one’s memory. Such recollection is productive of joy and is a skilful means of re-enforcing one’s good deeds already acquired.

Suffice it to say here, there is a similarity even in the period of time the pilgrimage trip takes: in Buddhism it is almost 2 weeks and the Muslim Hajj can also take 2 weeks on certain routes. Chan Khoon San (2001, p. 14) declares: A pilgrimage in a group to the Eight Great Places is one of the best ways to cultivate Buddhist fellowship. Over the two weeks or so of the journey, members of the group will have the opportunity to interact closely and get to know each other well under whereby loving-kindness, appreciative joy, generosity and faith prevail. The bonds of comradeship formed through the performance of meritorious actions together will endure long after the pilgrimage is over and members will cherish fond memories of each other whenever they recollect the happy moments spent at the holy places. A journey to the Eight Great Places with fellow Buddhists united by faith and piety is true Buddhist Fellowship and a wonderful way of forging friendship.

On the same topic, Scott and Selwyn (2010, p. 185) have the following to say: In the last twenty or so years, the Mediterranean island nation of Malta has become a relatively popular destination for modern Pagans because of its remarkable and extensive Neolithic heritage, which incorporates at least twenty three megalithic temples dating to around 3,600 bce, thought to be associated with the ancient veneration of a fertility or Mother Goddess. Pagan pilgrim-tourists to Malta claim a spiritual affinity with (what they believe were) the earth-andwoman honouring beliefs of the temple-builders, want to learn more about the Neolithic past and see for themselves its remains, and often seek a personal spiritual experience at sites. The most frequent Pagan visitors to the temples are women connected with the Goddess movement, and since the early 1990s Goddess tours have been organized – usually several per year – mostly by North American and British women who

are themselves part of the movement. 4 Tours are patronized mostly by Americans, but also by Canadians, British, continental Europeans and Australasians. Participants are of all ages; however the majority are middle-aged (perhaps because they are better able to afford the cost), university-educated feminists. Occasionally women bring their mothers or daughters for a special bonding, educational, healing or initiatory experience (girlhood to womanhood, or middle-aged woman to wise elder), and some make return visits. I know of Dutch and English Pagans, for instance (men as well as women), who travel to Malta’s temples frequently, and claim to experience in doing so a kind of ‘homecoming’.

The Hajj: The Islamic Pilgrimage It is well understood that pilgrimage (religious tourism) has its own mechanism in stirring the souls of pilgrims. Scott (2010, p. xviii) is of the opinion that ‘participation in the practices associated with pilgrimage, and engagement in acts of veneration of saints at shrines where their relics are housed combine to instill in many pilgrims a distinct experience of feeling better’. Pal (2011, p. 3) states ‘Too few have asked the question as to whether there are qualities in Islam that make it compatible with nonviolence’, and wonders ‘whether there are instances in history – and especially the modern world – that show this to be true’. In fact Hajj is an annual Islamic event that manifests non-violent qualities. There are many other factors that highlight the non-violent quality of Islam, Pal (2011, p. 5) mentions ‘The notion of emigration as a form of nonviolent protest is central to Islam and is hallowed among Muslims since they believe that by doing so they are following in the footsteps of Muhammad and his companions. The flight, or Hijrah, of the prophet and his followers from Mecca to Medina constitutes a pivotal moment in the religion.’ For the sake of argument, the chapter will investigate Hajj as a manifestation of peace. ‍



[Wa ‘aththin fi an-nasi bil-Hajji ya’tuka rijalaan wa ‘ala kul damirin ya’tina min kul

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fajjin ‘amiqin liyashhadu manfi’a lahum was yathkuru asma Allahi fi ‘ayyamin ma’lumatin ‘ala ma razqahum min bahimati al’an’am fakulu minha wa’at’imu al-ba’is al-faqira thumma liaqdu tafathum wa liufu nuthurahum wa liattawwafu bil-bayti al-’atiqi thalika wa man yu’azzim hurmati Allahi fahuwa khayrunn lahu ‘inda Rabbihi] (Q22: 27–30)

Muslims understand that Hajj is a lifetime journey, and it is a kind of spiritual tourism as well as a physical one. That is why they devote themselves to the worship of God and submit themselves to the will of God throughout Hajj to attain peace at the end. Hajj is an event that involves more than 2 million Muslims living in peace for a period of 2 weeks in a very restricted, congested area though they are widely claimed to be believers in violence. If these pilgrims were advocates of violence, there could have been widespread bloodshed, tarnishing the whole place! Islam stresses values such as compassion, benevolence, wisdom and justice, which are compatible with the practice of non-violence. The Qur’an also underscores that forgiveness for an ill deed is a much nobler quality than revenge. In the same connection, there is emphasis in the Hadith, the preachings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad, on performing good deeds towards everyone, not just Muslims. Muslims consider the Hadith second only to the Qur’an in importance. There are many statements of non-violence within Hadith literature, too. Such references in the Qur’an and the Hadith demonstrate the place of nonviolence within Islam. ‍



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The rights of a Muslim upon another are five: returning greetings, visiting the sick, following the funeral procession, responding to invitations and offering ‘Tashmeet’ for one who sneezes. (Bukhari and Muslim)

The recommended greeting of a Muslim is to say: ‘assalamu alaykum’ (peace be upon you). Exchanging salaam holds an important position in Islam. Not only is salaam equated with many other important deeds, but it is one of the defining criteria of belief. In one Hadith a man asked the Prophet about which aspect of Islam was best. The Prophet replied: Feeding the hungry and saying salam to those you know and those you don’t know. (Bukhari and Muslim)

The Prophet also said: You will not enter paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another: ‘spread salaam’ (the greeting of peace) among you. (Muslim)

Obada bin al-Samat reported that the Prophet said: If you guarantee me six things on your part, I shall guarantee you Paradise. Speak the truth when you talk; keep a promise when you make it; when you are trusted with something, do not betray your trust; avoid sexual immorality; lower your gaze; and restrain your hands from injustice.

These kinds of virtues should be always observed by Muslims, and particularly during Hajj time, as emphasized by the Qur’an, observe: ‍



[But (even in battle) when you (believers) are offered a greeting, respond with a better one, or at least return it: God keeps account of everything.] (Q4: 86)

Al-Hajju ‘ashhurun ma’lumatun faman farada fihinna al-Hajja fala rafatha wa la fusuqa wa la jidala fil al-Hajji wa ma taf ’alu min khayrin ya’lamhu Allahu wa tazawwadu fa’inna khayra azzadi attaqwa wa attaquni ya uli alalbabi

Q4: 86 emphasizes the importance of human interaction as an important element of any society. In Islam, proper relationships are stressed at all phases of interaction and the common greeting holds a special place in Islamic manners. In the same vein, the Prophet stressed the importance of greetings when he defined the rights of a Muslim:

[The pilgrimage takes place during the prescribed months. There should be no indecent speech, misbehaviour, or quarrelling for anyone undertaking the pilgrimage – whatever good you do, God is well aware of it. Provide well for yourselves: the best provision is to be mindful of God – always be mindful of Me, you who have understanding.] (Q2: 197)

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Hajj manifests peace through laid down rules Muslims abide by and should observe: no profanity, no wickedness, no disputing, no disgraceful acts and, above all, the fear of God. The Hajj symbolizes the lessons taught by the Prophet Muhammad, in his last sermon in Arafat, where he announced the completion of his mission: ‘Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My blessing upon you, and chosen as your religion Islam: total devotion to God’ (Q5: 3).

The Centre of Islam This great annual convention of faith demonstrates the concept of the equality of mankind, the most profound message of Islam, which allows no assumption of superiority on the basis of race, gender or social status. The only preference in the eyes of God is piety as stated in Q49: 13 ‘In God’s eyes, the most honoured of you are the ones most aware of Him’. During the days of the Hajj, Muslims dress in the same simple way, observe the same regulations and say the same prayers at the same time in the same manner, for the same end. If we always keep the Day of Resurrection in our minds, all difficulties encountering us will be solved. If we kept recalling the Day of Judgement, we would always be attentive to being questioned about every moment we lived on earth, every word we uttered, every penny we earned, every dealing with people and every deed towards God. If that happens, peace will prevail. This is what Hajj is all about. It has proved to me the power of the One God. All ate as one, and slept as one. Everything about the pilgrimage atmosphere accented the oneness of man under one God. Q49: 13 affirms the theme of equality and unity of mankind: ‍



Ya ‘ayyuha annasu ‘inna khalaqnakum min thakarin wa ‘untha wa ja’alnakum shu’uban wa qaba’ila lit’arafu inna ‘akramakum ‘inda Allahi ‘atqakum ‘inna Allaha ‘Alimun Khabirun [People, We created you all from a single man and a single woman, and made you into nations and tribes so that you should get to know one

another. In God’s eyes, the most honoured of you are the ones most aware of Him: God is all knowing, all aware.] (Q49: 13)

Bianchi (2004, p. 3) holds that: The Hajj is the greatest gathering of humanity on earth. Each year, more than two million people from every corner of the globe come to the same place at the same time to visit ‘God’s house’ – the holy Ka’ba in Mecca – and participate in an emotional week of rituals that Muslims have been reenacting for fourteen centuries. The Hajj is a grueling and perilous march. Sooner or later, it exposes the best and worst in everyone, as exhaustion dissolves into delirium, and serenity gives way to impatience, anger and sheer panic. Even the most self-reliant pilgrims realize that being closer to God also brings them closer to death, and the ones most likely to survive are those who help one another. The constant struggle against heat, crowds and confusion saps the stamina of all pilgrims, forcing them to build instant friendships with strangers from every corner of the world, knowing at several points that a split-second move by anyone can either save lives or end them (Bianchi, pp. 7–8)

This is exactly what Hajj does in Hajjis: it fosters strong relations even among strangers, builds solidarity, instils and spreads peace during Hajj and after (Fig. 9.1).

Main Stages of the ‘Stoning of the Devil’ Ritual

1. Put on the ihram garb and enter the sacred precinct on the outskirts of Mecca; chant the talbiya on the way to Mecca and perform the Tawaaf of arrival by circling the Ka’a seven times (before the eighth day of Dhu al-Hijjah). 2. Spend the night in the pilgrims’ camp at Mina (8th day). 3. Gather at Arafat for the Day of Standing (9th day). 4. Leave Arafat after sundown, spend the night in Muzdalifa and gather pebbles for stoning the devil in Mina (evening of the 9th and morning of the 10th).

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Fig. 9.1.  Map showing the locations where the rites of Hajj are performed. (Source: Wikimedia Commons, author: AsceticRose.)

5. Arrive in Mina, stone the first pillar symbolizing the devil before noon, make an animal sacrifice and remove the ihram (10th day). 6. Return to Mecca, perform a second Tawaaf followed by the sa’y – running seven times between the hills of al-Safa and al-Marwa (10th or 11th day). 7. Shuttle between Mecca and Mina, stoning all three pillars and spending the nights in Mina (11th to 13th days). 8. Perform the Tawaaf of farewell and immediately depart Mecca (12th day or later).

Let’s Walk with the Pilgrims, Day by Day I performed Hajj once, in 1998. I want to share with you my Hajj experiences, which supports this chapter’s claims that Hajj is a manifestation of peace. The Hajj rites encompass all the ceremonies held between the 8th and 12th days of Thu al-Ḥijjah. To be eligible to participate in the

Hajj rites, each Hajji must have completed the arrival ṭawaaf and be in a state of ihram.

Day 1: 8th Thul Hijjah – Mina: The City of Tents Today begins the first day of Hajj! The pilgrims Hajjis will wear the Ihram – two pieces of unstitched sheets for men – and attempt to get into the state of Ihram by reciting the Talbiyyah, echoing the streets of Mecca and heading to Mina, the city of tents (some will leave earlier to avoid traffic and huge crowds). Mina is situated around 5 km from Mecca. White tents line up the streets of Mina, all looking the same, these have designated numbers and each section is dedicated to different countries most of the time. Here they will aim to pray Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Esha and Fajr while engaging in worshipping God throughout the day; performing Salah, engaging in Zikr, reciting the Qur’an and listening to Islamic reminders. Mina has its own spiritual feeling and,

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for many, it will be an experience of living out of their comfort zone. Wherever you look there are people in white – from all nationalities, from different professions and walks of life.

Day 2: 9th Thul Hijjah – Arafah In the morning, the pilgrim Hajjis will wake up and get ready to head for Arafat, a wide, barren, gravelly plain some 12 miles east of Mecca. Prophet Muhammad has said: Hajj is Arafah. [Sunan Abu Dawud].

Some will board coaches, while others will travel on foot. Pictured above, you can see the famous Jabal Al-Rahma, the Mount of Mercy. Notably, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) delivered the famous Last Sermon at the foot of this hill in the year he had performed his Hajj. Arafat, however, is not limited to this spot only and is very big. No words can describe the scene in Arafat where tears, sighs, supplications and raised hands all mix to form such an impeccable moment that fills the heart and soul with peace and tranquillity. After sunset, the pilgrim Hajjis will make their way to Muzdalifah.

10th Thul Hijjah – night – Muzdalifah We have now entered the night of 10th Thul Hijjah (as the next day starts from Maghrib). The Hajjis will spend the night in Muzdalifah, sleeping under the sky! No tents, just the barren land. Wherever you look, people, looking for a comfortable area to sleep. Some are equipped with sleeping bags, while others just sleep on stones and sand! The last time I went for Hajj, a big rock was my pillow and my Ihram was my blanket. I slept on the roadside too! Alhamdulillah, as many will tell you, this was my best sleep ever! It’s a very different feeling and again, many will be out of their comfort zone. This is a blessed and virtuous time so the Hajjis will either be engaged in worship or resting for the busiest day ahead.

Day 3: 10th Thul Hijjah Throwing stones, Jamarat; slaughtering the sacrificial animal, Nahar; circumambulating the Kaaba, Tawaaf The busiest day of Hajj is today! The Pilgrim Hajjis will wake up, pray their Fajr and head back to Mina. There are a few things to do today:







Jamarat: Hajjis will first head to the Jamarat Bridge and, using seven stones from the ones they collected in Muzdalifah, they will pelt the ‘large’ wall, the last one amongst the three walls. Nahar: Some pilgrim Hajjis will go back to their tent in Mina to await the news of their Thabihah, while others will head to Mecca. Once the news has come, they will head over to the barbers and shave their head. Women will have a small amount of their hair cut. This will now allow them to come out of the state of Ihram (except for the restriction on romance and marital relationship, which will be lifted after Tawaaf al-Ifaadah is completed). Tawaaf al-Ifaadah and Sa’i: The pilgrim Hajjis will then head for Mecca to perform Tawaaf and Sa’i (Fig.  9.2). Tawaaf is going round the Ka’bah seven times; once again the experience is indescribable. They keep their left side to the Ka’bah, as if one’s heart is closest to the Ka’bah at that point!

After performing Tawaaf, they will head over to the Masa’ area where the two hills Safa and Marwa are located. Here they will walk between the mountains, in commemoration of Hajar the mother of Prophet Ismail. Once again it’s seven times. Men will jog between the green lights. Having completing the rituals, this concludes the 3rd day of the blessed journey. The Hajjis will then head back to Mina.

Day 4: 11th Thul Hijjah – Jamarat Once again the Hajjis will visit the Jamarat. From Mina, many Hujjaj who are from Europe will most likely have to travel through two or three tunnels (depending on where their Mina tents are located).

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Fig. 9.2.  Pilgrims performing Tawaaf around the Kaaba. (Source: Wikimedia Commons, author: Zakaryaamr at the English language Wikipedia.)

These tunnels are just like the ones we go through with our cars, except there are no cars! Once they come out to the Jamarat Bridge (Fig. 9.3), the Hajjis will be led by the authorities

towards the least congested areas to pelt the walls. As mentioned earlier, there are around five floors, with escalators, making it very easy to pelt.

Fig. 9.3.  Al Jamarat in Mina. (Source: Wikimedia Commons, author: Aiman titi.)

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Today they will pelt all three walls, seven on each. After each wall they make a short supplication and move onto the next. Having finished pelting, they will go back to Mina, to continue to their individual worship or to rest. (Those who have not done their Tawaaf Ziyara and Sa’i may do it on this day.)

Day 5: 12th Thul Hijjah – Jamarat This is the last day, unless some Hajjis stay after Fajr the next day. Once again the pilgrims will visit the Jamarat and as on the day before they will pelt the three walls. It is said that when Prophet Ibrahim took his son Prophet Ismail to be sacrificed (which was then replaced by a ram), Satan tried to distract him from doing so. Prophet Ibrahim was being tested by God, so he took hold of some stones and pelted him! Hence pilgrim Hajjis symbolically commemorate this act and pelt the walls. The pelting teaches us to ‘pelt’ Satan when he tries to distract us away from God. Hajj completed! This now concludes the Hajj, the journey of a lifetime. When the pilgrims return to their home countries after the journey of Hajj, they return spiritually refreshed, forgiven for their sins and ready to start life anew, with a clean slate.

Discussion As described at the beginning of the chapter, pilgrimage is a shared tradition among major religions and a common language unfolds along the way(s). Even though it entails geographical movement, in a fashion similar to the practice of the so-called armchair tourism, the most important journey is the inner path towards the transcendent, enlightenment and peace. For Muslims, this immaterial path to virtue takes shape in different ways, of which Hajj is the most important one. Core values of Islam, as expressed in the Qur’an, include compassion, benevolence, wisdom, justice and, possibly more relevant, human contact. These are clearly manifested during Hajj. Walking the road along the different stages described in this text brings out the best and the worst in the most devout pilgrim and the average believer alike. It is the combination of inner strength and the communal sense of spirituality of the place that reinforces virtues and diminishes weaknesses. Once the journey is over, the challenge is to maintain the state of mind that has been gained through pilgrimage in everyday trials. How this happens for Hajj’s pilgrims, other pilgrims and religious tourists in general is an issue that still needs further research.

References Alton, D. (2002) Pilgrim Ways: A Personal Guide to Catholic Pilgrimage. St Pauls Pubns, London. Bianchi, R.R. (2004) Guests Of God: Pilgrimage and Politics in the Islamic World. Oxford University Press, New York. Chan Khoon San (2001) Buddhist Pilgrimage. Subang Jaya Buddhist, Subang Jaya, Malaysia. Davies, J.G. (1988) Pilgrimage: Yesterday and Today: Why? Where? How? SCM Press Ltd, London. Pal, A. (2011) Islam Means Peace: Understanding the Muslim Principle of Nonviolence. Praeger, Santa Barbara, CA. Raj, R. and Griffin, K. (2017) Conflicts, Religion and Culture in Tourism. CAB International, Wallingford, UK. Scott, R.A. (2010) Miracle Cures: Saints, Pilgrimage, and the Healing Powers of Belief. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. Scott, J. and Selwyn, T. (2010) Thinking through Tourism. Berg, New York. Turner, V.W. and Turner, E.L.B. (1978) Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture: Anthropological Perspectives. Columbia University Press, New York.

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Does a Religious Tourist Need a Guide? Interpretation and Storytelling in Sacred Places

Tomasz Duda* Institute of Socio-Economic Geography, Tourism and Recreation Unit, University of Szczecin, Poland

Introduction The most important purposes of the interpretation and presentation of cultural and environmental heritage, in addition to gaining a significant increase in the personal experience of participants, an increase in public respect and level of understanding of the importance of places and objects associated with such heritage, also include stimulation and development of further interests as well as independent searches for its values and meanings. Proper understanding of heritage and the related knowledge is significantly supported by professional interpreters, who also include tourist guides. It is they who play a key role in understanding of the genius loci of a place, so often exposed to progressive globalization and the increased pace of life (including the travel phenomenon). From the very beginning of their existence, religious tourism and pilgrimages were a specific form of travel, with a particular motivation and a clearly defined destination (of a material nature, in the form of an object or a holy place, and of a spiritual nature). They are considered to be some of the oldest forms of cultural tourism – its core – around which other cultural and

tourist activities developed. Regardless of motivation, geographical location or religion, most holy places, shrines and sacred objects constitute part of the cultural heritage (of a material or non-material nature) of the region and the communities inhabiting it. The expectations of tourists (including pilgrims) have also changed. Research studies suggest that in addition to the strictly religious experience, participants in religious tourism not only expect professionally given information, but a whole range of experiences that would distinguish their chosen destination from other places of similar type. Properly prepared and carefully selected narrative forms of communication (storytelling) in the case of religious tourism should not only be based on the educational qualities of the given place, but – above all – they should emphasize its unique atmosphere and nurture the excitement associated with the spiritual experiencing of pilgrimage. The aim of this chapter is to present contemporary trends in religious tourism and the role that pilgrimage plays in shaping the knowledge and attitudes related to the religious and spiritual heritage of the region. Based on surveys and direct interviews, the role of a tourist guide was determined to be an ‘interpreter of

*​tomasz.​duda@​usz.​edu.​pl © CAB International 2019. Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue: Interpreting Sacred Stories (eds D. Vidal-Casellas et al.)

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places and routes, responsible for the provision of an adequate storytelling process’. The chapter also attempts to answer some key questions that trouble contemporary researchers studying the problem of interpretation in tourism, associated with the phenomenon of pilgrimage and/or religious tourism. The most important of these include: 1. How does the motivation to undertake a trip to a holy place affect its interpretation? 2. Does an appropriate storytelling process increase the attractiveness of a holy place and change its perception as a pilgrimage object? 3. Do an interpreter’s support and the appropriate storytelling process destroy the genius loci of a holy place, its special atmosphere and individual spirituality? 4. Does a pilgrim/religious tourist need a guide as an interpreter of the chosen trail or holy place?

Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage – Together or Apart? A very important aspect of the interpretation process is the motivation of the traveller and their perception of the place being visited. Religious tourism not only satisfies overall cultural travel needs, but also satisfies needs of a spiritual, religious and personal nature. It is the religious and spiritual aspects that distinguish religious tourism from other forms of tourism, largely based on the phenomenon of pilgrimage. It is difficult to clearly determine the point in the history of Europe and the world that would constitute the origins of the religious tourism phenomenon, as it is perceived nowadays. Although migrations founded on religious motives have been part of people’s lives since the dawn of history at all stages of the development of cultures and civilizations, their nature, objectives and motivations in the vast majority of cases defined them as acts of a strictly religious nature. Pilgrimage is therefore one of the few types of migration that has been carried out both in ancient times and today, and the main motive for undertaking thereof has not changed significantly. The purpose of a pilgrimage has

always been to get to the holy place (locus sacer) in order to carry out specific acts of piety or penance. The essence of a pilgrimage was to experience the sacrum. Modern pilgrimages include journeys to Marian shrines including, among others, Częstochowa (Poland), Lourdes (France) and Fatima (Portugal), the pilgrimages to Mecca, Guadalupe in Mexico and Varanasi in India, without even taking into account the thousands of smaller ways of pilgrimage to local shrines or objects generally regarded as sacred (Jackowski, 1991, 1996, 2010; Dallen and Olsen, 2006). However, despite the dominance of the religious and spiritual aspects, traces of behaviours and activities that are characteristic for most modern forms of tourism may be found in the pilgrimage phenomenon. Their prevalence and popularity have certainly undergone significant changes over time. Civilizational development of societies, historical changes, the increasing importance of general education, as well as the increased possibility of exploring the world, have significantly contributed to the decrease in religiosity and interest in the pilgrimage movement. This did not mean the total disappearance of the pilgrimage phenomenon. Increasingly, it was the result not so much of an act of penance and religious command, but the desire to explore the mysteries of faith and the curiosity to get to know places, so far available only to the few. Two different ways of development of this phenomenon are being observed: on the one hand as an act of a strictly religious nature (pilgrimage), on the other hand as migrations of a religious and cognitive nature (developed over time into the broader concept of religious tourism). Of course, the main ‘axis’ of development of this type of tourism is still the traditional pilgrimage, within which the increasing variety of behaviours that make up religious tourism (and subsequently, more broadly, cultural tourism) are being observed. Around the strictly defined sacrum, the profanum zone has emerged, well developed and increasingly gaining in importance, including all the elements that have contributed to the perception of the pilgrimage as a tourism phenomenon (Jackowski, 1996; Mikos von Rohrscheidt, 2014). The broad concept of religious tourism (in the classical understanding thereof) may be characterized by at least twofold motivation (often a multiplication thereof), while the main

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Fig. 10.1.  The location of religious tourism and pilgrimage in the operating religion and culture system.

and the most important motives still remain faith, religion and the desire to fulfil an act of piety (Fig. 10.1). Its basic form is a pilgrimage and participation in religious services or other religious acts. This type of action is also accompanied by additional activities, including sightseeing, short relaxation, as well as the use of the available tourist facilities (accommodation, catering, transport, etc.). The quality and availability of facilities are not a deciding factor, however, in the choice of destination of tourist peregrinations. It seems that the decisive factor in this case is the religious significance and impact of the pilgrimage site (the site of apparitions, miraculous images in the form of a picture or sculpture, relics of saints or places associated with their life or death) and the offer of activities meeting the spiritual needs of the pilgrim (tourist). Taking into account all factors shaping contemporary religious tourism, the genesis of which stems from the centuries-old tradition of pilgrimage and the current shape of which is the result of changes in motivation, behaviours and needs of tourists, we may therefore define it as any form of activity and the underlying needs and preferences resulting from conditionings of a religious nature (Jackowski, 1991, 2010; Dallen and Olsen, 2006; Duda, 2014). Even at the turn of the 20th and 21st century, British and American researchers (including Kong, 1997; Hughes, 2003; Benson, 2005) noticed

the diversity in understanding of the cultural tourism phenomenon, depending on the extent of its impact on the tourist. Through analogies to these works it can be observed (Kowalczyk, 2008) that contemporary religious tourism and the geographical space shaped by it can be understood in several ways: 1. A universal one: as travels, during which the tourist comes into contact with the broadly understood phenomenon of religiosity in the visited area (visit to one or a number of objects of worship, meeting with the religious and cultural background, adaptation to customs and traditions prevailing in the area, associated with the local dominant religion, etc.). Many researchers however, do not include behaviours of this type in the definition of religious tourism, mainly because of the lack of (or very poor) religious motives for undertaking journeys of this type. 2. A broad one: when the tourists’ interest in the religion is clearly visible, both in terms of faith, dogma and ethics, as well as its history, art or universal messages and symbolism, which also constitute an inseparable part of it. 3. A narrow one: when the religious theme dominates while making the decision to undertake a trip, although other motives are allowed (and often assumed), including the cognitive ones primarily. This type of

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understanding of religious tourism relates primarily to believers or declared representatives of the given religion and includes among others: visiting shrines, temples and holy places because of their spiritual, historical and cultural value, with simultaneous participation in acts of religious worship (the classic definition of religious tourism). 4. A specialist one: the closest to the definition of ‘pilgrimage’, when the dominant and most often the only motive for undertaking a journey is the desire to honour the god in whom the tourist has faith and to participate in church services and religious acts. The only reference to broadly understood tourism is the logistics of activities related to transportation, accommodation or food provision facilities. One of the major challenges of contemporary cultural tourism is active adaptation to the changing human needs in respect of planning leisure time (including the elements of the broadly understood culture) (Duda, 2015). These changes also apply to religious tourism, inn which an increasing number of participants actively seek spiritual stability and universal values, and discover their regional identity, both of a cultural and religious nature. The desire to assimilate with the local sacred space and to continue the tradition of pilgrimage to the holy places located in the immediate vicinity of the living place is therefore observed more often. Interest in objects of global and supra-regional significance gives way to focusing on the local (or regional) sacred space, based on faith and traditions developed through the centuries.

Interpretation of Spiritual Heritage: Guidance and Storytelling in Sacred Places, on Pilgrimage Routes and Shrines The spaces of religious tourism are the most developed tourist spaces in the world, and yet also the most diverse. Regardless of latitude, religion, traditions and cultural conditioning, peregrination to holy places is one of the most important religious acts, undertaken with the aim to worship or to do penance. Over the centuries,

a number of major pilgrimage centres have developed, and the beaten tracks leading to them have been walked by pilgrims from the furthest corners of the world. Currently about a million sacred objects operate worldwide, which at the same time and for a number of reasons, have become the subject of interest of a touristic nature (Jackowski, 1991, 1996; Duda, 2014). Their importance, however, is very diverse. Only some of them are regarded as the most important spiritual hubs and great centres of pilgrimage, which results in a significant increase in tourist movement and development of the given object (or trail) as an attraction. Merging of the sacrum zone with the profanum becomes increasingly evident in such places, mainly for the purposes of mass tourism and creating of contemporary products of religious tourism. Nevertheless, they are significant elements of religious and cultural heritage, both of regional (local) and global (international) reach. According to the definition proposed by Hewison (1989), the term ‘heritage’ includes everything that the past generations saved and transferred to the present, and what the present population wishes to transfer to the future. It is worth noting that this definition is not limited to historic objects, works or evidence of material culture, but also includes the non-material elements (religions, philosophies and artistic ideas), social behaviours (traditions, customs), scientific or educational achievements, as well as skills (e.g. the culture of crafts). It should be emphasized that heritage is not only a form of the presence of the past in the life of modern societies, but above all, a permanent element of their identity and their vivid experience of everyday life (Bryon, 2012; Ludwig, 2012; Mikos von Rohrscheidt, 2014; Owsianowska, 2014). Although the very objects and places have their own value (of a historical, architectural and cultural nature), without linking them to the people who are their creators, to the history of societies that would use them, and the identity and behaviour of people in relationship with them, they cannot be defined as the elements of heritage. Actions taken in respect of all forms of heritage (including the spiritual one) allow for its further existence, bestow new meanings to it and thus continue to create them. Curators, managers and heritage interpreters (including

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tourist guides to a great extent) are involved in the protection and transmission of values and cultural meanings, which are associated with such heritage. In the view of many researchers (Mikos von Rohrscheidt, 2014), heritage must therefore be understood and interpreted complexly, contextually and dynamically. It is therefore subject to interpretation as a place with the related environment and its changes, as well as a process of communication and building of people’s mutual relationships and those with the environment. Therefore, sharing spiritual (religious) heritage also includes travelling to its objects, showing it, teaching about it, interpreting it and experiencing it in various fields of activity. Proper storytelling and preparation by the interpreter (including the services of a guide) are now becoming some of the major challenges of contemporary cultural tourism (including religious tourism).

Tourist guide on a pilgrim trail Does it make sense to be a guide in religious tourism? Does cultural tourism entail special challenges for the guiding business? Such questions are becoming more and more of an issue for the users – practitioners and researchers of the cultural (and the religious) tourism phenomenon. The most general definition of a tourist guide describes him/her as a person who professionally prepares and carries out the interpretation of heritage within services rendered to tourists (Cohen, 1985; Kruczek, 2010; Maron, 2010; Bryon, 2012; Mikos von Rohrscheidt, 2014). The role of a guide materializes through various methods of activities and types of behaviour. At any moment when this service is rendered, the guide is also the mediator of culture, which is reflected especially towards tourists coming from another cultural background (Meged, 2010; Weiler and Black, 2014). In connection with the changes and the multiplication of motives that have been observed over the past few years in religious tourism and pilgrimage, the expectations of the tourists themselves have changed in respect of the offers and service packages prepared for them. An ‘individualization’ of travel has become a general trend, also within pilgrimages,

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which is being increasingly attributed to the ‘Compostellan’ style (individual roaming at any time of the year over the freely chosen route). Today’s participants in religious tourism (as in the case of other forms of tourism) desire not only spiritual or religious experiences, but also feel the need for an ‘interaction’ of some kind with the holy place. This manifests itself, among others ways, in a genuine desire to get to know the origins of sacrum, beliefs, convictions and traditions while striving to obtain knowledge about the history of the place, its cultural development and the meaning for global or regional culture. This is an enormous challenge for the tourist guides, whose company is increasingly sought after among pilgrims and participants of tourism to the holy places. The desire to interact with the sacrum zone, to feel spiritual tranquillity and to gain the religious experience, is supplemented by their wish for comprehensive familiarization with the place and assimilation with the surrounding environment. In many cases, it gives the believers a sense of greater involvement in the pilgrimage while allowing for meeting cognitive and cultural ambitions in the case of other tourists. The specificity of religious tourism and pilgrimage forces the professional tourist guide not only to specialize in the given type of delivered services, but above all to apply a wellbalanced storytelling process, not imposing his or her own points of view and referring to the genius loci of the place. In this case, the tourist guide no longer plays the role of the classic ‘educator’ but is more of a ‘storyteller’ of a consistent story, pointing to the essence of the place and its distinctive atmosphere. He or she also initiates an interaction with his orher audience, which in the case of holy places usually consists of extremely pious people, sensitive to the principles of their religion and, most importantly, often possessing a lot of knowledge about the professed faith and the truths, places and characters related with it. A well-balanced storytelling process combines with a skilful presentation of the place as being an attractive object not only for religious reasons, but also for cognitive, historical, architectural, natural and cultural ones. The growing (albeit not as rapidly as in other forms of cultural tourism) acceptance of tourists of modern technology used for

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the interpretation of sacred places is also an important factor. The following elements are used, among others: mobile devices applications, QR codes and so-called ‘enhanced reality’, allowing its users to see a reconstruction of an object from the past, listen to music or even take part in an event that took place many centuries ago. Examples of the large and frequently visited shrines (e.g. Santiago de Compostela, Lourdes, La Salette, Częstochowa, Guadalupe, Jerusalem, Mecca, etc.) show that this modern form of communication reaches tourists more and more often, and results in the object becoming even more attractive, not only for pilgrims, but also for people who are not involved religiously or who come from a different cultural area. The new forms of storytelling in religious tourism are not yet so widespread as in other forms of tourism – city tourism for instance (Duda, 2015, 2016). They most often appear in places (shrines, the most important places of worship, temples) of a local or regional level, where a global tourism brand has not been developed yet. Attractive, modern forms of communication are then some sort of a magnet, attracting mainly the type of visitors who are constantly looking for motivations to undertake a trip to a holy place. The tourist guide as an interpreter of heritage in religious tourism thus plays the role of a counsellor of some kind, a travelling companion (for thematic pilgrimage routes or routes of religious tourism) and an assistant in discovering the genius loci of the place. A crucial role is played by an appropriate storytelling process and commentary formed in respect of the reality – these should both be impartial and of a non-intrusive nature, not imposing the guide’s own beliefs on the interpretation process that the participants are presented with. In many cases, the correct interpretation of this part of the local heritage would require guides to thoroughly familiarize themselves with the problems of a particular religion or belief. Particular attention should be directed towards two key elements – liturgical rites and religious symbolism. This is essential not only for the process of selection of the storytelling process, but also, among other reasons, for an efficient and well-planned organization of sightseeing.

A Tourist Guide or a Spiritual Guide? Does Religious Tourism Need Interpretation and Guidance? Despite significant conceptual differences, resulting mainly from the motivation for undertaking the trip, religious tourism is still identified with the idea of the pilgrimage. The sacrum zone increasingly penetrates the profanum. The pilgrim undertaking a trip with strictly religious motives is no longer only a participant involved in ceremonies, church services or religious acts, but also a keen observer of the surrounding reality, wanting to broaden their knowledge of faith, religion, culture and history. Travels of a religious and cognitive nature now have a much larger range, which is undoubtedly related to the massive development of tourism in general, with its availability to the masses. This also applies to the very acts of peregrination. We may therefore agree with the statement put forward by Świątkiewicz (2005) that pilgrimage is ‘a form’ and the act of peregrination act is the ‘content’ for a person wishing to experience the sacrum. The contents are universal, eternal, while the form is subject to changes and it is guided by the technical opportunities, fashion, etc. Do people travelling to holy places need a guide, then? Does the genius loci – the unique and volatile atmosphere accompanying the pilgrimage and stay in a spiritual and religious centre – need an interpretation? Certainly large, organized pilgrimage groups (and also religious and touristic ones) are often accompanied by a priest, a spiritual guide who provides support in the active experience of pilgrimage. The progressive individualization of tourism, including ourism to places of worship, has resulted in a change in the perception of the purpose of travel of this type and the individualization of the very experience itself. It seems, however, that these changes have not resulted in loss of interest in guiding services, especially in places that apart from their great significance of a religious nature, have numerous tourist qualities (of a natural, historical, cultural or architectural nature). On the contrary, the need for professional provision of knowledge and skilful planning and organizing of the stay becomes almost a standard for almost all tourist groups and the majority of individual trips (Pond, 1993).

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Professional surveys have been carried out to confirm or disprove the thesis posed above, as well as to obtain answers to the fundamental question: ‘Does a religious tourist need a guide?’. The research work was carried out within the original project named POMERANIA SACRA, concerning the development of religious tourism and pilgrimage in the Pomerania – the historical and geographical region in northwestern Poland and north-eastern Germany. The questionnaires were sent both to groups and individual tourists visiting important shrines and places of religious cult in Pomerania, as well as to the inhabitants of Pomerania deciding to roam over the great pilgrimage routes and to travel to the important religious centres in Europe (including Santiago de Compostela, Rome, Assisi, Lourdes, Fatima, Athos, Częstochowa, Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Licheń, etc.). Approximately 100 tour groups and more than 400 individual tourists were screened. From among many questions to which the participants provided responses, several were related to problems of interpretation and the storytelling process during journeys of a religious nature: 1. What are your expectations in respect of a visit to the place of religious/spiritual character? 2. To what extent do the below items (spiritual offer of the place – holy services, processions, etc., the popularity of the place, its availability, services of a professional tourist guide, additional services – accommodation, catering, souvenirs) affect the quality of your stay in the holy place/sanctuary/object of religious cult? 3. Which (and to what extent) of the following motivations (knowledge and expertise, relaxation, spending time with new acquaintances, aesthetic needs, spiritual needs) prevailed while choosing the destination for your trip? 4. Was the presence of a properly prepared tourist guide taken into account by you while planning a trip to the place of religious cult? 5. Which of the following characteristics of a tourist guide (knowledge, storytelling manner, experience, religious commitment, appearance, price) do you take into consideration when visiting a sacred object?

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6. In your opinion, does the commentary of the guide (interpreter) in places of religious significance negatively affect the atmosphere of the place (genius loci)? Although the studies have been conducted only in the selected area (Pomerania region), also located away from the major European pilgrimage routes and the great religious centres, the results could reflect global meaning and also relate to other areas of religious tourism (at least within the objects of the Christian religion). The local sections of Pan-European pilgrimage routes were also subject to evaluation (e.g. Ways of St James) and large sanctuaries of supra-local and international significance. A summary of responses and the percentage participation of respondents are shown in the Table 10.1. The results of the research clearly show that the proper interpretation of religious (spiritual) heritage, carried out by a professional tourist guide or an interpreter prepared for the role, is one of the most desirable elements of their stay in a holy place for tourists. Almost 90% of respondents indicated the professionally provided information about the given object was the most important (apart from the spiritual and religious values) quality of the place being visited. Although a slight drop in interest in guiding services may be noticed within groups of a strict pilgrimage nature (64%), the motivation of which does not indicate the will to get to know the place being visited, more than half of them expected the provision of professional interpretation. Interestingly, most tourists (pilgrims) indicate the wish to use the services of a guide as more important than the opportunity to use those services related to accommodation, catering or retail. From among the various qualities of a guide playing the role of an interpreter of religious heritage, the most desirable are the knowledge and ability to form the storytelling process appropriate for the given place (86% and 82%, respectively). To a large extent it is the storytelling process of the guide that contributes to the perception of the given place and whether it is deemed interesting (or not). The process may also be responsible for the perception and experience of positive (or negative) emotions by travellers. The very knowledge itself is not sufficient to attract the attention of tourists in the

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Table 10.1.  Percentage of respondents’ answers in the survey on religious tourism in Pomerania region (north-west Poland and north-east Germany). (Author’s unpublished data.) Groups

Question 1 • Spiritual needs • Guiding • Recreation and free time • Company Question 2 • Spiritual offer • Professional guide service • Place/object popularity • Complementary service (accommodation, gastronomy, souvenir shops, etc.) Question 3 • Cognitive motivation • Recreational motivation • Aesthetic needs • Spiritual needs Question 4 Question 5 • Knowledge • Storytelling skills • Experience • Religious commitment • Appearance • Price Question 6

Individual tourists

Pilgrim groups

Religious tourism groups

Individual pilgrims

Individual religious tourists

95 64 37 41

71 89 45 52

98 85 12 7

62 92 24 11

98 78 55 41

68 96 73 79

95 83 72 35

70 93 87 57

68 21 36 89

84 41 40 69

74 29 25 93

89 44 37 62

YES 32 NO 68

YES 79 NO 21

YES 21 NO 89

YES 63 NO 37

87 73 81 54 41 58

93 84 69 25 37 39

83 89 77 47 22 51

91 88 72 12 26 44

YES 62 NO 38

YES 44 NO 56

YES 58 NO 42

YES 37 NO 63

environment of highly competing interpreters. Within such a delicate, almost intimate subject as matters of faith, religion or spiritual experience, an adequate storytelling process and referring to the essence of the place, yet in a nonimposing way, may be the key to the successful

perception of the place and ultimately of the overall stay. Concerns that the respondents have indicated in relation to the genius loci of the given place may form a warning. More than half of the respondents (53%) believe that the guide’s storytelling in places of intimate contact with sacrum

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may adversely affect the quality of experiencing thereof. It must be added, however, that this does not change the demand and willingness to use services of a guide during peregrinations or visits to the place of worship, which has been indicated by more than 90% of respondents.

Conclusion Travels of a religious nature, also peregrinations, are present in many religions of the world. Among the reasons for undertaking a particular trip the most important role is played by religious motivation. Even a little over 100 years ago, migrations for religious reasons, in principle, were not accompanied by cognitive, educational and recreational motives. Spiritual needs and the desire to carry out an act of religious nature almost entirely prevailed when deciding on the journey. For the same reasons, pilgrimage was not accompanied by additional service packages, which are so very frequent with modern tourism. The only desired service was the provision of accommodation and meals. The guides were hired only in order to reach the particular destinations seamlessly and safely. Their task was not to provide interpretation, but merely to lead the pilgrims via the simplest and most secure route. One of the major challenges of modern religious tourism (including pilgrimage) is to actively adapt to the changing needs of people within the planning of their free time and meeting their spiritual needs. Based on the local religious,

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cultural, historical or natural heritage, more and more innovative products of religious tourism are being created, which reflect the needs of society. The touristic sacred space in a comprehensive manner thus combines the essence of the holy place – sacrum – with the various types of sightseeing with elements of religious and historical education, as well as the perception of cultural heritage. This type of pilgrimage poses major challenges for interpreters of heritage, the role of which is mostly fulfilled by tourist guides and volunteers, specially trained for this purpose. Their role is not only to explain the intricacies of the historical and cultural background of the given object, place or route, but also to actively share with visitors the essential ideas through the use of appropriate storytelling process and forms of communication. Research carried out with tourists/pilgrims travelling to the holy places and shrines shows that within this religious tourism (which is being so far experienced in a highly individual manner), services of a guide-interpreter are highly desirable and sought after. He or she is expected not only to provide knowledge, but – above all – to skilfully ‘hook’ a participant in the atmosphere (genius loci) of the given place. The task a religious tourism guide is facing is therefore to accompany the pilgrim in the process of exploring both the truths of faith, and the genesis of their formation and functioning in a specific natural environment. Storytelling carried out skilfully and coupled with an adequate provision of knowledge will allow for a deeper and more conscious experience of sacrum by the pilgrim.

References Benson, A. (2005) Research tourism – professional travel for useful discoveries. In: Novelli, M. (ed.) Niche Tourism: Contemporary Issues, Trends and Cases. Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK, pp. 133–142. Bryon, J. (2012) Tour guides as storytellers – from shelling to sharing. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism 12(1), 27–43. DOI: 10.1080/15022250.2012.656922. Cohen, E. (1985) The tourist guide: The origins, structure and dynamics of a role. Annals of Tourism Research 12(1), 5–29. Dallen, J.T. and Olsen, D.H. (2006) Tourism, Religion and Spiritual Journeys. Routledge, London/New York. Duda, T. (2014) Sacral landscape and its influence on the tourism space development in the region (based on the example of Western Pomerania region, NW Poland). International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage 2(2), 35–49.

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Duda, T. (2015) Pomorska Droga Świętego Jakuba – wierne odtworzenie historycznej via baltica czy kompromis związany ze specyfiką pomorskiego pielgrzymowania Na przestrzeni wieków? In: Roszak, P. and Rozynkowski, W. (eds) Camino Polaco. 2. Wydawnictwo Naukowe UMK, Toruń, Poland. Duda, T. (2016) Kształtowanie się przestrzeni współczesnej turystyki religijnej Na obszarach marginalnych (W oddaleniu od znaczących centrów religijnych I wielkich szlaków pielgrzymkowych), Na przykładzie Pomorza Zachodniego. In: Latosinska, J. and Mokras-Grabowska, J. (eds) Turystyka i kultura. Sacrum i Profanum. Wyd. Łódź. Uniwersytet Łódzki, Poland, pp. 119–136. Hewison, R. (1989) Heritage: an interpretation. In: Uzzell, D.L. (ed.) Heritage Interpretation: The Natural and Built Environment. Belhaven, London, pp. 15–22. Hughes, H. (2003) Arts, Entertainment and Tourism. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK. Jackowski, A. (1991) Pielgrzymki I turystyka religijna W Polsce. Wyd. Instytut Turystyki, Warsaw, Poland. Jackowski, A. (1996) Rozwój pielgrzymek w Polsce. In: Przestrzeń i sacrum. Instytut Geografii UJ, Krakow, Poland. Jackowski, A. (2010) Pielgrzymki a turystyka religijna. Rozważania Na czasie. In: Kroplewski, Z. and Panasiuk, A. (eds) Turystyka religijna. Szczecin. 765. Uniwersytet Szczeciński, Rozprawy i Studia T, Poland, pp. 17–32. Kong, L. (1997) A ‘new’ cultural geography? Debates about invention and reinvention. Scottish Geographical Magazine 113(3), 177–185. DOI: 10.1080/00369229718737011. Kowalczyk, A. (2008) Współczesna turystyka kulturowa: między tradycją a nowoczesnością. In: Kowalczyk, A. (ed.) Turystyka kulturowa (spojrzenie geograficzne). Uniwersytet Warszawski, Warsaw, pp. 9–57. Kruczek, Z. (2010) Etyka przewodników turystycznych i pilotów wycieczek. Monografie o tematyce turystycznej. Wyd. Proksenia, Krakow, Poland. Ludwig, T. (2012) Quality standards in heritage interpretation. Bildungswerk Interpretation, Werleshausen, Germany. Maron, A. (2010) Turysta a pielgrzym – różnice motywacji poznawczej. In: Kroplewski, Z. and Panasiuk, A. (eds) Turystyka religijna. 765. Uniwersytet Szczeciński, Rozprawy i Studia T, Szczecin, Poland, pp. 17–32. Meged, J.W. (2010) Guides’ intercultural strategies in an interaction perspective. Conference: International Research Forum of Guided Tours, Halmstad University, pp. 23–25. April 2009. Mikos von Rohrscheidt, A. (2014) Współczesne przewodnictwo miejskie. Metodyka i organizacja interpretacji dziedzictwa. Wyd. Proksenia, Krakow/Poznań, Poland. Owsianowska, S. (2014) Stereotypy w narracji turystycznej. Turystyka Kulturowa 3, 6–20. Pond, K.L. (1993) The Professional Guide: Dynamics of Tour Guiding. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York. Świątkiewicz, W. (2005) Homo Peregrinus wobec postmodernistycznej sekularyzacji. In: Glaeser, Z. and Górecki, J. (eds) Pielgrzymowanie a integracja. Uniwersytet Opolski, Opole, Opole, Poland, pp. 117–128. Weiler, B. and Black, R. (2014) Tour Guiding Research. Insights, Issues and Implications. Channel View Publications, Bristol, UK.

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Pilgrimage Tourism and Social Media: A Way Forward in the 21st Century?

Elena Paschinger* University of Applied Sciences, FH Joanneum, Bad Gleichenberg, Austria

Introduction Religious tourism, and more specifically pilgrimage tourism, is tourism based on people travelling individually or in groups for motives of pilgrimage, missionary goals or leisure purposes (Wikipedia, 2017). According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), an estimated 300–330 million pilgrims visit the world’s key religious sites every year (UNWTO, 2014). There are many aspects involved in these types of visits: shrine visits, the cult of relics, monastery visits and guest-stays, leisure trips or day visits to religious tourist attractions, as well as pilgrimage journeys, for instance along the Way of Saint James or following the traces of the Apostle Paulus in Greece, to quote but two major Christian religious pilgrimage routes. Religious tourism has existed since Antiquity. Pilgrims, in particular, are said to travel for a number of different reasons:

• • •

To understand and appreciate their religion through a tangible heritage experience. To feel secure about their religious beliefs. To connect personally to a holy city or place.

The nature of demand for religious/pilgrimage tourism Pilgrimage, or religiously motivated travel, is essentially undertaken for spiritual reasons. However, this is only one consideration in today’s tourism spectrum to religious or sacred sites. Tourists can be drawn to a religious heritage site out of mere curiosity; their major motivation then becomes visiting a certain element of the religious heritage attraction over spiritual reasons. In the middle of this spectrum are ‘pilgrim tourists’, or ‘religious tourists’, who travel for both secular and religious motives. However, one person may find himself more of a pilgrim tourist at one stage, or in a particular society/religion, and more of a secular tourist at another stage, or when travelling for merely recreational reasons. This varies as much in relation to the person as to the site: a religious heritage attraction might be a World Heritage Site to one visitor, but a place of individual worship to the next. Balancing the needs of different types of visitors is exactly what constitutes one of the major challenges at religious heritage sites today (Paschinger, 2007). Traditional characteristics of demand for heritage tourism have long focused on sociodemographic and motivational criteria,

*​reachme@​creativelena.​com © CAB International 2019. Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue: Interpreting Sacred Stories (eds D. Vidal-Casellas et al.)

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attributing (religious) heritage tourists a certain age, education, income, social status, willingness to learn, etc. However, with the advent of the so-called ‘experience economy’ as well as the increasing proliferation of social media, websites and forums for exchange, there is a need to reconsider this traditional way of pigeon-holing tourists (Poria et al., 2004). As the travelling population has access to more information about the destinations they visit, especially online, alternative interest groups emerge in favour of traditional categories such as nation states, class or gender. They challenge the way tourists are depicted, which furthermore has changed the way tourists consume attractions: ‘object authenticity’, or the inherent meanings of physical objects, is abandoned in favour of meanings created at the very point of consumption of the experience. Based on this evidence for the shift of traditional demand characteristics for religious heritage, and pilgrimage tourism, product development needs to be further enhanced, and open to dialogue among both visitors and stakeholders alike. There could be more of an effort made not just to educate visitors, but to provide for an emotional involvement before, during and after the visit. Emphasis needs to be put on the link between the tourist and the heritage site, pilgrimage route or experience, rather than taking the two of them separately. The benefits then become manifold:

• • • •

Extending the travel seasons beyond the main or shoulder seasons. Developing new destinations and their infrastructure. Gaining access to (emerging) source markets. Attracting travellers in the quality tourism segment, and with a high level of disposable income.

Management implications for religious/ pilgrimage tourism The advent of social media, as well as subsequent opportunities for exchange among not only visitors and travellers, but also vis-à-vis site managers, religious institutions, pilgrimage

support centres and the like, has clear implications for the management of (religious) heritage sites. This is particularly true where marketing and interpretation, as well as reaching new target groups via social media are concerned. Management and strategic planning are prerogatives for religious sites facing thousands or millions of visitors a year, such as the traditional pilgrimage route of the Way of Saint James in Northern Spain, Holi Temple Festivals in Nepal, or other types of religious events or places. What is more, care must be taken to preserve the ‘spirit of a place’, especially in religious heritage sites and pilgrimage attractions. Further evidence comes from the fact that religious, and pilgrimage tourism, are linked with a number of other types of special interest tourism, such as culinary tourism, naturebased tourism or cultural tourism in general, including non-religious elements of culture (Paschinger et al., 2017). All of this is inscribed in the present-day need for tourism promotion via social media, for an open, two-way dialogue between tourism destinations, users and content creators. Unique stories take up an important place in the minds of potential visitors, and reputation management is increasingly done via social media, requiring strategy, the allocation of resources, modern tools for development and cooperation. Opportunities in the market of religious heritage and pilgrimage tourism are thus manifold, and growing. When addressing this market segment, it is important to have:



• •

Sound interpretive facilities at the religious heritage site/local town hall/visitor information office/pilgrimage route (including bilingual or multilingual information, access to wireless internet hotspots, etc.). Safe access to and from the site, basic catering and refreshment facilities, further tourism infrastructure such as restaurants, accommodation, etc. State-of-the-art information and communication technologies (ICT), that is, websites, blogs, apps, social media pages or other ways for visitors to get and stay in touch before, during and after their visit; all conveying an important feeling of connectivity and care about the heritage resource visited (Fig. 11.1.).

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Fig. 11.1.  Connectivity through smartphones, or having a phone signal despite being on a pilgrimage route, remains key for many pilgrims today (picture taken on the Portuguese Way of Saint James, travelling from Porto to Santiago in May 2016).

Pilgrimage Tourism and Social Media There is no doubt that religion has played a major role in encouraging early travellers and pilgrims to cross entire continents in order to visit sacred sites. Today, hundreds of them make up the world’s map as important heritage attractions in their specific country or religion (Timothy and Boyd, 2003). Many such travellers are faced with an abundance of social media tools to help them plan or manage their journey, such as Camino apps (Fig.  11.2.) for walking the Way of Saint James, forums and Facebook groups for exchanges in many different languages, travel blogs with detailed experience accounts by actual pilgrims, (digital) guide books, etc.

The nature of social media: A way forward for modern-day pilgrims to engage? In the digital (social media) age, the four Ps of classic marketing (‘product, price, place,

promotion’) continue to shift in favour of the four Cs: ‘creating, curating, connecting, culture’. This is reflected in the paradigm change that continues to affect not only social media marketing, or cultural tourism in rural areas, but also society as a whole. The basic notion is that we create something, then share it, link it, network it and moderate discussions about it, instead of trying to convince people of its benefits with traditional advertising. The use of social media in the tourism and travel industry as a whole, as well as in religious/pilgrimage tourism in particular, is growing constantly (Surugiu and Surugiu, 2005). Social media has become an important and increasingly powerful marketing tool that is used by people from all walks of life. Tourists, as well as pilgrims, plan their trips and gather information using social networks; they collect tips from friends and other virtual contacts before, during or after their trip or pilgrimage. In this way, social media seeps more and more into the preparation, organization and discussion of pilgrimage tourism, too.

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The mobile industry is widely providing solutions to support the interaction between tourism and social media at every single stage of the travel experience. A closer look at the use of ICT in travel shows that they are typically aimed at supporting visitors at a local level. Mobile apps and ICT frameworks are available to engage travellers when visiting a certain spot (i.e. a museum, a city, a region, etc.). At the same time, as travel influencers have become more established, many have built up high levels of loyalty and engagement among their followers, who, in turn, take their opinions and guidance seriously. This has special implications for ‘deep experiences’, such as pilgrimage journeys: Given the nature of a pilgrimage (which typically involve previous research, preparation, deeply moving, personal experiences, a desire to share what you learn, etc.), it follows that the use of social media has gradually taken hold in educating and networking pilgrims with digital opinion leaders,

tourism destinations and local area pilgrimage support centres. A closer look at this relationship is taken in the case study of this chapter, where an entire part of the Spanish Way of Saint James has been ‘digitalized’, promoting visitor safety, allowing better access to real-time information and even enabling pilgrims to complete their pilgrim’s passbook online (Santos, 2017).

Social media marketing in the context of pilgrimage tourism development Social media, due to its relative advantages related to cost, audience and time, has become a preferred marketing tool for businesses. Currently, most marketing strategies cover measures related to social media. The main advantage is to reach customers in different parts of the world and

Fig. 11.2.  The author along the ‘Camino del Norte’ in northern Spain, looking up further information about accommodation as well as points of interest via a digital app on her smartphone and live sharing from the Camino through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and her various blog/social media channels.

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receive feedback in real time, employing minimum resources. Cultural travellers rely on information provided by so-called ‘travel influencers’, in order to show the authentic side of the destination visited. Tourists furthermore have the possibility to write reviews, comment and present different perceptions of destinations. As a consequence, they become prosumers in social media, meaning that they are benefiting from marketing activities initiated by companies, but also getting involved in promoting and improving the very tourism products and packages they consume. Moreover, tourists trust other tourists who have had similar cultural tourism experiences more than nice, eye-catching presentations of companies from websites, brochures, leaflets, TV, etc. Cultural products well promoted and presented in the media become a stimulus for tourism, empowering the consumer and helping entrepreneurs with promotion and innovative ideas. Enterprises need to be more focused on technological innovation and take advantage of the proliferation of new media, such as blog sites, Facebook pages, Tripadvisor, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Instagram, etc. One of the most popular types of social media is the personal blog, which is built around a real person (to ‘tell it like it is’), thus strongly influencing a traveller’s decision-making. A good example for this is provided by the pilgrimage blog of the Austrian theologian, coach and author Ferdinand Kaineder. On his blog at www.​kaineder.​at/​wordpress, he provides users, including potential and/or previous pilgrims, with a whole host of resources for discussion, including YouTube videos and interviews, reading resources, preparation and experience accounts of his own countless pilgrimage journeys (F. Kaineder, Vienna, 2017, personal communication).

‘Peregrino Lebaniego Digital’: Case study on the digitalization of a part of the Way of Saint James The project that perhaps seeks to combine pilgrimage tourism and social media in the most ambitious way is called ‘Peregrino Lebaniego Digital’ (or ‘Digital Pilgrim Lebaniego’, the Lebaniego Way

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being a 3–5-day pilgrimage off the main route to Santiago de Compostela in order to reach the Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana, which is said to hold a part of the original cross of Jesus). It is managed by the association SRECD, the Regional Society for Education, Culture and Sports of Cantabria, embedded in the Government of Cantabria, Northern Spain (Portal Oficial del Camino Lebaniego, 2017). The aim of the organization is the protection, promotion, restoration and safeguarding of the architectural religious heritage of the region. SRECD is furthermore responsible for the planning and coordination of the initiatives related to the protection and promotion of the Jubilee Year of Saint Toribio of Liébana, which took place in 2017. To this end, an intelligent connectivity project providing Wi-Fi connectivity for all of the 72 km of the Camino Lebaniego route has been devised. Through a specifically designed pilgrim app, pilgrims can access all the services they need, and acquaint themselves with the natural and cultural resources along that particular pilgrimage. In this way, the ‘Peregrino Lebaniego Digital’ pilgrim app unites the 1000-year-old tradition of pilgrimage along the Lebaniego Way with the 21st century. The need for a ‘Digital Way’ was recognized as a means to create a more guided, more social, more accessible, and safer pilgrimage experience. It connects people with the territory, linking all the resources that provide identity to the Lebaniego pilgrimage route. Since early 2017, 5000 users have downloaded the pilgrim app, have connected to the local area Wi-Fi network and provided a series of personal information, such as name, email address or postal code, allowing for a (digital newsletter) system on the promotion of further activities in the area. Social media is used as a communication tool with pilgrims even before they start their pilgrimage, whereby a professional team of staff answers questions about the local area weather, the state of the route, the stages, where to eat, where to sleep, responds to emergency alerts, etc. The Wi-Fi network of the ‘Peregrino Lebaniego Digital’ is a public service: pilgrims are encouraged to use it free of charge. It is powered by connection booths using solar energy panels, thus contributing to a sustainable management plan of the route. Currently, there are 400+ followers on Instagram, 800+ on Facebook and more than 1200 on Twitter. Since its inception in early 2017, feedback through

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the app has mostly focused on areas of improvement, yet most pilgrims have responded in a very positive way about the opportunity to connect for whatever needs may arise during their pilgrimage journey (Santos, 2017). The case study of the ‘Peregrino Lebaniego Digital’ may serve as an example to digitalize more parts of the Spanish Way of Saint James, currently one of the most popular pilgrimage routes in modern-day, Christian society.

Conclusions There is no doubt that (religious) tourism is one of the key sectors of the world’s economy, which has maintained its competitiveness even throughout the financial crisis. The advent of social media, and its manifold opportunities for better, targeted marketing and open dialogue between visitors, pilgrims and local area stakeholders, has challenged traditional ways of destination marketing, and branding. This is especially true, but not limited to, religious heritage and pilgrimage tourism, which is a trend set to grow according to UNWTO.

As the present chapter, including its case study on the digitalization of a part of the Spanish Way of Saint James has shown, the policy/institutional landscape for strategically promoting religious/pilgrimage tourism through social media is rather fragmented, and often limited to the initiative of a few institutions and/ or key stakeholders. Institutions responsible for tourism development have partly overlapping competencies. These overlaps have to be addressed in order to ensure a good coordination of the tourism policy, to agree upon shared objectives and to implement coordinated measures in order to achieve those objectives. In order to maintain and increase competitiveness in the tourism sector, a holistic approach is required. The satisfaction of tourists is of utmost importance. This will only be achieved through high quality standards in the whole (religious) tourism value chain. In line with this, the present chapter has addressed the fundamental pillars of religious tourism development, both demand and product-driven, education and training, the visitor experience, as well as new product development, particularly with regard to the issues of digitalization, and social media, in modern-day pilgrimage tourism.

References Paschinger, E. (2007) Authenticity, interpretation and the issue of demand: How product development at world heritage sites can encourage sustainable management. MSc Thesis. IMC FH Krems University of Applied Sciences, Austria. Paschinger, E., Poulios, I. and Plimakis, S. (2017) Assistance to develop religious tourism in Greece. Ministry of Tourism, Greece. Poria, Y., Butler, R. and Airey, D. (2004) Links between tourists, heritage, and reasons for visiting heritage sites. Journal of Travel Research 43(1), 19–28. DOI: 10.1177/0047287504265508. Portal Oficial del Camino Lebaniego (2017) Camino Lebaniego. Available at: https://www.​caminolebaniego.​com/​inicio (accessed 20 November 2017). Santos, R. (2017) Peregrino Lebaniego digital, press release. ZWIT Project, SRECD Cantábria, Spain. Surugiu, M.R. and Surugiu, C. (2005) Heritage tourism entrepreneurship and social media. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 188, 74–81. Timothy, D.J. and Boyd, S.W. (2003) Heritage Tourism. Pearson Education Limited, Harlow, UK. UNWTO (2014) First UNWTO International Congress on tourism and Pilgrimages explores the link between tourism and spiritual routes. Available at: http://​media.​unwto.​org/​press-​release/​2014-​09-​ 16/​first-​unwto-​international-​congress-​tourism-​and-​pilgrimages-​explores-​link-​be (accessed 20 November 2017). Wikipedia (2017) Religious tourism. Available at: https://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Religious_​tourism (accessed 3 November 2017).

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Transformation of Cultural Identity, Tourism and Intercultural Dialogue: Medieval World Heritage Sites in Serbia between Cultural Monuments and Shrines

Tamara Ognjević* Artis Center, Belgrade, Serbia

Introduction Desacralization of Church property in the former Yugoslavia after World War II, as well as strong anti-religious propaganda in the new, socialist system, have contributed to the change of cultural identity of important church centres. Serbian medieval monasteries, mainly mausoleums of rulers from the Nemanjić dynasty, once places of adoration of the holy kings and ascetics, were converted into the cultural monuments that are more museums than shrines. Some of them, protected in the second half of the 20th and the first decades of the 21st century as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites, are managed by the Institute for Protection of Monuments of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, not by the Serbian Orthodox Church. When the former Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia vanished in the last decade of the 20th century, among the people of its constitutive republics that became independent states, a quest began for a national identity in which religion would regain its former character. Thus, monastic centres of the Serbian Orthodox Church became

pilgrimage destinations again. This chapter deals with the challenges of church heritage in Serbia with a special focus on the monastery complexes under UNESCO protection in Studenica, Sopoćani and Stari Ras, and in the light of Orthodox monastic communities’ lifestyles and their relationship with tourism. At the same time, based on the Artis Center experience within a cultural and creative tourism project, this chapter seeks to highlight the possible models of interpretation of sacred places through the prism of so-called female history, or personal history of Serbian medieval rulers’ wives and daughters, who are generally foreigners, but as well-respected saints of Serbian Orthodox churches, create exceptional potential for intercultural dialogue. When the medieval complex of Stari Ras (Old Ras) and the Sopoćani Monastery came under the protection of UNESCO as World Heritage Sites in the 1970s, the process of desacralization of church heritage in the territory of the former Yugoslavia had been going on for some time (Djukić and Djukić, 2015, pp. 721–723). Although the primary aim of the former state was international recognition of these complexes as part of an extremely

*​tamara.​ognjevic@​artiscenter.​com © CAB International 2019. Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue: Interpreting Sacred Stories (eds D. Vidal-Casellas et al.)

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valuable museum-type monument heritage, the political climate, which would radically change in the following decades, restored the primary function of these structures as monastic centres. In order to fully understand the complexity of the process, we need to go back to the years immediately following World War II, when the history of Yugoslavia saw not only the period of peace, but the period of a new social system. The new, socialist society and the entire legislation that accompanied it, with a special consideration of the provisions of the Constitution adopted in the post-war years, commenced the separation of the state and the Church, the nationalization of Church property and systematic anti-religious propaganda culminating in desacralization of many medieval monastic complexes (Djukić, 2016, pp. 265–267). Thus, the representative churches, the pearls of medieval masonry and art, became cultural monuments deprived of their primary function as church centres, operating according to the rules of Orthodox Christian dogma and related religious daily rituals. At the time when it came under UNESCO protection in 1979, the Medieval Ras complex, an archaeological site comprising the heart of the so-called Nemanjić-dynasty Serbia, which also included the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Novi Pazar, and the nearby Djurđevi Stupovi Monastery – a nearby endowment of the Grand Prince of Serbia, Stefan Nemanja – this space primarily had the status of an archaeological and art ‘museum’ (UNESCO, 1979). The same applies to the Sopoćani Monastery, protected along with Old Ras in 1979, which thus became an integral part of the complex monument site situated in an authentic environment, since those sacral structures were almost entirely neglected at the time (Djukić, 2016, pp. 271–273). The restoration of the Sopoćani Monastery community and major works on the restoration of an almost completely demolished and derelict church and dormitory of the Đurđevi Stupovi Monastery in Ras were launched in the 1990s. The process of reconstruction of monastic centres in their functional, religious sense grew in intensity after the death of Josip Broz Tito, the Yugoslav marshal for life, in 1980, to reach its climax at the end of the 20th and in the early 21st century, when the Serbian Orthodox

Church managed to regain in a short time a considerable part of its property taken over by nationalization. Although without the status of the official state religion enjoyed in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the modern Serbian Orthodox Church established the authority it used to have prior to World War II in only 20 years or so. Just as the shaping of the characteristic cultural identity of the socialist Yugoslavia had the most immediate effect on the treatment of church heritage within the context in which the entire religious heritage was to be desacralized, the breakup of the state in the 1990s brought about the development of new values, or – more precisely – the collective tendency to re-establish the generally idealized traditional national identity. The backbone of this intricate search for national identity at the time of major political and economic crisis was, first of all, turning to orthodoxy as the ancestors’ religion (Ćirković, 2015, pp. 448–450). The signs of inevitable changes were felt as soon as the 1980s, when the restoration of monastic centres began. That was the time when the mausoleum of the founder of the Serbian medieval state, Stefan Nemanja, in the Studenica Monastery came under UNESCO protection in 1986. This large monastery complex dating from the late 12th century is one of the most important structures of the Serbian cultural heritage as a whole, having always been an attractive destination for cultural tourism. Together with Dubrovnik in Croatia, Lake Bled in Slovenia, the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro and Lake Ohrid in Macedonia, Studenica Monastery (Fig.  12.1) formed the backbone of cultural tourism in the socialist Yugoslavia. It was treated as an extraordinarily important architectural and artistic monument of the socalled Byzantine artistic circle, with the cult of Saint Stefan Nemanja, the founder of Serbian state and Church, and his son Saint Sava, the first Serbian archbishop, being minimized. In the context of its protection by UNESCO, the church heritage of Kosovo and Metohija became a topical issue in the spring of 2004, when Albanian separatists set fire to, tore down and desecrated a large number of Serbian Orthodox churches in Kosovo. At that time, Serbia managed to protect Dečani (2004), Gračanica, the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć and Our Lady of Ljeviša (2006) within the shortest possible time

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Fig. 12.1.  Studenica Monastery was protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. (Photo: Tamara Ognjević.)

under a common denominator – medieval monuments in Kosovo (UNESCO, 2006). In the same year as those structures were protected, they were included on the ‘World Heritage in danger’ list – a status they still have today (UNESCO, 2017). It should be pointed out that Old Ras, Sopoćani and Studenica, just like the medieval monasteries in Kosovo, are protected as cultural heritage of great artistic and architectural value, and that, irrelevant of the fact that they have been inherited by the Church as an independent institution, in all relevant UNESCO documents they are registered as state property run by a government institution – Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments (UNESCO, 1979–2006). In the circumstances following the breakup of Yugoslavia, when the Church regained a considerable part of its former autonomy and institutional power, exactly the above fact became the subject of an ongoing conflict among the stakeholders – the monastic administrative bodies, on one side, with a need to renovate old churches and ancillary buildings, build additional facilities, and decorate them with new frescoes, icons and relevant pieces of furniture, and the protectors, on the other side, insisting on preserving the intact appearance of these complexes since each innovation would undermine their status as protected

monuments. Therefore, there are many examples of works being undertaken by the administrators of old monasteries and churches on their own initiative, without consulting the protectors who can only reluctantly accept the completed works in the changed structure of the relations of power.

Serbian Orthodox Church and Tourism Owing to the changes that took place in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, both locally and globally, the medieval monasteries under UNESCO protection in Serbia are becoming more and more vibrant monastic centres, and popular pilgrimage destinations as well, thus establishing a new type of tourism unfamiliar to the socialist Yugoslavia – religious tourism (Fig. 12.2). Even UNESCO experts have noticed this remarkable change, pointing to it as a significant novelty in the video records of the Studenica Monastery made in the late 20th century (UNESCO, 2013). All these elements suggest the need for designing a strategy and providing the infrastructure required for the implementation of programmes in cultural and religious tourism (RadisavljevićČiparizović, 2013, pp. 59–64). With this in

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Fig. 12.2.  Religious tourism practitioners in the Sopoćani Monastery. (Photo: Tamara Ognjević.)

mind, in addition to the existing motel nearby, a large dormitory primarily intended for pilgrims was built within the confines of Studenica

Monastery in the late 20th century. The dormitory includes a restaurant where meals are prepared in accordance with the Orthodox dietary

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rules, so during fasting seasons meatless meals are served. Similar, although less successful, efforts to provide accommodation facilities have been made by the administrations of Sopoćani and Dečani Monasteries. Nevertheless, despite the phenomenon of religious metamorphosis during the crisis years of the civil war and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) aggression, the specific lifestyle of monks and the lack of experience on the part of the Serbian Orthodox Church with respect to religious tourism have not had a profound effect on the shaping of strategies in this branch of tourism (Strategija, 2016, pp. 73–76), which would be as important for the popularization of the Serbian medieval monasteries under UNESCO protection as travel destinations, as it would be for the survival of small, rural communities in their immediate vicinity. If we exclude the activities of Dobročinstvo, a church travel agency organizing pilgrimages, established in 1990, offering all of their package tours mainly to Orthodox Serbs (Dobročinstvo, 2016), the only travel agency engaged in religious tourism in Serbia is Dveri, a travel agency founded by a political party of the same name, advocating an Orthodox, patriarchal lifestyle and the so-called traditional Serbian values (Dveri, 2017). As a counterpart to these agencies promoting a specific type of religious Orthodox tourism, there are typical travel agencies, which, in the context of new tour programmes in receptive tourism, quickly and easily give up on the opportunity of creating authentic offers leaning on the models of the so-called new tourism, comprising gastronomy and wine tourism with elements of creative tourism, for example, workshops based on local particularities. In view of the above, the first obstacle to the modernization of a receptive tourist offer are the agencies themselves, which not only fail to understand the operation of monasteries, but are also not capable of creating tours adapted to the particular lifestyle of monks, which tourists find quite interesting. Chiefly interested in commercial effects, Serbian agencies most often opt for tour programmes offered by large tour operators. In reality, this mostly means fitting in with the so-called Balkan tours, dictated in recent years primarily by Turkish and Macedonian tour operators, which have been bringing an increasing number of foreign tourists to Serbia.

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For local agencies this means a higher frequency of visitors in relatively non-demanding programmes. Since these groups include at least 50 tourists, any attempt at creating a more sophisticated tourist offer is thwarted early on. As they are mainly coming from Islamic countries, as a rule they are not interested in Serbian medieval monasteries and the additional programmes they could offer. The second and more serious obstacle is the Orthodox lifestyle of monks, implying asceticism and refraining from communication with the outer world. The day-to-day-life in Orthodox monkhood is based on solitude and obedience, continuous prayer and silence. It is a lifestyle requiring getting up before sunrise and going to bed at dusk. These are the elements that keep the monks at a diametric distance both from religious and particularly from new tourism. The monastic administrations are adamant in this respect, as well. Their facilities are open for tourists during short intervals between two prayers, they are reluctant to receive outsiders and not willing to make special arrangements that would include food and drink tasting, particularly creative ones involving workshops or some other, more dynamic programmes. At the same time, the Serbian Orthodox Church – as a tax-exempt institution – has considerable financial funds at its disposal, which are beyond any government control. Therefore, it does not need to recognize tourism as one of the vital mechanisms for making additional income. Thus, the resistance of the Church towards a polite, curious tourist who is not drawn to the famous temples of the Serbian Orthodox Church by religious motives might indicate the lack of understanding on the part of the Church for its immediate environment – in most cases, small communities – which would significantly benefit from properly designed travel programmes.

Artis Programme Experiences Taking into account the integrity of monastic centres, as well as the need to maintain small, rural communities, in the period from 2014‒2016, Artis Center created two programmes in the field of cultural tourism, with a number of elements that laid the foundations

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for a new type of tourism. The implementation of those programmes was preceded by on-site research, while Artis’s multidisciplinary scientific and artistic project Living the Past – Serbian Medieval Gastronomy was the starting point in terms of defining certain elements that were to be implemented in the programmes. In that respect, it is of utmost importance to underline that there is a considerable discrepancy in medieval gastronomic heritage between the food eaten by royals and that eaten by monks, and that Orthodox monasteries in Serbia have never been considered the centres of gastronomic innovations, unlike monastic communities in western Europe in the monastic centres of the Roman Catholic Church (Ognjević, 2014, p. 25). One of the most common mistakes made by Serbian receptive agencies when creating programmes in the field of creative and gastronomic tourism is the idea of organizing rich royal-like feasts in monastic dining rooms – a concept that significantly departs from both historical facts and the actual, live monastic practice. The second important element is based on the direct knowledge that women are the predominant consumers of programmes in the field of cultural tourism (Ognjević, 2015, p. 40) (Fig. 12.3), and that was exactly what inspired us to implement in both experimental programmes so-called female themes, that is, such elements of cultural history that focus on women, thus

providing room for intercultural dialogue and easier identification with medieval heritage in Serbia, since we also had a number of visitors coming from abroad (Fig. 12.3). This approach is based on a historical fact that the spouses of Serbian medieval rulers were mostly of foreign origin, very often Catholic and, as a rule, women coming from a cultural environment quite different from the one typical of medieval Serbia (Jireček and Radonić, 2004, pp. 263–269). A 2-day programme Crown and Cross – Female Royalty of the Nemanjić Dynasty, the Valley of Lilacs and the Old Ras was organized three times in the period from 2015‒2016. It included visits to Serbian medieval monasteries, churches, fortresses and archaeological sites (Studenica, Gradac, Sopoćani, Đurđevi stupovi at Ras, the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul at Ras, Pazarište-Stari Ras, Maglič), an easy mountaineering trip (climbing to the Maglič fortress), visits to monastic dining rooms and encounters with local monks and nuns, both in their capacity as hosts and guides, tasting of carefully selected local specialties, putting special emphasis on the specific multicultural aspects of that area since a considerable Muslim community has been living in Novi Pazar – the town in the heart of former Serbian medieval state of Ras since the 15th century (Ognjević, 2016, p. 401), an overnight stay in a small town of Raška, as well as visits to its art gallery and

Fig. 12.3.  Women dominate Artis center programme 'Crown and Cross'. A group of female participants climb toward the Old Pavlica Church in the Ibar Valley. (Photo: Tamara Ognjević.)

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county museum, which is in the process of establishment. The programme narrative was based on a story about the wives of Serbian rulers, as these women, having come to this land, were trying – each of them in her own particular way – to leave their personal marks on Serbian history and culture. The story about female rulers served as a cue to encourage the talks in a predominantly female group about changes women experience when they get married. Such an approach enables a high level of identification with people from the past and better understanding of the heritage. Although the Artis programme was experimental by nature, with an intention to draw the attention of the Tourist Organization of Serbia and other potential interested parties to such a useful experience, a considerable number of people who follow our activities very often require that this programme be repeated whenever possible. Gourmet Tales of Serbia 2, a part of an experimental programme integrating the knowledge of gastronomic heritage and patterns in the culture of eating into a new type of tourism, implies the most direct interaction with the monastic lifestyle. In order to implement such a programme, the first step was to find a monastic community that was more dedicated to cooking, and then establish a high degree of confidence and provide warranties that our plans would not interfere with the everyday routine of the monks. Finally, since these kinds of programmes cannot be realized unless approved by the competent bishop, they needed to be meticulously prepared and explained in detail. In addition, a lot of patience is required as time measuring and prioritization in the Church is different from that of ordinary people. However, the results have justified all such efforts. The experimental workshop of the reconstruction of a Byzantine rose petal wine based on a 9th-century recipe that was organized by Artis Center in collaboration with the nuns’ community of the Končul Monastery in autumn 2015 was really a crowning success of the programme, which was meticulously designed and carried out with a lot of patience (Fig. 12.4). Thus, our lady guests from Japan had an opportunity to get to know not only south-western Serbia, but also a monastic lifestyle typical of an ancient monastery in that region (Fig. 12.4), and, following a successful workshop in which they actively participated, they also had a chance to sit at the monastic table and eat together

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with nuns in the same way as the nuns’ community does on a daily basis (Ognjević, 2016, p. 400). Our guests were allowed access to a monastic intimacy in a way far exceeding even the boldest of all expectations. The local community was entrusted with the tasks of tourist guides, demonstrators, curators and entertainers. Local accommodation was used and full capacities were employed for gastronomy workshops without the need to bring extra food or any other aids. Artis’s collaborators at Raška, Novi Pazar and Jošanička Banja were highly motivated to take part in this or similar programmes, proving that a wisely devised tourism strategy may yield exceptional results. Moreover, the Church is an extremely compatible partner when the interests and the mode of communication coincide appropriately, with due respect for the specificities of all interested parties. Direct experience of creating a programme in the segment of cultural tourism when one of the key stakeholders is the Serbian Orthodox Church (i.e. monastic communities in the Serbian medieval monasteries), particularly those under UNESCO protection due to their artistic and architectural heritage of utmost importance and significant locations offering high potential in terms of tourism, indicates that the agreement of all stakeholders may indeed lead to an exceptional outcome. However, in order to establish such a relationship, mutual respect and transparent presentation of interests of all participants in the process are required. Mediation by experts who understand the needs of all stakeholders is highly recommended as it implies steering the interests and pointing to the ways to overcome conflicts. It is clear that monastic communities in Serbia are not appropriate places to implement mass tourism concepts for the abovementioned reasons, particularly those related to the monastic way of life. On the other hand, it is evident that in the 21st century no church can expect that its visitors would be composed only of believers or people possessing a considerable prior knowledge of the advisable code of dress and conduct in sacred places. In that respect, the starting point would be appropriate signage within the confines of monasteries, as well as the preparation of travellers for the programmes that include visits to monasteries, which is the responsibility of the organizer. Readiness to work jointly on shaping the tourism strategies, along with appropriate mediation, is

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Fig. 12.4.  Japanese tourists in the Končul Monastery during Gourmet Tales of Serbia 2 programme. (Photo: Tamara Ognjević.)

an issue that should be initiated by the most interested party in this process, and that is the government with its relevant ministries. The party that can most directly influence the initiation of such processes is local government, which, in the case of significant complexes under UNESCO protection, does have the most direct interest – economic and developmental. Migrations from rural areas of the country where, as a rule, medieval monasteries are located, have been ringing alarm bells for a long time and a good tourism strategy could significantly help improve the well-being of local communities.

Conclusion In less than one century, Serbia has changed several systems of government – from the Kingdom of Serbia, which in 1918 became a constitutive

element of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, through being one of the six republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, to its breakup in the 1990s and the actual Republic of Serbia in the early 21st century. With such a historical background, the Serbian Orthodox Church had a long way to go from an institution representing a state religion to total desacralization and anti-religious propaganda following World War II. When in the last decade of the past century a search for a new yet old national identity was initiated, the Serbian Orthodox Church managed to restore much of its institutional powers in a short period. Serbian medieval monasteries, abandoned until recently, but enjoying the status of important cultural monuments and quite deprived of their real purpose – to be the epicentres of monastic life, have become alive again as the centres of religious practice. In the meantime, some of them were included in the

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UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites and, while that process was underway, they became museums managed by the government. All these elements led to a serious conflict among stakeholders when at the beginning of the new millennium an issue of both cultural and religious (pilgrimage) tourism was raised – an issue that could be easily resolved if all stakeholders were ready to start a constructive dialogue with due respect for the differences and various interests, but in the first place if the state, as a prospective mediator, would recognize its role in the process of spurring the dialogue with an intention to shape tourism strategy that would reflect general interest. The programmes in the field of cultural and new tourism that were carried out by Artis Center on an experimental basis in

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the period from 2014–2016 undoubtedly indicate that there are indeed modalities acceptable to all stakeholders, and that the role of a mediator – in this case the state – would be to establish a dialogue that would make all stakeholders aware of real potential for the development of a tourist product. The lack of such an initiative could seriously jeopardize the survival of small communities in undeveloped, rural areas featuring most of the medieval monasteries and other sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Therefore, it would also directly jeopardize the cultural monuments themselves, which are recognized as significant world heritage as well as the possibility to develop the potential of both tangible and intangible heritage as a platform of intercultural dialogue.

References Ćirković, S. (2015) Moravska Srbija U istoriji srpskog naroda. In: Srpska istorija na svetskim verigama. vol. 1. Catena Mundi, Belgrade, Serbia, pp. 446–450. Djukić, V. and Djukić, B. (2015) Pravoslavna kultura u sekularnoj državi: Pravno-politički instrumenti prosvetne i kulturne politike u Srbiji. In: Zbornik Matice srpske za društvene nauke. vol. 153. Novi Sad, Serbia, pp. 717–730. Djukić, V. (2016) Spiritual dilemmas: the relationship of secularization and collective memory in Serbia. In: Anthology of essays by Faculty of Dramatic Arts. vol. 28. Belgrade, Serbia, pp. 263–281. Dobročinstvo (2016) O nama. Available at: https://​dobrocinstvo.​rs/​o-​nama (accessed 2 August 2017). Dveri (2017) O nama. Available at: www.​dveri.​co.​rs (accessed 2 August 2017). Jireček, K. and Radonić, J. (2004) Istorija Srba, Kulturna istorija. vol. 2. Pi-Press, Pirot, Serbia. Ognjević, T. (2014) Gozba. Artis, Galerija nauke i tehnike SANU, Belgrade, Serbia. Ognjević, T. (2015) Let me tell you a story – heritage, tourism and communication. In: Proceedings of the regional conference of national committees of ICOM: Museum and cultural tourism – connecting the differences. ICOM Serbia, Zlatibor, Belgrade, Serbia, pp. 30–43. Ognjević, T. (2016) Suitcase full of kaymak – Gastronomy tourism and cultural landscape. In: Proceedings of UNESCO UNITWIN 4th International Conference: Tourism and cultural landscape. Infota, Budapest, Hungary, pp. 397–403. DOI: Infota. Radisavljević-Čiparizović, D. (2013) Religija I hodočasnički turizam. Unpublished PHD thesis. Faculty of Philosophy. University of Belgrade, Serbia. Available at: https://​fedorabg.​bg.​ac.​rs/​fedora/​get/​o:​ 9284/​bdef:​Content/​get (accessed 12 August 2017). UNESCO (1979) STAR I Ras and Sopoćani. Available at: http://​whc.​unesco.​org/​en/​list/​96 (accessed 15 August 2017). UNESCO (2006) Medieval monuments in Kosovo. Available at: http://​whc.​unesco.​org/​en/​list/​724 (accessed 15 August 2017). UNESCO (2013) Studenica Monastery. Available at: http://​whc.​unesco.​org/​en/​list/​389/​video (accessed 15 August 2017). UNESCO (2017) List of World heritage in danger. Available at: http://​whc.​unesco.​org/​en/​danger (accessed 15 August 2017).

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Llull, a Traveller in the Service of the Faith

Gabriel Ensenyat* Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma, Mallorca

Introduction: Travelling in the Middle Ages The Middle Ages is a period burdened with clichés: darkness, intolerance, religious fanaticism and so on. Another of these clichés is that it was an era of historic isolation. Nothing could be further from the truth. Travel, in the medieval world, was a far more commonplace activity than we tend to think. People moved from one place to another for a great number of reasons: to settle in a new location, to trade and to do business of all kinds, for religion (apologetics, pilgrimages), politics (royal and lordly progresses, embassies, etc.), to study, to explore, and so on. There were also itinerant artists, knights riding to tournaments, soldiers moving from one place to another to do battle, sometimes over long distances (remember the Crusades)… In short, in contrast to the image we have of medieval man as sedentary, he was a real Homo viator. Nevertheless, the notion of tourism did not exist, at least as we understand it today. Of course there were travellers – however few – who ventured to remote places, but their goal was to know places unknown to their compatriots. The travels of Muslims like Al-Idrisi or Ibn Battuta or of Christian envoys to the lands of the Mongolian Empire are famous, but these were not trips of the kind that most of us take now,

and nor were the expeditions of a commercial nature such as those of Marco Polo. The idea of leisure as it so closely attaches to travel in our day and age was neither present nor available to medieval men and women. Travel for its own sake, for the pleasure of observing other places, was not a medieval practice, in the same way that hiking was not. It would have been considered an incomprehensible waste of time to climb to the top of a mountain, which is why, on the rare occasions that someone actually did so, they planted a cross there. Petrarch, for example, who walked in the country and climbed mountains for the pleasure of doing so, was looked on by his contemporaries with astonishment as a result: they were at a loss to understand an activity that simply did not enter into the regular scheme of things of the time. In other words, some of the cultural and recreational activities we engage in today had no place in the medieval world, in which travel was undertaken with the intention of rendering some service to the community – a military campaign, trade, the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom and so on – or to obtain spiritual benefit for the afterlife, as in the case of pilgrimages. If it was not motivated by any of these reasons, the adventure was regarded as ‘folly’ (Carrizo, 2010, p. 534).

*​gabriel.​ensenyat@​uib.​es 130

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Llull, a Traveller in the Service of the Faith

That said, people travelled a great deal in the Middle Ages, sometimes for reasons we would now find surprising. Joanot Martorell, the author of one of the great works of Catalan literature, Tirant lo Blanc, went all the way to England for a challenge – and also to Portugal and Naples – and presents himself as a habitual traveller. Given that a chivalric combat required a judge, and the authorities tended not to favour the practice, when two knights challenged one another they usually had to fight outside their own kingdom to avoid possible judicial reprisals. The same course was adopted by two Catalan knights, Salvador Sureda from Mallorca and Francí Vallseca from Barcelona, who challenged one another to fight in Naples, each accompanied by a large retinue. In the end, however, their combat, like Martorell’s, did not take place, because the king, Alfonso the Magnanimous, released them from the obligation. Before, another Catalan writer, Ramon de Perellós, journeyed to Ireland in search of Saint Patrick’s Lake, in the middle of which there was an island that was believed to give access to Purgatory. Ramon’s mission was to go down into Purgatory in search of the soul of his monarch, John I of Aragon, who had died suddenly and unconfessed in 1396, for whose destiny he feared. Other visits to the hereafter or the underworld include Dante’s descent into Hell in the Divine Comedy, and the anonymous Llibre del romiatge del venturós pelegrí, from the late 15th or early 16th century, also inspired by the traditional theme of the journey to the beyond, and written with a considerable amount of ingenuity and grace. The fact is that, for one reason or another, numerous travellers set down their experiences in writing, especially when they had journeyed to far-off lands and come into contact with different peoples. The best-known story is undoubtedly that of Marco Polo, but many others have come down to us.1 As for the time of Ramon Llull, we must bear in mind that contacts of all kinds existed between the two shores of the Mediterranean, the sea being an element of communication and exchange between Jews, Muslims and Christians rather than an obstacle or an element of separation (and often of tragedy), as it is now. Accordingly, the three faiths were not strangers but knew each other well, and Llull, as we shall

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see, is a paradigmatic product of the encounter of cultures.

The Travels of Ramon Llull Ramon Llull was an indefatigble traveller. This is perhaps due to the fact that his work had a practical, active side, which led him to visit the centres of power of the medieval West (Rome, Paris, Barcelona), several Italian republics (especially Genoa), northern Africa and the Near East. It should be noted that all of these travels were on his own initiative. The fact is that the Blessed Ramon Llull was not only self-taught but also a ‘self-made man’, a man of action. The mission he set himself involved obtaining political and intellectual support for his apologetic enterprise and personally putting it into practice himself, hence the numerous trips to the Pope and to the courts of European monarchs, on the one hand, and to various North African cities, on the other, and finally, to the eastern Mediterranean. In the latter case, his voyage still presents a number of puzzles and uncertainties (Gay, 1997). We will not give an exhaustive list here of Llull’s travels, because other authors have already done so – for example, Villalba (2015)2 – and instead will offer an outline of these on the basis of various stages that can be established, with a few comments. For a more complete account, see Soler (2015).3 The first stage, starting from Llull’s ‘conversion’ (we know nothing of what went before), from 1263 to 1279, corresponds to his formative years and the first years of his new period. We only know for certain that he made a pilgrimage to Notre-Dame de Rocamadour, in the Dordogne, from where he went on to Santiago de Compostela (probably taking the Way of Saint James) and on the return journey stopped in Barcelona, and that some years later he went to Montpellier. The Rocamadour pilgrimage is the first journey of which we have any knowledge, and we will pay special attention to it in due course, given that Llull mentions the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela on several occasions. (It is worth noting that other prominent figures from Catalan history made the pilgrimage before him, such as Alfonso II of Aragon, in 1195.)

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Llull was summoned to Montpellier by King James II of Mallorca to present his Art, which was subjected to a theological examination, but it seems very likely that he had been there before. Llull tells us that, after his epiphany, he devoted 9 years to preparing himself, on an autodidactic basis, but it is hard to conceive that he could have acquired such an extraordinary wealth of knowledge without leaving Mallorca or entering the academic sphere, and Montpellier (which was then a possession of the Mallorcan crown) was home to one of the most prestigious universities in Europe. For this reason, Lullian scholars have long suspected that he must have attended some of classes and lectures given there, especially those of a medical nature. The second stage corresponds to the years between his leaving Mallorca (1279) and his first trip to Paris (1287). He established his ‘centre of operations’ in Montpellier, but he visited other places, especially Rome, in a bid to gain papal support for the pursuit of his projects. The third stage corresponds to what we could call the internationalization of his travels (and, of course, his projects). In addition to Rome, he also went on several occasions to Paris, Barcelona and Genoa and, at least once, to Naples, Lyon and Vienna, among other cities. The motive was always the same: to obtain the approval and support of civil and ecclesiastical powers for his endeavour. Paris had the Sorbonne, which was the centre of Christendom in theological matters, and the most powerful sovereign in Europe, and in Barcelona there was another monarch, one to whom Llull always turned when organizing expeditions to the Muslim world, James II. In Naples (1294) there was Pope Celestine V; in Lyon (1305) he attended the consecration of Pope Clement V; and in Vienna (1311) he took part in a council of the Church. Within this stage of internationalization, albeit with specific characteristics, we must emphasize Llull’s three sojourns in North Africa – Tunis (1293 and 1313) and Bugia (present-day Béjaïa, in Algeria), in 1307 – and the trip to Cyprus, Lesser Armenia and, perhaps, Jerusalem (1301–1302). It was these journeys across the sea that did so much to create the legend of Llull as an inventor of cartographic instruments. This legend is based on

the careful – and in some cases the first known – description of certain navigational devices in his writings. Llull did not invent them, but his acute powers of observation enabled him to describe them accurately, sometimes very soon after they first came into use. We should not find this surprising, since we know that, in addition to sailing the seas whenever necessary, the Blessed Ramon Llull also wrote some of his works on board ship.

Ramon Llull, Pilgrim As we have seen, Llull first made a pilgrimage to Rocamadour, and, a little later, another to Santiago de Compostela. It is possible that on the return journey he also ascended the mountain of Montserrat. This deserves our special consideration for two reasons. First, because he himself places so much importance on this pilgrimage, in the Vita coaetanea, a circumstance that may not have been given sufficient attention, an omission we shall attempt to correct in this section. The fact is that throughout his work the Blessed Ramon Llull emphasizes the figure of the pilgrim, to the extent of classing pilgrims as one of the social groups of the age, a classification we do not find in any other contemporary commentarist on medieval society. This is another point that has not received the analysis it deserves, and one to which we will dedicate the following section. Our interest in the matter, then, is due to the originality of Llull’s description of the pilgrim as an important part of the social body and to the scant attention that has been devoted to it. Apart from the well-known brief account in Llull’s Vita coaetanea of his pilgrimage to Rocamadour and to Santiago de Compostela, it is worth commenting, too, on what the Breviculum miniature has to tell us. There we find the Blessed Ramon Llull depicted, as is to be expected, with his hat, his staff and his pilgrim’s pack. In the texts that accompany the page, the first (referring to Rocamadour) beseeches, in the form of a prayer, ‘that I may carry forward my purposes, while I live in this world […], that I may do the Art by gift of thy great wisdom, with which I may show the unbelievers, for necessary reasons, the truth of the divinity of thy Son and of thy holy law

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Llull, a Traveller in the Service of the Faith

and doctrine’. Llull asks that he may encounter men well versed in this science and that the Pope, emperors, lords and so on will provide such men in their domains in order that they can learn the Arabic and Hebrew language. He also requests that the several Christian kingdoms organize a ‘universal passage’ (in other words, a joint crusade) in order to combat the unbelievers with two weapons: the spiritual (missionaries) and the mechanical (warfare). In the prayer addressed to Saint James, Llull entrusts himself to the saints: ‘Oh Saint James and all you saints of God… Instruct me and teach me, implore before Our Lord Jesus Christ and his Most Holy Mother that at least I may be […] instrument and principal agent of His will.’ He asks for the mediation of the spiritual agents (angels and saints) to help him carry out the divine will. His intention is that God should be loved ‘in the truth of his existence and of his works, intrinsically and extrinsically’. The symbolism of the colour of the inks used in the miniatures serves to establish the two levels of reality: that of earthly action, through the relations with princes, popes and theologians; and that of spiritual action, in the form of prayer and contemplation. As we can see, Llull had already framed his projects based on missionary action, for which the support of earthly and spiritual powers was needed, and this had to be backed up by the military enterprise, which from the very outset was one of the proposed options. The last section will focus on this aspect. It is worth noting that, for all the Blessed Ramon Llull’s interest in pilgrimage, expressed in writing and in action, his fame as a pilgrim was not consolidated until the collective biography constructed by the various poems presented at the poetry competition held in the city of Mallorca on 15 May 1502 (Planas, 2012). The occasion for this competition was the celebration of the approval of the doctrine of Pere Daguí (the professor who occupied the chair of the city’s Estudi General Lul·lià, who had been accused of heresy by the Inquisition) by Pope Sixtus IV, who also instituted the feastday of the Immaculate Conception. Among the participants in the poetry competition, Jordi Miquel Àlber referred to the ‘holy romería’ and Antoni Massot spoke of the pilgrimage to Santiago and another, hypothetical, pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

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The Figure of the Pilgrim in Llull In the Middle Ages, the pilgrim was one of the travellers par excellence.4 A pilgrim was not just any traveller. Even the denomination marks the difference from other travellers. The word ‘traveller’ defines someone who moves from one place to another, but ‘pilgrim’ is a different concept. Etymologically, the Latin peregrinus defines the stranger, one who goes to some place other than their own. From the 11th century onwards the term ‘pilgrimage’ refers primarily to the individual or collective journey to a holy place for a religious or devotional purpose.5 Moreover, there were specific subdivisions of meaning: for example, in La Vita Nuova Dante calls the pilgrims who go to Rome ‘Romers’. It is worth quoting the passage in which the great Tuscan poet deals with this matter: And when the last of [the pilgrims] had gone by me, I bethought me to write a sonnet showing forth mine inward speech. And that it might seem more pitiful, I made as though I had spoken it indeed unto them. And I wrote this sonnet, which beginneth: ‘Ye pilgrimfolk.’ I made use of the word pilgrim for its general signification; for ‘pilgrim’ may be understood in two senses, one general, and one special. General, so far as any man may be called a pilgrim who leaveth the place of his birth; whereas, more narrowly speaking, he only is a pilgrim who goeth towards or frowards the house of St. James. For there are three separate denominations proper unto those who undertake journeys to the glory of God. They are called Palmers who go beyond the seas eastward, whence often they bring palm-branches. And Pilgrims are they who journey unto the holy house of Galicia; seeing that no other apostle was buried so far from his birthplace as was the blessed St. James. And there is a third sort who are called Romers; in that they go, as I have said these folk went, to Rome. (Mitre, 1992, pp. 132–133)

These pilgrimage journeys entailed a whole process. They were organized in accordance with a set ritual, which began with the drafting of the pilgrim’s last will and testament, followed by a mass and a solemn taking leave of the family. There was reason enough for all of this, since the journey would take months or years and might well have an unwanted end. Indeed, many pilgrims were never heard of again. For

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example, Ermengol II, Count of Urgell, dubbed ‘the Pilgrim’, started out for Jerusalem in 1038 and never returned home. In a number of cases, the pilgrims set down their experience in writing, and we have a far from negligible store of such accounts, and of works written for pilgrims, such as the famous Codex Calixtinus. This was compiled some time before 1150 and includes a ‘Guide for the Traveller’, attributed to the scholar-monk Aymeric Picaud, from the Poitou region. The earliest known story of a pilgrim’s travels is the so-called Itinerarium Burdigalense, written in 333–334. The author was an anonymous Aquitanian pilgrim who set out for the Holy Land a few years after the discovery of the True Cross by Saint Helen’s in 326, and these relics encouraged Christians to travel there. Of note from this first period of pilgrimages to other lands known to us from the first-hand account of the protagonist is the journey of a woman, Egeria, who wrote of her experience between the years 381–384 and 414–416 (Plötz, 1988), expressing her eagerness to know new places: ‘Tunc ergo ego ut sim satis curiosa…’ [Then, therefore, I am well enough to be curious] (Carrizo, 2010, p. 532). Quite possibly the most prominent pilgrim of the Middle Ages was the English woman Margery Kempe (c. 1373 – after 1438) (MacKay, 1992). She was a great pilgrim who travelled to Jerusalem (1413), Rome and Assisi (1414), Santiago de Compostela (1417), Norway and Gdansk, constantly on the look-out for sanctuaries and relics. What is more, she went on her own, without her husband (who permitted her to conduct her travels). She also wrote, or dictated, a book, thanks to which we know the details of her pilgrimages (Goodman, 2002). Pilgrimage also inspired or served as the basis for literary works, with the journey itself providing the structure around which the story is articulated, perhaps the best-known of these being The Canterbury Tales and Calila e Dimna (Paredes, 1996). In the first named we find travelling together a group of 29 persons (pilgrims, attendants and servants) of diverse rank and condition. Their destination is the tomb of Thomas Becket, in Canterbury, then a regular place of springtime pilgrimage. In the course of the journey, each of the 24 pilgrims has to tell two stories, one on the outward journey and one on the way back, with the teller of the best tale to be rewarded with a free meal on their return.

In the end, this previously agreed system is not adhered to, in that we are not given all of the promised stories, but the purpose is respected. In addition to the historical importance of The Canterbury Tales, the cast of very different and clearly differentiated characters is interesting in its own right, although only two are women. One is a prioress, accompanied by three men in holy orders, and the other is a respectable, devout and well-to-do widow, and the butt of the author’s sarcasm, who comments that she has buried five husbands and, when young, had numerous male friends. In contrast to these works, which present the pilgrimage in a positive and flattering light, it must be said that other works took a critical view of pilgrimage, dismissing it as a spiritually ‘unproductive’ practice, since true believers need not travel to far-off places to be in contact with God or to express their devotion. In fact, in contrast to other great religions, pilgrimage has never been a requisite of the Christian faith or an obligation imposed on the believer. Even the Early Church Fathers sometimes censure pilgrimage, for the reasons we have just noted, such as that God can be addressed from any place (Novoa, 2007), and also that it is sometimes motivated by a desire to see the world and get to know other places, with religion being a mere pretext. In this case we are faced with what was known in the Middle Ages as religiosa cupiditas (Carrizo, 2010, p. 535). Ramon Llull assigns an important role to the pilgrim. In fact, he devotes the whole of chapter 113 of the Liber contemplationis to pilgrims, as one of the groups that make up society. In the Liber contemplationis Llull gives us a very comprehensive picture of the society of his time, with chapters on rulers, churchmen, knights, merchants, sailors, painters, peasants, craftsmen (distinguishing between the different trades: carpenters, blacksmiths, stonemasons…) and so on. The chapter is a complete portrait, a faithful reflection of the society of his time, which had very little in common with the old tripartite societal structure of bellatores, oratores and laboratores that the 13th century had completely transcended. Llull has clearly updated the sources, and, knowing the world of his time as well as he did, offers us a realistic picture of how the society in which he moved was comparatively diverse and variegated, and far more polychrome than in previous centuries (Ensenyat, 2016).

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Llull, a Traveller in the Service of the Faith

But what is especially worthy of notice is that Ramon Llull includes pilgrims as a social group – a group that effectively transcends the class system in having no single socioeconomic stratum (no one is a pilgrim by rank or trade in contrast to all of the other groups), while at the same time anyone who is willing and able to do so may at some time in their lives form part of the group. From the king or the great feudal lord who goes on a pilgrimage, prompted by devotion, prestige, the allure of travel or whatever other reason, to the poorest and meanest miserable member of society, who does so, among other reasons, because they have nothing to lose. No other commentator on the society of that time includes the pilgrim as a social group, which makes it all the more surprising to find it in a text of this kind. In addition, pilgrims are the protagonists of several of Lull’s stories. His own experience as a pilgrim in Santiago de Compostela is in part reflected in two passages in the novel Blaquerna. Chapter 88 features a ‘Romer’ who takes it on himself to tell stories to his fellow pilgrims as they go along: It happened one day that one of the storytellers went out from a town and was going to the castle and in the street he met a great flock of pilgrims who were going to Saint James and he joined their company and went with them to Saint James; and as they went their way he recounted to them examples and good devout words and told them stories of the Old Testament and the New and recounted the deeds that were done by the apostles and the emperors as they are written in the chronicles. So great was the pleasure that the Romers had in his good words, that they had greater devotion in their pilgrimage and endured less labour in their going and in their tasks. And for this there were many men who took up that office so that they should lighten the way for the pilgrims and that they should hold them in devotion. (Soler and Santanach, 2009, pp. 397–398)

We do not know if this ‘storyteller’ of beautiful stories may have been Llull himself, or if he is simply a literary fiction. In similar fashion, it is plausible that he may have been accompanied on his journey by members of the order of the apostles to whom he refers in another chapter (76) of Blaquerna. Of course, it is of little significance whether the experiences described are

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real or fictitious, not least because it is impossible for us now to settle the matter, and our conjectures have no solid documentary basis. Indeed, Lacarra (1994) made it clear that the theme of Saint James is recurrent in medieval Spanish literature, not so much because it occupies a prominent place in its own right, but because of the great number of allusions to the saint or his pilgrims, such as the following, in chapter 76: It happened one day that the canon went out of the city and was going to another and on the way met a large number of men who came from Saint James and were dressed in the semblance of the apostles. The canon asked them to what order they belonged, and they replied saying that they were of the order of the apostles; and the canon replied saying that his office and the name of theirs agreed. The friars who named themselves of the order of the apostles asked him to explain the agreement of which he spoke and the canon told them that the apostle is persecuted unjustly; and therefore, if they wished to be of the order of the apostles, it was fitting that in the cities and in the towns and the castles through which they passed they should preach the word of God and that they should reprove men for the sins they saw them commit and that they should doubt neither death nor work and should preach the Catholic faith to the unbelievers so that thousands should be like to the apostles. (Soler and Santanach, 2009, p. 338)

As we can see, here Llull extolls the order of the apostles, and later reiterates his praise in Felix or the Book of Wonders, although he subsequently refers to the order in a tone of condemnation. This circumstance has been interpreted – or, rather, explained – in terms of the fact that during the writing of The Book of Wonders, the final papal condemnation of the ‘apostolate’ of Segarelli was issued, from which time his followers underwent a progressive radicalization that led them to adopt clandestine resistance, under the leadership of Fra Dolcino. In fact, the protagonist of The Book of Wonders, Felix, represents the paradigm of the traveller. His desire to know and ‘wonder at’ the things of this world leads Felix to journey from one place to another and get to knows many different places and people of all conditions, and pilgrims are not wanting on his journey. At times, the pilgrim acts as counsellor, as in the following ‘exemplum’ (ch. 12):

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Blaquerna said that one day a holy pilgrim man was before the cross, and looked with his corporeal eyes on the cross and with his spiritual eyes he remembered what the cross signified of the holy passion of Jesus Christ. While this pilgrim was like that, he saw two priests enter the church speaking of temporal things, in which words they took pleasure, and they stayed there for a while. That pilgrim said to the priests these words: ‘Sirs priests, you know that after the death of Jesus Christ the Holy Church was entrusted to the care of Saint Peter; and from the death of Saint Peter until now there have been many apostles, who have successively been pastors of the Holy Church. There where the cross signifies the grievous passion of Jesus Christ and the dishonour that he suffered in this world I greatly wonder how any son of the Holy Church can take pleasure, while Jesus Christ be so reviled, cast down and scorned by so many unbelieving men and by so many men who has not given him thanks for the high honour he has done them in this world.’ ‘Sir Pilgrim,’ said one of the priests, ‘I once heard tell that a very honourable and very rich king was playing chess. A wise man said to that king that he was idle and did not do all the good that he might do to honour God, since God had created the world in order that he be honoured there. Said the king that he played that he might do no evil nor think on any evil and so he passed the time as he did. That wise man said to the king that God had not made him king in order that he should do no evil nor think on any evil nor that he should be idle, but that he had made him king in order that he should do good all the days that he should live.’ (Badia, 2011, pp. 140–141)

Another pilgrim who had visited Jerusalem serves to explain the human capacity to imagine (which is equivalent here to saying ‘to reconstruct’) from what the eye offers us, in a debate about whether an angel, who does not have ‘corporeal eyes’, can ‘imagine that which he has not seen and, for want of imagination, not understand [corporeal things]’ (ch. 15): In a street two men encountered a pilgrim who had come from Jerusalem; one of the two men was a philosopher and the other was a lawyer. The philosopher asked the pilgrim from whence he came. The pilgrim said to the philosopher that he came from Jerusalem. That philosopher asked the pilgrim about Jerusalem and its circumstances. The pilgrim

recounted to the philosopher the disposition of the city of Jerusalem such as he had seen it and such as he imagined it. The lawyer said to the philosopher how great a wonder it was that the pilgrim should have given him knowledge of the disposition of Jerusalem, since he did not see it corporeally. The philosopher answered saying to him that the virtue of imagination is to imagine that thing that one has neither seen nor sees. By which imagination, the understanding can understand corporeal things, for all that it has not seen them corporeally. ‘Sir,’ said Felix, ‘the pilgrim, as he had seen Jerusalem, can imagine it; by the imagination, he was able to signify to the understanding that it might understand it. But the angel has no corporeal eyes and for that reason he can not imagine what he has not seen and, for want of imagination, can not understand them.’ (Badia, 2011, p. 151)

In fact, the Holy Land provides the apt and fitting framework for other ‘examples’. Thus, we find another pilgrim who wonders that the city should be in the hands of Muslims, who preach there doctrines contrary to the Christian faith (ch. 72): To the Holy Land beyond the sea a holy pilgrim went in pilgrimage, and as he was in Jerusalem, and saw that the Saracens held that holy place, he greatly wondered at the negligence of the Christians, who by negligence left the Saracens to possess that place. And the pilgrim, being in this wonderment, he entered a church of the Saracens, where he saw honours rendered to Muhammad, who said to his followers that Christ was not God. The holy pilgrim wondered at the negligence of the Christians, as they were not diligent in preaching and showing the path of truth to the unbelievers. That pilgrim came to the prelates and princes of the Christians and said to them that they should be diligent in honouring Jesus Christ, and they all said to him that it would be good, but no one stepped forward as the pilgrim wished. The pilgrim wondered, and said that sloth lived and diligence died. (Badia, 2014, p. 136)

The Interpretation of Lull’s Travels: Importance and Legacy Ramon Llull never wrote a book of travels, as so many other medieval travellers did. He had no interest in doing so. In his works we find hardly

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Llull, a Traveller in the Service of the Faith

any references to actual specific places he knew (and he knew a great many).6 On the other hand, we do find some (albeit very few) references to far-off places to which he had never been. In Blaquerna he offers us this description of Ghana: When the letters were ready in the presence of the apostle and the cardinals, there entered a gentleman who came from the south, from a land that is in the sands, from a city by the name of Ghana. In that land there were many kings and princes who adored idols and the sun and the stars, and the birds and beasts. Those people of that land are many and are black and have no law. (Soler and Santanach, 2009, p. 379)

Or this other description of other remote places: The cardinal separated the world into 12 provinces and caused 12 messengers to go out into the world to know the state of the world. It happened that one of the cardinal’s messengers went to the south and found a train of seven thousand camels laden with salt that left from a town called Tibalbert and were going to the land where the river Damiata flows. So many people did that messenger find that in 15 days all the salt was sold. And those people are all black, and adore idols, and they are glad-spirited men and have very strong sense of justice and they put to death any man they find telling lies, and all that they have is held in common. In that land there is an island in the middle of a great lake; on that island there is a dragon to which the people of that land make sacrifice and which they adore as God. That messenger went in those lands to discover the customs of the people and to estimate the great number of those people. And there was great wonder among the people at that messenger as he was a white man and a Christian, for at no time had a Christian ever been heard of in that land. That messenger transmitted in writing, by a squire of his, to the cardinal, all the things said above and many others; and the cardinal told the apostolate and his companions. Great was the displeasure of the apostle and the cardinals when they heard that the dragon was adored as God and they considered how they might destroy the error in which those people were. Another messenger went to northward, where he heard and saw Latins who told him that in those parts there were many people who had various beliefs and that the devil kept them in error by certain illusions and deceptions. That there was a land, by the name of Girlanda,

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where at the end of five years there came a white bear as a sign that that year there would be abundance of fish, on which those people live. There is another land where by enchantment the trees are made to speak. There is another land, near Boçinia, where there is a high place in a forest and if any man should cut any branch of that forest, at once lightning and thunder fall from the sky and put in deadly peril any man that may be in that forest. There is another land where each man contrives to have a god in his field and another in his herd and another in his orchard. In another land, near Dacia, there are people who do not live in houses and go behind the beasts they herd and when one of them dies they remain in that place until they have eaten it and then they go looking for another. (Soler and Santanach, 2009, pp. 395–397)

As we can see, the descriptions cited above correspond to the generalized information about those lands that was available at that time. This explains the presence of some references of a fantastical nature. As a rule, Llull includes very few wondrous elements in his works. Here, too, he cites specific places, as he does when he presents his Crusading projects. Similarly, he inserts into the Disputatio Raymundi Llulli et Hamar Saraceni a reference to the realm of Prester John, which he situates in India. It is also worth noting the presence of travellers in the works of Ramon Llull. For example, Blaquerna journeys to bring about the reforms she seeks. Felix, the protagonist of The Book of Wonders, is the paradigm of the traveller, travelling in the course of the entire work from one place to another to observe, to know, to learn and to ‘wonder’ at how the world is. And we find Llull himself travelling, as a character, in several works, such as Blanquerna and, especially, Fantastic (Tous and Soler, 2015). In The Book of Wonders above all Llull employs a notion of displacement in time and space, through which the protagonist is able to satisfy his capacity for ‘wonder’ (Ribera, 1991). With regard to pilgrimage, we must refer to a sense other than the usual literal meaning attached to the term. Mayer (2015) has commented on the figurative or translational sense of the word, relating to intellectual pilgrimages in search of truth and ‘intercultural’ changes of context. Here again we can take The Book of Wonders as an example.

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The Llullian Journey, a Tool of Dialogue and Apologia It seems clear that Llull’s travels had a specific motivation: to contribute to apologetic action. Within Christendom, the object was to convince the civil and religious powers to support his evangelizing projects, and to this end he travelled to see kings, popes and potentates, to persuade them of the need to create institutions in the service of the cause and put the Lullian Art into practice in the lands of the unbelievers. He also intervened on several occasions before the professors and students of the Sorbonne, since it was essential to gain the approval of the most important theological centre of the Christian faith. What is more, Llull himself began to engage in apologetics.7 Within Islam, the Blessed Ramon Llull opted for direct action: actually putting his system into practice. To this end he carefully planned how to proceed. The first step was to identify the appropriate interlocutors. He excluded rulers, because although such men were generally well educated in logic and philosophy, political power in the Muslim world was grounded in religion and, therefore, there was no incentive for them to change faith, as this would cut them off from the basis of their power. At the same time, the people – generally with little or no education – could hardly be a valid interlocutor, because they lacked the cultural resources needed to discuss philosophical and theological matters. Those who were qualified to engage in such a discussion were the men of learning, the men of religion. With them it was possible to reason, and it should be possible to convince them, Llull believed (as his writings demonstrate): precisely because they were well versed in matters of religion, they understood that Islam was false, but they did not prepared to oppose established power and the mass of the people. However, once they had been persuaded of the true faith, they would lead rulers and people to a conversion. This allows us to understand why, on his travels, Llull always chose a city – Tunis (twice) and Bugia/Béjaïa – where he would encounter intellectuals, and avoided the rural areas where there was a greater degree of fanaticism. The tool Llull chose to carry out his missionary project was the dialogue. He also gave

much thought to how he might draw the wise and learnèd into dialogue, since they would probably not be over-eager to debate with the first Christian to arrive in their country wanting to discuss their respective beliefs. On his first trip to Tunis (1293), Lull’s strategy was quite clear: he declared that he had come to debate which of the two religions was true, and if anyone could convince him that it was Islam, he would convert and become a Muslim. This is a ‘trick’, because Llull never entertained such a possibility: the Art – which he regarded as divine inspiration, from the ‘illumination’ he had received on the mountain of Puig de Randa in Mallorca – would persuade the infidels of their error. Nevertheless, the Muslim scholars took up his challenge, thinking that between them they would easily convince the stranger of the truth of Islam and resolve the matter. However, things did not go as planned, and the resulting public commotion led to Llull being arrested and expelled from the city. This way of proceeding shows that interreligious dialogue is not always sincere, but often merely ‘apparent’, masking other motives, especially the conversion of the ‘other’ (Pereira, 2005). That said, it is not helpful to extrapolate present-day concepts to the Middle Ages or to apply the frameworks of our age to a different time. In Llull’s case it is obvious that he opted for the word over the armed crusade, but without excluding this possibility if the Muslims refused to listen to the missionaries. For Llull, the crusade is a means to carry out apologetic action, not an end in itself, the imposition of forced conversions, and still less the annihilation of the unbelievers, like the so-called ‘Frankish solution’ that was the basis of the First Crusade. We must also bear in mind that the intended outcome of the Llullian proposal of dialogue in Brussels was conversion and beware of exaggerating the currency of ideas of ‘tolerance’, ‘interreligious dialogue’ and the like, which were alien to the medieval mind. The only interreligious contacts were through controversy, dispute and polemics, always against the background of enforced preaching. In any case, the missionary enterprise – whether the Lullian version or any other – had no chance of succeeding, for a variety of reasons, the first among these being the infidels’ psychological resistance to conversion, especially in the case of missions conducted within

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Llull, a Traveller in the Service of the Faith

their own social and political sphere (Ensenyat, 2015). It is also interesting to note the attention Ramon Llull gave to the Mongols. When in 1300 it was rumoured that they had arrived at the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, the Mallorcan Ramon Llull, then almost 70 years old, set out on a long journey to the east, with the aim of entering into dialogue with the Mongols. After sailing the Mediterranean from one end to the other, Llull found that the rumour was false, but far from being discouraged, he travelled on to Armenia, which at that time was oscillating between the Mongolian East and the Christian West. But what impelled Llull to make the trip was, above all, the need to convert the Mongols

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(who attached no religious meaning to their geopolitical expansion, in radical contrast to that of Islam). Llull was aware that, in the event of the Mongols being converted, an alliance of Christians and Christianized Mongols would effectively dismember Islam. But he was also aware of the risk to Christendom of the other possibility, that the Mongols might be converted to the Muslim faith, in which case the Christian world had everything to lose. This was a matter that exercised the finest minds of the period. In the Armenia that Llull visited, for example, the noble monk Hayton of Corycus was then writing about the question. Here, once again, we find Ramon Llull paying the closest attention to the signs of his time (Marín, 2007).

Notes On the interest in accounts of medieval travels, see Taylor (1991). See, in particular, the maps on pp. 82, 190 and 320. 3 Especially pp. 27–28 and 31–33. 4 The figure of the pilgrim, formerly of little historiographic interest, has been the subject of more serious attention in recent times. We will not enter here into a field whose bibliographic references have greatly expanded at the European level in the past 20 or 30 years. On this point we refer the reader to Sigal (1974), Marval (1980, 1985), Chélini and Branthomme (1982, 1987), Turner and Turner (1987) and Wilkinson and Ryan (1988), as well as the works cited passim in the present study. 5 For the meaning of the different terms assigned to the various sorts of people moving from place to place in the Middle Ages, see Costa and Lemos (2010, p. 202). 6 This led a number of authors a century ago to see Llull as virtually the father of Mallorcan cartography, since also in several works he refers to nautical instruments, techniques and so on. Obviously, Ramon Llull had other interests. We can only suppose that, during his stays in Mallorca, he informed the island’s incipient cartographers of the places he had visited, but this is mere conjecture. 7 Both in the elaboration of his system and in his own personal practice, Llull disassociated himself from the religious orders that engaged in apologetic activity, notably the Dominicans. This was because, in Llull’s opinion, the Dominican system, which did not propose ‘demonstrative reasons’ or rational arguments in favourof Christianity, could not work. He therefore put forward a new, alternative system (which he presented not as his own creation but the result of divine illumination). 1 2

References Badia, L. (2011) Ramon Llull. Llibre de meravelles (NEORL X). Patronat Ramon Llull, Palma, Mallorca. Badia, L. (2014) Ramon Llull. Llibre de meravelles (NEORL XIII). Patronat Ramon Llull, Palma, Mallorca. Carrizo, S. (2010) Mundo y mundos de las viajeras mediaevales. Entre desafíos para la mulier virilis y señales divinas para peregrinas anónimas. In: Actas del XIII Congreso de la Asociación Hispánica de Literatura Mediaeval. Ayuntamiento de Valladolid and Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain, pp. 529–538. Chélini, J. and Branthomme, H. (1982) Les chemins de Dieu. Histoire des pèlerinages chrétiens, des origines nos jours. Hachette, Paris. Chélini, J. and Branthomme, H. (1987) Histoire des pèlerinages non chrétiens. Entre magique et sacré: les chemins des dieux. Hachette, Paris.

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Costa, R. and Lemos, T.N. (2010) Com ferro, fogo E argumentação: Cruzada, conversão E a Teoria DOS Dois Gládios Na filosofia de Ramon Llull. Mirabilia 10, 196–218. Ensenyat, G. (2015) La difícil proposta lul·liana Per a la conversió dels musulmans. Mirabilia/MedTrans 2(2), 27. Ensenyat, G. (2016) El ventall de la societat del seu temps segons Ramon Llull. Acta Hispanica (University of Szeged, Hungary) 21, 17–26. Gay, J. (1997) Ramon Llull en Oriente (-1302): circunstancias de un viaje. Studia Lulliana 37, 25–78. Goodman, A. (2002) Margery Kempe and Her World. Taylor & Francis Group, London, New York. Lacarra, M.J. (1994) El Camino de Santiago y la literatura castellana mediaeval. In: El Camino de Santiago y la articulación del espacio hispánico. XX Semana de Estudios Mediaevales Estella ’93. Gobierno de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, pp. 315–335. MacKay, A. (1992) Una peregrina inglesa: Margery Kempe. In: Viajeros, peregrinos, mercaderes en el occidente mediaeval. XVIII Semana de Estudios Mediaevales Estella ’91. Gobierno de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, pp. 193–200. Marval, P. (ed.) (1980) Cahiers de Fanjeaux. 15. Marín, F. X. (2007) Un Mediterrani cosmopolita: El viatge de Ramon Llull a Orient. Ars Brevis. Anuari de la C tedra Ramon Llull Blanquerna 13, 104–118. Marval, P. (1985) Lieux saints et pélerinages d’Orient. Histoire et Géographie. Des origines á la conquête arabe. Éditions du CNRS, Paris. Mayer, A.C. (2015) Ramon Llull, pelegrí entre mons. In: Ramon Llull i els di legs mediterranis. Institut Europeu de la Mediterr nia, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 150–155. Mitre, E. (1992) Textos y documentos de época mediaeval (an lisis i comentario). Ariel, Barcelona, Spain. Novoa, F. (2007) Los viajeros de Dios en la Edad Media. In: Novoa, F. and Villalba, F.J. (eds) Viajes y viajeros en la Europa mediaeval. CSIC and Lunwerg Editores, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 159–196. Paredes, J. (1996) El viaje como marco y como cuento: Calila e Dimna, Dante y Chaucer. In: Carmona, F. and Martínez, A. (eds) Libros de viaje. Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain, pp. 269–286. Pereira, M. (2005) Diálogo inter-religioso ‘real ou aparente’ durante a Idade Média hispânica: Ramon Llull (1232–1316). Mirabilia 5, 38–59. Planas, R. (2012) El certamen poètic de 1502: Antecedents i descripció. In: Ramon Llull i el lul·lisme: Pensament i llenguatge. Actes de les jornades en homenatge a J. N. Hillgarth i A. Bonner. Edicions UIB, Palma, Mallorca, pp. 329–354. Plötz, R. (1988) Peregrinando por mar: Relatos de peregrinos. In: Actas del II Congreso Internacional de Estudios Jacobeos. 2. Xunta de Galicia, A Coruña, pp. 55–81. Ribera, J.M. (1991) Hacia una escritura del ‘viaje’: en torno a documentos catalanes de los siglos XII–XV. In: Los libros de viajes en el mundo románico. Editorial Complutense, Madrid, Spain, pp. 73–100. Sigal, P.A. (1974) Les marcheurs de Dieu. Pélerinages et pélerins au Moyen Age. Armand Colin, Paris. Soler, A. and Santanach, J. (2009) Ramon Llull. Romanç d’Evast e Blaquerna (NEORL Vlll). Patronat Ramon Llull, Palma, Mallorca. Soler, A. (2015) Ramon Llull, un perfil històric,. In: Ramon Llull i els di legs mediterranis. Ramon Llull and Mediterranean Dialogues. Institut Europeu de la Mediterrania, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 83–93. Taylor, B. (1991) Los libros de viajes de la Edad Media: Bibliografía y recepción. In: Actas del IV Congresso da Associaçao Hispánica de Literatura Mediaeval. Cosmos, I. Lisbon, pp. 57–70. Tous, F. and Soler, A. (2015) Ramon Llull: viatge, missió i escriptura. In: Ramon Llull i els di legs mediterranis. Ramon Llull and Mediterranean Dialogues. Institut Europeu de la Mediterrania, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 20–33. Turner, V. and Turner, E. (1987) Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture. Anthropological Perspectives. Columbia University Press, Oxford, UK. Villalba, P. (2015) Ramon Llull. Escriptor i filòsof de la diferència. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Wilkinson, J.H. and Ryan, W.F. (eds) (1988) Jerusalem Pilgrimage, 1099–1185. The Hakluyt Society, London.

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Taking Part in a Pilgrimage by Hosting Pilgrims

Vitor Ambrósio* Estoril Higher Institute for Hotel and Tourism Studies, Estoril, Portugal

Introduction To go on a pilgrimage for more than 1 day obliges pilgrims to look for accommodation. The logistics of the overnight stay are strongly related to the number of pilgrims, their economic status and their pilgrimage philosophy/behaviour. Although it has not been much researched accommodation plays a very important role in the spirit of pilgrimage and in the personal memories the pilgrims take back home. One may even state that a good part of the success of a pilgrimage is strongly linked to the accommodation. The solidarity of the host communities may play an important role in this decision process. In fact, according to Rosa (2005) religion is one of the components of the collective history and identity, not only of the receiving local community, but of also visitors, whose personal beliefs necessarily influence their anthropological attitudes. The chapter’s focus is on accommodation provided by local people without charge or for a small amount of money and how it contributes to the strengthening of the pilgrimage spirit and success. The research supports the idea that the locals who host pilgrims believe that they live the pilgrimage without walking the road and each one of them feels that they are taking part in

the pilgrimage. On the other side, pilgrims feel that they are spreading the pilgrimage spirit along the way mainly when they have personal contact with locals and spend the night in their houses or in the lodgings they provide.

Methodological and Logistical Aspects A literature review identified the lack of research in this area (pilgrims’ accommodation). In reality no books or articles were found that were directly related to this subject. Nevertheless some indirect literature is used to reinforce/emphasize subjects related to the organization of pilgrimages. The methodology followed was first the direct observation, taking part in three different pilgrimages: one in Minho Province (North Portugal) towards Santiago de Compostela – known as the Santiago Pilgrimage (Portuguese Camino); another in Ribatejo Province (central Portugal) towards Fatima – known as the Fatima Pilgrimage; and a third one around São Miguel island in the Azores (Portuguese archipelago) – known as the Lent Pilgrimage. In two of these pilgrimages (Fatima and Lent Pilgrimages) the author had to join a group in order to be invited on the pilgrimage and was

*​vitor.​ambrosio@​eshte.​pt © CAB International 2019. Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue: Interpreting Sacred Stories (eds D. Vidal-Casellas et al.)

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obliged to follow the already stipulated rules. On the Santiago Pilgrimage, many pilgrims opt to walk alone or in small groups not following very strict rules, and this was also the author’s choice. For all three pilgrimages the author lodged with locals without any monetary cost or for a small amount of money. The second part of the research is based on interviews that took place after the pilgrimages. The goal of these interviews was to know if hosts were receiving pilgrims only for the purposes of solidarity or as a way of participating in the pilgrimage. As a member of the different pilgrim groups in which the author took part he followed Becker’s statements: ‘A participant observer gathers data by participating in the daily life of the group or organisation he studies. He [sic] watches the people he is studying to see what situations they ordinarily meet and how they behave in them. He enters into conversation with some or all of the participants in these situations and discovers their interpretations of the event he has observed’ (Becker, 1958, p. 632) In fact the researcher gathers information by being an actual participant or/and an observer. The author communicated with the other pilgrims that part of his reason for doing the pilgrimage was to collect data for a study. With the host community the choice was the opposite: to remain incognito, or to put it better, not to state that he was on a pilgrimage also with academic purposes. In both situations (in contact with other pilgrims or during the stay with the hosts) the author tried to find out information without asking questions. After the pilgrimage, to collect complementary data, the author opted to interview hosts who accommodate pilgrims on any of those three pilgrimages (not necessarily the ones who had lodged the author). This option was considered valuable for two of the three pilgrimages.

Description of the Three Pilgrimages For all three pilgrimages the author ensured he made contact with other pilgrims, with the locals (mainly the ones hosting pilgrims) and paid attention to logistical and solidarity aspects such

as: group size, signage, meals, carried items, healings and accommodation.

Fatima Pilgrimage Fatima welcomes every year several thousand pilgrims who reach the sanctuary town, after having walked for several days (in particular between May and October). Most of them do it in order to thank God, and mainly the Virgin, for a grace they have received. Going from Lisbon to Fatima takes about 6 days of walking. Before leaving one has to acquire clothes (some associations provide identical T-shirts for the group participants), shoes and sleeping material and one may take as much as one wants. On other pilgrimages pilgrims must carry their own items and for that reason must be very careful about the weight being put on their shoulders. Here, this is not the case because along the road there’s at least one car and one van to give support to pilgrims: the van transports the suitcases/backpacks and the sleeping material from the town where the group slept to the town the pilgrims are going to reach at the day’s end; the car accompanies the pilgrims along the way carrying water, food and first aid – sometimes the exhausted pilgrims also need to be transported for a few kilometres. Very often the pilgrim groups walking to Fatima exceed 100 people obliging good logistical organization before the departure. Pilgrims contribute with a small amount of money (usually the same for each participant) and the pilgrimage organizing team takes care of everything: they plan the stops, the meals and book the places where the group will spend each night. Although there are already marked/signed routes to Fatima because of logistical issues many groups opt to take other roads. From many Portuguese towns groups of pilgrims depart at least once every year for Fatima and they get regular support from institutions and private landlords in very specific locations, obliging them, in a way, not to change the itinerary. Quite often groups of relatives and/or friends who are not able to go on the pilgrimage share the responsibility for organizing 1 day’s

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Taking Part in a Pilgrimage by Hosting Pilgrims

lunch and/or supper, profiting by joining the prayers, reflections and sometimes the mass. Regarding illness or injury, pilgrims are helped by other pilgrims or, in some cases, by a nurse or a doctor who accompanies the group; if necessary the supporting car takes the pilgrim to a clinic or a hospital. During May and October when there are more groups on the way many associations like the Maltese Cross or the Friends of Fatima Paths have tents along the road where pilgrims stop to have their blisters treated or to get an invigorating leg massage. As for accommodation, in most cases, those big groups count on solidarity from institutions or private landlords that are able to provide big spaces and bathrooms; they lodge in fire stations, school gyms, small town ballrooms, farms, etc. Though some locals clean and open those sites for pilgrim groups, showing a strong community spirit, there’s scant contact between the local population and the pilgrims.

Lent Pilgrimage According to Ambrósio (2011) the Lenten pilgrimages are an example of the spirituality of men of all ages and social status (women are not allowed to join the pilgrims’ groups). On these pilgrimages men get together in groups and walk about 250 km around the island for 8 days. Before leaving, it is necessary to acquire the essential articles of pilgrimage: shawl, scarf, staff, cevadeira (cloth bag/backpack beneath the shawl) and rosaries. According to Coutinho et  al. (2006) the shawl symbolizes the Christ’s garment; the staff, the wand/cane; the scarf, the crown of thorns; and the cevadeira, the cross of Christ. In addition, the brothers (as the pilgrims are called) are not allowed to hold mobile phones, cameras, sunglasses or to shave during the whole pilgrimage (in the past shaving blades were prohibited to prevent bloody fights). The groups of pilgrims are on average made up of 40–50 men, each contributing a varied small amount of money for logistical issues. There is no minimum age to become a pilgrim (brother); for many children, going on pilgrimage is to enter the world of the elder ones; on the other hand, no longer having the energy to walk the daily 15–16 h is felt by many as the start of

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the third age. Each group has a formal structure with individuals undertaking specific tasks. Among others, the master is the one who directs the march and leads the singing pleas for the fulfilment of the prayers requested by the local population; the prosecutor of the souls receives the prayers sought by the islanders; the reminder of the souls requests and announces special prayers; the youngest pilgrim is the cross bearer; and the guides choose the paths, ensuring that the group visits the churches and chapels in which there is a statue of the Virgin. As there’s no signage on the way or books with the itinerary, it is only possible to walk this pilgrimage road when accompanied by a guide. Meals are either offered by the pilgrims’ relatives or by the locals, usually being served in parochial centres, in local associations or in picnic parks. On the second and fifth day of the pilgrimage families join the pilgrims for lunch bringing not only food but also clean laundry and taking back dirty laundry (to avoid pilgrims carrying too much weight). During the pilgrimage, the brothers support one another in the moments of greatest stress and provide positive energy to each other. In some groups (as in the one the author joined) there are one or two brothers who have some nursing knowledge. For many pilgrims and for the families that receive them the overnight stay is the highlight of a day. For pilgrims, night time represents a refreshing bath, a comforting supper and the promise of a few hours of sleep. For hosts, according to Coutinho et  al. (2006), it is a huge pleasure to receive these pilgrims, who have trudged hundreds of kilometres carrying on their shoulders the sins of the community.

Santiago Pilgrimage The Santiago Camino is the European’s most popular pilgrimage route. It is not difficult to find scientific articles, academic book chapters, novels or travellers’ blogs (among others) depicting the travelers experiences. Those reflect, in particular, the personal feelings, the religious or spiritual moments and the logistical issues. In any of the previous cases most agree that it’s a life challenge.

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Before leaving it is necessary to select the right clothes and shoes for different weather conditions (mainly thinking about wet days). Also to add a sleeping bag is essential as in most lodgings like pilgrim hostels only the mattress is provided. Following the experts’ advice one should not carry more than 10% of one’s weight meaning not to exceed 8–9 kg in the backpack. Some pilgrims hire the luggage transfer service, which picks up their bags from where they slept and transports them to the place where they are going to sleep. Going from Oporto to Santiago most guides plan the itinerary for 12–13 days. Apart from the many books and sites available, the road is all marked/signed with yellow arrows allowing pilgrims to walk it without needing anyone to guide them. On the way the author encountered individuals or small groups of two or three people; he also found quite big groups but most times those pilgrims don’t walk together (they reunite in the place where they all sleep). Although there’s a common solidarity among pilgrims like accompanying someone who is having difficulties in walking because of blisters or exhaustion, for example, when a pilgrim gets ill he must count on the host’s help or must go to a hospital. Pilgrims eat in cafes and in restaurants (many offers the pilgrim’s menu – a substantial meal for an attractive price) or buy goods in the grocery shops for having light meals. Most times they choose places that have the ‘stamp’ – to have the Compostela (certificate that proves that the pilgrim has walked at least 100 km) the pilgrim needs to show the pilgrim’s passport with stamps collected along the way in Santiago de Compostela. As most pilgrims start walking very early in the morning they get to the accommodation during the afternoon giving them time to wash laundry and to cook dinner. Another reason for initiating the journey so soon is to be sure that they will be among the first reaching the hostel – as booking ahead is not allowed the ones who arrive late risk not getting a bed and having to find another kind of accommodation (pensions, apartments or hotels) for a higher price. Pilgrims stay preferably in hostels run by municipalities or search for places where they can lodge for a small amount of money or even for free. In the first situation a fixed price is

charged (about €5 in Portugal); in the second, one should leave around €5 as a donation towards costs.

Pilgrims’ Host Interviews As referred to earlier the second part of the research was based on interviews that took place after the pilgrimages. The goal of these interviews was to know if the people/locals in question were receiving pilgrims only for the purposes of solidarity or whether they were doing it as a way of participating in the pilgrimage. Following the author’s choice the results will be presented from only two of the three pilgrimages. On the Fatima Pilgrimage the characteristic lodgings don’t fit with the purpose of this chapter as the pilgrims lodge in big spaces/ pavilions and not in the locals’ homes, meaning that pilgrims’ contact with locals is quite scarce (as witnessed by the author). The results will be presented with the host’s first name indicating at same time if the host lodges pilgrims from the Santiago Pilgrimage (SP) or from the Lent Pilgrimage (LP). In the SP the comments of a pilgrim (on the Internet) will be added to illustrate what could be the thought/ feeling of any pilgrim on the Portuguese Santiago Road; none was found for LP. In this part of the study four items will be taken into consideration: facilities offered, payment, personal feelings and taking part or not in the pilgrimage.

Facilities offered For this item the author’s concern was to know what kind of facilities the hosts are able to offer the pilgrims and how they were created. In SP most pilgrims sleep in hostels for pilgrims, which in many cases are managed by the local municipalities and, in Portugal, cost about €5/night. Some locals also offer accommodation, as the testimonies that follow will show. António (SP) has a restaurant and a coffee shop, which is mentioned in most Camino books for the warm welcome he provides. ‘I renewed an existing apartment for hosting pilgrims two/ three pilgrims which was enlarged in 2013 having up then the capacity for seven people’. A

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pilgrim’s blog highlights the quality of the lodgings for the small price charged: ‘I reached my destination at Antonio’s bar… I have to say that the excellent reputation of this small albergue is well deserved. There is one room with two bunks and another under-bed mattress for emergency use. This room has an amazing bathroom that anyone would be proud to have in their home. There is also a twin room with en-suite next door. I am made very welcome and after a wonderful shower I wander into the cafe and sample the pilgrim’s menu, soup followed by pork with potatoes and salad. Excellent!’ (Trepidatious traveller – camino blog, 2014a). Lúcio (SP) and his friends realized that many pilgrims arriving in their town were quite exhausted and needed support. Having that in mind we combined our savings and we bought an old house that we rebuilt during the weekends; many people buy a second house or a luxury car with their savings, , we bought and rebuilt a house for hosting pilgrims… The house is open all year round and has capacity for lodging up to 20 pilgrims. From July 2011 until May 2014 we have already accommodated over 3000 pilgrims from more than 50 countries. The youngest pilgrim was 10 months old and the oldest 87 years old.

Fernanda (SP) is a postwoman and with her husband’s help hosts pilgrims: ‘We receive pilgrims in our house since the year 2000; in 2010, we built a pavilion with ten beds and two bathrooms; when they are very old or sick they sleep in my house, in the room next to mine, for helping them during the night (if necessary)’. Every day when ‘I arrive from work I count how many pilgrims are going to sleep here and I start cooking for them’. In a pilgrim’s blog this situation is well demonstrated: The pilgrims at Casa Fernanda number around twenty tonight – there are Germans, Belgians, a Slovakian, Americans, an Australian and possibly Swiss… We have all been treated to a wonderful dinner and more wine and port than we could possibly drink… Fernanda and her husband Jacinto have entertained us with Portuguese songs and encouraged their guests to sing some national songs. (Trepidatious traveller – camino blog, 2014b)

In 14 years, according to the same traveller, Fernanda has put up somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 pilgrims. During the

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interview she added, ‘I count ninety two different nationalities … among the eldest ones I remember an Australian pilgrim who celebrated his 85th birthday in my house; as the cake was huge he stayed four days and heard the congratulations song in ten different languages’. In LP pilgrims are only accommodated by locals. At the end of the day the community and pilgrims celebrate a mass together. After the religious celebration each local takes some pilgrims to his home – after a refreshing bath, they eat in a very joyful ambience. Pilgrims usually sleep in the master’s bedroom (the best in the house) and, in many cases, the hosts stay awake during the night reciting the pilgrims’ rosaries while they are resting. Luísa (LP) is a homemaker: I have a guest room; if I hadn’t any I would offer mine with great pleasure… I host two pilgrims from each of the four groups who spend the night in my town. Carlos (LP) is a farmer: I organize my life to host pilgrims; usually I receive from six groups and two to four brothers at a time. Estrela (LP) is a homemaker: I built a guest room with bathroom expressly to host two pilgrims per night… When the bells toll to announce that there are still pilgrims to accommodate I ask my husband to pick them up – many times I host up to eight pilgrims and all family free the rooms for them. Paulo (LP) works in public administration: I host from two to five pilgrims at each time. Apart from the guest room my daughter also frees her room for accommodating brothers.

Payment For this item the author’s concern was to know if hosts charge pilgrims for their stay and, when it happens, how much and what is included in the price. In SP only private lodgings were taken into consideration. Official hostels charge a fixed price (€5/night) though lodging is not refused to pilgrims who are not able to pay. António (SP): Although the pilgrims pay for the night (€10) I must stress that I provide them fresh linen and towels… When the first pilgrims arrive for the night I immediately ask if they mind to share the room with others getting

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always an affirmative answer because the Camino is sharing with others. Lúcio (SP): We don’t charge anything but there is a donation box by the main door… As in most sites/books it is advised to leave at least €5 for costs, this is what most pilgrims do. Fernanda (SP): I don’t charge anything (accommodation and food) but I accept donations otherwise it would be impossible to receive so many pilgrims… When I realize that pilgrims have monetary difficulties I don’t accept their money.

In SP pilgrims are always hosted for free, although they leave small gifts such as prayercards, rosaries or small religious images. Luísa (LP): Payment for receiving pilgrims is not monetary, it is the happiness one feels. Carlos (LP): The payment are the prayers the pilgrims do on the way for the ones who host brothers. Estrela (LP): The payment is the joy I feel… When pilgrims leave my house I have the impression that I have received more than what I have given. Paulo (LP): The payment is the rosary pilgrims recite for the ones who host brothers and the prayer-card they always leave.

Personal feelings For both SP and LP, in this item the author’s concern was to collect personal impressions concerning different feelings about hosting pilgrims. António (SP): For years our family has been closing the restaurant and the bar in August for staff holidays – since I started receiving pilgrims when I was away I was always thinking that pilgrims needing rest and comfort would find the door closed… In the middle of my holidays I came back to open the bar for them… that year I close the restaurant in August (for staff holidays) but I keep the bar open for the pilgrims and alone I take care of everything. Lúcio (SP): I’m constantly concerned about showing pilgrims that they are welcomed … in this part I’m accompanied and helped by the neighbours, namely by the son of the coffee shop owner next door who speaks English, a neighbour who speaks French and another who speaks German.

Fábio and Hélder (SP), who were doing an internship in an official pilgrims’ hostel: We are enjoying so much this training/experience that we have already asked in our school to be placed here again next year … to hear about pilgrims’ feelings on the Camino is exciting and a life lesson. Fernanda (SP): Fourteen years ago a pilgrim who was exhausted walked by my house and asked me if I could shelter her … I enjoyed so much the experience that from that day on I never stopped welcoming pilgrims… I give with my heart and God gives me back with His hand. Luísa (LP): One year I didn’t receive pilgrims when I could have done it and I felt remorse for a long time… To host pilgrims is happiness, joy and a solidarity obligation and also a way of thanking the ones who host my sons when they are on pilgrimage. Carlos (LP): Any time I host pilgrims in my house I feel a kind of lightness and the feeling of having accomplished a good deed… People do it for several reasons: for fulfilling promises; for solidarity purposes; for having husbands and sons who also go on pilgrimage; only for the joy/happiness one gets for accommodating brothers/pilgrims. Estrela (LP): One year, the arrival of the pilgrims coincided with my birthday; I cancelled the birthday dinner (with my family and friends) to receive them … it was my best birthday ever… Another year I was in the hospital but before leaving home I made sure that others would take/replace my duty in hosting the pilgrims. Paulo (LP): While I’m preparing the house for welcoming pilgrims a great joy invades me… During their stay I feel transcendence and happiness… When they leave I miss them and I become anxious for receiving the next ones.

Taking part or not in the pilgrimage For both SP and LP, the following question was asked: Do locals join the pilgrimage by hosting the pilgrims? The following interviewees’ quotations suggest that in fact they all do. António (SP): Pilgrims walk their Camino and the contact with them allows me to make an introspective walk… At the end of each contact/ experience there is a mutual feeling – pilgrims take a little bit of me and I stay with a little bit of each of them.

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Lúcio (SP): Hosting and contacting with pilgrims almost every day makes me feel that I’m constantly on the pilgrimage… Apart from that I’ve been keeping conversations with pilgrims which enrich me in the humanitarian and ecumenical point of view. Carlos (SP) is the manager of an official pilgrims’ hostel: I did the Camino to know/ feel what the real pilgrims’ needs are… Upon receiving them, I’m on the Camino every day. Fernanda (SP): No doubt that I am taking part in the pilgrimage… In fact I already know all the world’s Caminos although I never walked any, not even the one of Santiago. Luísa (LP): I am taking part in the pilgrimage when I host them and pray with them. Carlos (LP): The pilgrimage is not just walking; it comprises many other aspects like receiving pilgrims, praying or being supportive … the ones who host pilgrims in their houses feel that they are taking part in the pilgrimage. Estrela (LP): Apart from being completely aware that I’m taking part in the pilgrimage by hosting pilgrims I also write them messages to give them strength. Paulo (LP): The day(s) people receive brothers they are taking part in the pilgrimage and share the joy the pilgrimage motivates.

Summary Many studies analyse pilgrimages focusing either on their characteristics or their effects in different areas, for example, sociological, economical, anthropological or geographical. In the religious tourism field they are becoming quite important tourism products in regions that are not yet much touched by tourism development – it must also be underlined that pilgrimages are a way of encouraging sustainable tourism. For the three pilgrimages (Fatima, Santiago and Lent Pilgrimages) in which the author took part, the traditions and time differentiated each of them. Mainly relevant to the research presented

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are the issues related to pilgrims’ overnight stay – the experience of hospitality had a strong effect on the characteristics of each pilgrimage. To find a place for sleeping is crucial for pilgrims to recover energy and strength for the following day, but it becomes even more invigorating when hosts become part of the pilgrimage experience. Although this has not much studied, here it was shown that this part of the pilgrimage might be among the pilgrims’ best and deepest memories. On the hosts’ side solidarity is not the only purpose for hosting because they all agree that receiving pilgrims brings them new inner life horizons. Without going out of their homes they contradict in a way Saint Augustine (354–430): ‘the World is a book, who stays at home just reads one page’; hosting pilgrims and talking with them allows people (like those interviewed) to read other book pages. On the other side, going on a foot pilgrimage means to read many pages allowing pilgrims to enlarge their knowledge about nature, human relationships and mainly about themselves. In all senses the interaction between pilgrims and locals enriches the human experience of pilgrimaging as is widely described in pilgrims’ narratives, which are (each time more) diffused by various means of communication, such as books or social media sites. Probably the growing success of pilgrimages (even among the non-practising) is due to the good interrelations of the many elements involved in the process. In fact, the greater the number of actors participating, the more alive a pilgrimage becomes. Among those actors the hosts play a relevant role not only in the logistics of accommodation but also in the spirit of the pilgrimage as a whole, suggesting that pilgrimage is not only done by those who walk. The direct observation and the interviews undertaken directly suggest that pilgrims’ hosts live the pilgrimage without walking the road and each one of them feels that they are taking part in the pilgrimage.

References Ambrósio, V. (2011) Religious tourism and the Lent pilgrimages in São Miguel, Azores. International Journal of Business and Globalisation 7(1), 14–28. DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2011.040843.

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Becker, H.S. (1958) Problems of inference and proof in participant observation. American Sociological Review 23(6), 652–660. DOI: 10.2307/2089053. Coutinho, A., Machado, L. and Machado, P. (2006) A Irmandade dos Romeiros. Lucerna, Estoril, Portugal. Rosa, J. (2005) A Credibilidade da Fé – Fenomenologia da Existência Crente. In: Universidade Católica Portuguesa – Faculdade de Teologia (ed.) A Transmissão do Património Cultural e Religioso. Paulinas, Prior Velho, Potugal, pp. 7–30. Trepidatious traveller – camino blog (2014a) Camino Portuguese – Day 20, Vilarinho to Pedra Furada 23.5km. Available at: http://​magwood.​me/​2014/​05/​21/​day-​20-​vilarinho-​to-​pedra-​furada-​23-​5-​km (accessed 12 August 2016). Trepidatious traveller – camino blog (2014b) Camino Portuguese – Day 21, Pedra Furada to Lugar do Corgo 33.8km. Available at: http://​magwood.​me/​2014/​05/​21/​day-​20-​vilarinho-​to-​pedra-​furada-​23-​ 5-​km (accessed 12 August 2016).

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The Diachrony of Landscapes: A Way of Sightseeing

Blanca Garí* and David Carrillo-Rangel University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Introduction: Citizen Science and Public Engagement as Tools for Scholarly Research There are various methods with which to communicate the research that is done at universities to the general public. Traditionally, this has been done through public engagement activities, in which the knowledge acquired by the academic was transmitted to ‘lay’ people in the form of talks, exhibitions, popular articles in magazines and the like. An alternative name for these activities is ‘knowledge transfer’, even if the word ‘transfer’ here is not used properly, the term ‘transmission’ being the most accurate. Both words have a Latin origin and share the same prefix ‘trans’ meaning ‘across or between’, setting a point A and a point B. Let us say that, in this particular case, A is the academic community and B is the general public. The verbs that accompany the prefix differ substantially. ‘Transfer’ is composed of trans and ferre, this verb meaning ‘to bear’ or ‘to carry’. ‘Transmit’ is formed by trans and mittere, whose meaning is ‘to send’. To ‘transfer’ and ‘transmit’ knowledge therefore both imply some sort of transportation, but, in the case of transmission, this transportation of knowledge only applies to A (the academic community), who sends information regardless of this information being received by

B (the general public). ‘Transfer’, on the other hand, implies that whatever is transported from A to B is a closed process in which the transport is completed, and this means whatever A is sending is received and apprehended by B. Hence, when scientists undertake the task of ‘knowledge transfer’ or public engagement as understood in the traditional way, their task is closer to transmitting something. There is no attestation of whether whatever is being expressed is understood and apprehended by the lay audience for which the message is intended. There has been an increasing need to give some meaning to these kinds of research transmission activities, and to make them more participative, integrating the general audience into the research itself rather than it being a passive audience of its results, and to explain all the complexities of the task at hand rather than simplifying the research for them, thus making the lay audience an active part of the process. This is the general guideline behind what is called citizen science, in which citizens take on different roles in a given piece of research, being informed of the characteristics of the work they are doing, and getting first-hand knowledge of the scientific process, its aims and its outcomes. The different ways in which citizens can take part in citizen science projects are many, for example data collection, pooling of resources, grass roots activities or participatory

*Corresponding author: ​gari@​ub.​edu © CAB International 2019. Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue: Interpreting Sacred Stories (eds D. Vidal-Casellas et al.)

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experiments, among others. But this is by no means a definitive list, and the proper definition of citizen science and what qualifies as a project of citizen science is still a topic of discussion.1 For the sake of clarity, here we will define citizen science as any research or part of a research project that involves the participation of the general public in any of the aspects related to the research itself. In other words, any activity of public engagement in which the public takes an active role, rather than passive, in the scientific process. Public engagement activities, likewise, should be understood and planned with the aim of increasing the involvement of the audiences to which they are addressed. This does not mean that participants need to contribute to the research as in a citizen science project, but at least researchers should be able to convey the aims and goals of their work in a participative manner. From the perspective of the humanities, there are various possibilities to execute participatory public engagement projects, as well as citizen science projects.2 These projects should find a way to collaborate with the initiatives and cultural activities in which the humanities play an important role. The project Spiritual Landscapes aims to establish these links through activities linked to tourism in general (religious tourism in particular), with the aim of facilitating a dialogue with the general public concerning the past and present that is fruitful in terms of increasing an awareness of heritage and the importance of its preservation.

The Research Project Spiritual Landscapes Spiritual Landscapes is a research project that studies the spaces of spirituality in the Middle Ages (University of Barcelona, 2016). It was born as the product of an long-time concern: for a long period of time, a group of researchers from the University of Barcelona were worried about the lack of awareness of the monastic existence in general, and specifically about female monasticism. We wanted then to take part in research that integrated long-term trends that were proving successful at an international level. Nowadays, this field of studies – that of

medieval spirituality and medieval monasticism – has grown due to the increasing interest of both researchers and the general public in the field. In this way the project Clausta-Altas of Female Spirituality in the Middle Ages was born (University of Barcelona, 2011). This project aimed to locate spaces of female spirituality in the Iberian Peninsula in order to be able to ask relevant questions about their location, their relation to towns and the patterns the settlements could follow, among others. From this premise, we adopted the use of the term ‘spiritual landscape’ to approach the study of female and masculine spirituality in a comparative perspective. For some years now, we have deployed all the possibilities of the concept ‘spiritual landscape’ and, at the same time, have linked it with the most recent research about space, from a geographical, social and mental perspective. In our research project, Spiritual Landscapes, the focus is placed on the reality of the spaces of medieval spirituality at various levels. This way, different models of landscape, corresponding to our four research lines, are visualized: 1. Monastic landscapes pursues an analytical approach to the territory in which monasteries are located. It is based on the previous work undertaken by the Atlas-Claustra project and complements it with the addition of masculine spaces in specific territories to be able to undertake comparative studies. 2. The nunnery and its environment researches the topography of the monastic heritage from an archaeological and documentary perspective. In this research line, case studies of singular monasteries are included, reconstructing their surroundings using geographic information system (GIS) technology; it also includes specific archaeological activities such as the excavation of the nunnery of the order of Saint John at Alguaire. 3. Inside the nunnery traces a cartography of the monastic life through the sacristy inventories of a convent and other similar approaches that allow us to recreate the everyday life of the cloister as well as the function and location of its objects. 4. Networks of reform and dissent is research on networks of reform, solidarity and dissent through the application of adapted

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methodologies originating from models of the mathematical analysis of networks and social networks. This methodology is applied to specific communities of interpretation like the beguines and beghards of Languedoc or the Poor Clares convents during the reform of the order in Castile. Spiritual Landscapes wants to be something else as well as a research platform. It also wants to be a space of dialogue and knowledge about the conceptions of our past, a past that is common to all of us and has sometimes been badly interpreted, creating stereotypes that restrict its real meaning and importance. This is the main reason why, along with the spaces of proper historical research, Spiritual Landscapes proposes educational as well as participatory experiences and other public engagement and citizen science components, emphasizing our belief in the dialogue and interaction of the university with the general public. It is in this dialogue form, assuming that the present is weaved in to the perceptions of the past, that a series of public engagement and citizen science activities were set up not only to transmit knowledge, but to make the general public part of our research, to make them step into the researchers’ shoes, and to contribute to our project in those aspects related to memory and spaces.

Spiritual Landscapes as a Public Participation Project Spiritual Landscapes wants to promote educational experiences through different formats aimed at different audiences. On the one hand, the project promotes the participation of undergraduate and graduate students in outreach activities like the creation of a virtual exhibition, and, on the other hand, it opens a dialogue with the general public through online open courses, like a massive open online course (MOOC) about female spirituality, through face-to-face specialized courses or other exchange-type experiences like participation in the Grand Tour. Spiritual Landscapes also seeks to generate participatory spaces for exchange and debate in order to foster social interaction: a blog with detailed information about the topics covered by the project,

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social networks used both to promote the activities organized by the research project and also to explain concepts and ideas briefly, and citizen science projects such as a picture-taking activity posted on social media. Out of all of these activities, we would like to elaborate on those that are specifically linked to religious heritage and public participation. The first project is public engagement participation in the Grand Tour of Nau Côclea. The second is a citizen science project in which students take pictures enacting reflections about conceptions of the past and the importance of bringing forward its real meaning. This project began as a picture gallery and evolved in to a series of posts on social media. See Resources section for further information and weblinks.

Walking with the Grand Tour of the Nau Côclea The Grand Tour is an art project of the Contemporary Art Centre Nau Côclea in Camallera, Catalunya, Spain. The ‘Tour’ is a walking route of about 250 km, along which participants travel with all kind of artists. It takes place during three consecutive weeks every year, towards the end of the summer. Every day, a leg of between 15 and 23 km is completed. There are paths both mundane and mountainous, urban and rural. Some of them reach sanctuaries, hermitages, monasteries, shelters, lime kilns or fortresses. The Grand Tour is a project for all types of audiences – families with children, solo travellers, old and young, experienced walkers and beginners. At the same time, it forms an invitation for those who appreciate the art of walking, understood as something else than simply going from one place to another on foot. What happens on the road? The Grand Tour takes place on the land, focusing specifically on the nature of the place and on the creative wealth of its people. Every day during the planned journey for the day, in the different stops or destinations, an encounter between the walkers and the artist or group of artists takes place. In most cases, these are linked with the location, since they dwell and/or create in it. The artists offer and propose an event to the walkers and to the audience attending the event, who listen to,

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read, observe or interact with the performances that the artists propose: poetry, dance, installations, performance or interaction with the landscape. The participants in the Grand Tour know, or learn and experience, that walking is travelling and touring a space. They know, or they learn and experience, that walking is a form of permanent and silent dialogue with the landscape and with those who go through it with them. One step follows another, one participant looks at another, one thought follows another, without hindrance. And they feel, day after day, how a shared fabric of complicity with the other participants, the road and the landscape is woven. It is the travelling, through time and space, that builds the landscape around the walker, asking questions, displaying inquisitiveness, bringing down interior and exterior boundaries, personal, collective or shared. Walking then becomes a spiritual relationship with the present and the past of the landscape that is being walked through. There is a logic behind all this. This logic transforms walking, the experience of those who lead the walk and of those who share the way, into a spiritual journey and a work of art. The art of walking transforms the road, beyond tradition and belief, into a liminal space. It is kind of a journey of initiation, an exterior pilgrimage that changes and affects the interior self of the person. It is not without a reason that in all cultures and religions pilgrimage is a common practice. It consists of a singular experience of observation. It is an exceptional way of being and looking at the world, regardless of the religion or beliefs of those who walk. This journey is taken often in communion with others, and even if there is no previous community, it becomes a temporal and changing one. The participants move forward and share the experience with it. The act of walking establishes links with the route. It becomes a source for a dialogue with the art and culture of the others, with the natural, monumental and historical landscape of the specific places the route covers. In 2017 the Grand Tour established a route between the Sanctuary of Nuria, in the Pyrenees, and the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat, in the heart of Catalonia. The participants of these routes have been able to establish contact with spaces, monuments and people that constitute key elements of the historic and

religious landscape of Catalonia, past and present: a tangible and intangible heritage shared between the organizers, the artist and the inhabitants of the territories. This heritage has been partaken in and unravelled by all of them. The research project Spiritual Landscapes has been present and involved in the experience of the Grand Tour. We have taken part in the Tour in specific locations to share our historical knowledge with communities, artists and participants. Our aim was to show the participants a diachronic view of the contemplated landscape, making the past present.

The Diachrony of the Landscapes: Actions of the Members of the Project on the Route of the Grand Tour There were two events organized by the project Spiritual Landscapes for the Grand Tour and they took place on two specific occasions and locations of the route: the first event took place on 26–27 August in the sanctuary of El Miracle and its surroundings; the second event took place on 1 September in the convent of Santa Clara of Manresa. These events were different regarding their orientation and aims. The first, El Miracle, was a double performance linked to the creation of ‘sound landscapes’. The action stressed experimentation with music from the past in dialogue with spaces from the present. In the second at the convent of Santa Clara of Manresa, the associations of the place and information about it were presented to the participants, presenting a diachronic itinerary of a spiritual space that has deeply marked its dwellers during its existence. The aim of this was to lead the gaze of the participants from the medieval past to the present that they were contemplating.

Days 26 and 27: Sanctuary of El Miracle, stages 10 and 11 The Spiritual Landscapes actions for the Grand Tour for days 26 and 27 consisted of inviting the participants to experiment with the sound and

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music of the past in different locations loaded with spiritual meaning by recreating these sound landscapes themselves. The proposal was planned and performed by Laura de Castellet, a member of the Spiritual Landscapes project who is working on a PhD thesis about archeomusicology and the restoration of ‘medieval sound landscapes’. Laura de Castellet is also an artist, performer and inhabitant of the territory where El Miracle is located (Castellet, 2014). The sanctuary of El Miracle is a religious centre, medieval in origin, that has been built up throughout the centuries from a small chapel founded in 1458. Bigger buildings have been added successively, like the church (rebuilt on various occasions), the shelter for pilgrims, the House of Spirituality and finally the monastery, occupied since 1901 by Benedictine monks from Montserrat. The Grand Tour participants arrived at El Miracle on the evening of 26 August. They were welcomed at the entrance to the sanctuary and a liturgical chant was presented to them. This chant was performed in an open space charged with the spiritual force of the old miracle that gave rise to the sanctuary. The natural space

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in El Miracle is a key element, since it is part of the spiritual and symbolic power of the place, as Laura de Castellet explained. The foundational myth of the sanctuary begins with a tree. The myth tells the story of the virgin appearing in a raft to some children, and then disappearing in front of a holm oak, which is the focus of the story. The interpretation of the miracle as the act of disappearance in front of the tree links, in a way, the history of livestock, agriculture and forestry of the area to the place. Highlighting the importance of nature, an auditory first event, consisting of singing in the open space, was interpreted. This took place in front of the tree and the first chapel. Then, the group moved to another sacred space, the foundations of the still-standing church, which were unfinished in its day and are now presented as ruins, even if it is in fact a consecrated church. There is a special silence there and, a special sound can be expressed that transmits the perception of this space as sacred. It was in this spot that the participants were invited to become the main characters of an experiment to restore the medieval sound landscape (Fig.  15.1). The participants formed

Fig. 15.1.  Participants in the Grand Tour form an axis to experiment with sound landscapes in one of the actions of research project Spiritual Landscapes. (Photo: Blanca Garí.)

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an apse with their bodies, and in the interior of the apse the performer sung a piece dated to the 12th century. They accompanied the vocals with a continuous bass sound. Lastly, the actions of the group presented the sound in the interior of the church, in different locations, sometimes in more open spaces, sometimes in more intimate, like the interior of the altarpiece. Laura de Castellet performed music that was never intended to be used there, but that conveyed well the idea of the power of sacralization of sound in a given space. The researcher and artist aimed to show the symbolic power of medieval music and reflected on the concept of viriditas, as understood by Hildegard of Bingen. This means the essence that makes everything grow, linking this with the tree of the disappearance that justified the foundation of the sanctuary of El Miracle. The second part of this first event took place on 27 September, at sunrise. In the surroundings of the sanctuary there is an area of funerary cult. It has been used and reused for more than 1000 years and menhirs, steles, one dolmen and a medieval graveyard can be found there. The medieval music performed there aimed at questioning the participants about the link between sound and the sacredness of the landscape, and about the use and reuse of a specific location. It was not about reconstructing a real sound landscape, but rather about emphasizing how music and sound can define a landscape. In summary, the Spiritual Landscapes events in stages 10 and 11 of the Grand Tour fundamentally consisted of inviting the participants to experiment with sound, to restore it and to apprehend the sound of the past in various spaces that bear spiritual meaning. Obviously, there is a diachronic and complex path in this experiment in conversation with different moments and spaces of the past and the present, used to question the attendees and to guide them to listen to the echoes of the past in every corner, in every stone. In this way, we tried to make them rethink the ways of creating spiritual landscapes by integrating sound and its diverse functions in history. In other words, we aimed to show how sound and music build landscape and define spaces. The following day in the House of Spirituality at El Miracle the project engaged in different conversations about the experience with the participants. Blanca Garí explained the meaning of the experience to the participants

from the perspective of the project Spiritual Landscapes. The participants also expressed their views about the experience, as well as their perception of the event. In the majority of cases, the attendees highlighted that they had been impressed with the transformational impact of sacred music in the landscape and that the experiment allowed them to imagine the spaces they visited and their function in the past in a very different way.

Monastery of Santa Clara of Manresa, 31 August, stage 15 of the Grand Tour The Grand Tour had the city of Manresa as the end point of one of its stages, where the participants arrived towards the late afternoon on day 31. They came from Forn de la Calç in Calders. Once they reached the city, they were led to the monastery of Santa Clara. This monastery, founded in 1322, was inhabited by Poor Clares nuns during the Middle Ages and since the 16th century up until now, by Dominican nuns. Araceli Rosillo was the member of the project Spiritual Landscapes in charge of this event. She is a researcher specializing in Franciscans and Poor Clares and their monasticism, and devoted her dissertation to the study of this monastery in its medieval period (Rosillo, 2013, 2014, 2016). She welcomed the participants at the gates of the building. Following this, they were led to the entrance of the monastery, where the turnstile is. They were invited to perceive this space as a hinge of communication between the inside and the outside of monastic life and were told to be aware that they were about to enter an enclosed space. They knocked on the door and they were welcomed by the community: sor Juanamari, prioress, sor Pilar, sor Lucia, among others. They were invited to enter into the second entrance hall, which connects the choir, the cloister and the Gothic room. The meaning of this multipurpose room was explained: it connects the most significant places of the community not as a place of passage, but as one of contact between the different activities of the nuns. After this explanation, an action of exchange took place: the participants responded to the welcome and hospitality of the community by leaving part of their food for the road on tables (Fig. 15.2). This

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Fig. 15.2.  Table with food at the entrance of the Monastery of Santa Clara in Manresa, as part of one of the actions that took place in the Grand Tour of Nau Côclea. (Photo: Blanca Garí.)

food would be shared among everyone after the afternoon meal. At the same time, the participants were invited to express their impressions of the place, from the entrance to the Gothic room, by taking pictures, writing and drawing. Once everyone gathered in the Gothic room, Araceli Rosillo and sor Lucia Caram explained the history of the monastery since its foundation to the present using an altarpiece specially created for the occasion by Araceli Rosillo and Francesc Montserrat Sanahuja. By adapting this format, the performer built an object rooted in tradition and a present for the community. In using this altarpiece and explanation, the event aimed to convey knowledge originating from the archival and historical research linked to spiritual landscapes using narrative language. The explanation focused on the imprint of the space and the symbiosis between the space and the community inhabiting it. In this way, the event highlighted the contemplative life of the community, the social care activities and the social projects from the past and the present as manifestation of a spirituality that has survived since the Middle Ages in this female space. The

community is aware of this continuity with the past, and links the will of the monastery to undertake social care with the contemplative prayer of the nuns. In all likelihood, a medieval leprosarium bordered the Gothic room preceding the foundation of the monastery. The similitude of this with the actual projects of the community focusing on social activism does not seem accidental, such as a day centre for mental health patients in the modern space of the monastic building, and a centre to take care of children at risk of social exclusion, newly founded and located in the old space devoted to the novitiate. After this talk, the group shared the food previously left on the table with the community, as well as refreshments and warm drinks offered by the community. In this way, both participants and community shared an enriching space of communication and exchange. During and after the event, we asked the participants about the experience, specifically about the synchronic and diachronic perception of the monastery. They admitted that they now perceived the space in a very different way after the event and talk with the nuns. What

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especially made an impression on them was not only getting to know an enclosed space and listening to the history of community by Araceli, but also hearing from the nuns themselves. The participants gained an awareness of the meaning of a contemplative life, one devoted to others and profoundly defined by the space the nuns inhabit and the echoes of the past projected in the present.

Taking Pictures, Capturing the Past: A Citizen Science Project The second project that involves the public participation in research was born as part of the strategy to be followed for the social media activity of Spiritual Landscapes. Designed by David Carrillo-Rangel, this strategy consisted of opening various profiles on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. A key element of social media is the content that is published by the profiles on a daily basis. It needs to build an audience by offering this audience something other than information about the activities planned by the project (e.g. seminars or regular courses). The strategy outlined three kinds of content to be published: information about those activities (seminars, courses), posts briefly explaining aspects of the project and posts in which interaction with the audience was going to be the key. Using social media as a source for a citizen science project is an idea often defined as digital humanities. As part of this citizen science project we asked users to send us their pictures of spiritual landscapes, and afterwards these would be published on the different social media profiles as well as on the website (see Resources for gallery link). A group of students of one of the researchers of Spiritual Landscapes, Silvia Pérez González, based in Andalucía, started to take these at her request. As the pictures started to arrive, we noticed that they were of buildings of historical interest sometimes framed by the city, with no indication of their importance. They were not the typical images of a holiday trip. Those buildings were photographed only because of our interest in them from the perspective of the project. We asked the students to write a brief statement about the experience: What did they feel when taking them? Could they grasp traces

of their function in the past? Were these building preserved adequately? As the texts started to arrive, we realized that the mere act of going out to seek these building and taking pictures of them had had an effect on the students and the way that they perceived the present situation of these monasteries and churches in connection with the past of their cities. The texts were subsequently posted on Facebook and promoted through the different channels, in some cases covered by conventional media, like regional newspapers (Córdoba, 2017). The students had gained insight into the history of the buildings and with those results they were propagating it to the rest of the citizens. Both pictures and text are incorporated into the research showing the location of some of the monasteries, in some cases no longer standing, and offering us an invaluable survey of their present states and value as (sometimes neglected) heritage. The places covered by the students were Palma del Rio, Écija, Carmona, Andújar, Jaén, Úbeda, Sevilla, Córdoba, Baeza and Utrera. In general, all of them commented on the fact that taking these pictures helped them to understand better the relationship between the buildings and their locations, and to gain awareness of their importance in the context of the history of the towns where they are or were located. Some had problems finding the actual location of the building, a sign of how sometimes the artistic meaning of heritage is valued more than its historical significance. In the following, we would like to highlight some of the most interesting comments. Fernando Granado Bermudo explained, concerning the convents and monasteries in Écija, that in the beginning it felt like taking pictures of any other building, due to the fact that he walks past these every day and had not thought too much about them. However, when he stopped to think about the pictures he realized the importance of these buildings, and lamented the state of abandonment of some of them located in the city centre. Andrés Jose Castañeda Maza reflected on the value of the hermitage of Santa Maria de Gracia, according to its liturgical use at specific times on the year, comparing it to the chapel of San Francisco near the old convent of Saint Sebastian, still in use, being a busy place all year. The pictures also helped Andrés to realize the

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state of abandonment of the church of Santa Ana, which he attributed to the inability to find a proper use for the building in connection to the everyday life of the citizens, a point made by other students as well, and which highlights the importance of the use and reuse of these spaces to give them symbolic and spiritual value (Spiritual Landscapes, 2017a). Daniel Noguera Gil, talking about Sevilla, observed that many of the more neglected buildings are in private hands, obstructing the opportunity to value these places as heritage by not preserving them properly (Spiritual Landscapes, 2017b). He and other students point out that, by comparison, some of these buildings that have found a new use are in an excellent state of repair, like the monastery of Santa Maria de la Merced, now a museum of fine art (Fig. 15.3). Perhaps the most shocking experience came from Utrera. Domingo Manuel Nieto Vaquero, when taking pictures of the chapel of San Francisco, reflected on the location of the building in relation to its use and heritage value, noticing how the original convent has been replaced by new structures that have nothing to do with its original meaning. He could access the chapel and discovered the building is in a very sad state, where ‘layers of cats were playing with liturgical objects like rosaries or crosses’. (Spiritual Landscapes, 2017c). Objects of artistic value, he was told, had been moved

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to another location, but for a wooden altarpiece from the time of the construction of the chapel, which was still standing and was resisting the passage of time and the attacks of animals. His text not only abounds in the effect that moving original art work from its original location to a new one can have in a building, but also emphasizes the neglect in which the evaluation of these objects is made.

Conclusion To learn to see the landscape in a diachronic way is not only a tool for research, but can also be used at the same time as a means of assessing heritage based on its connection to the present; realizing things as important, such as the location of specific spaces in relation to the cities, or to gain a better understanding of the past, breaking stereotypes and myths. We have outlined the public participation activities that form part of the project Spiritual Landscapes as activities that aim to involve the public in the research the project is undertaking, so they gain awareness at the same time of the importance of researching the past and the perception of the landscape in the present, and to learn how important it is to know the past in

Fig. 15.3.  Monastery of Santa Maria de la Merced in Sevilla, currently the Museum of Fine Arts. (Photo: Daniel Noguera Gil.)

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the evaluation of heritage (or in some sad cases, to ignore it). In the Grand Tour events, we planned different activities to bring forward concepts of research unknown for a general audience, like the sound landscape, or how the sound defines and defined a given space. Sometimes it is the space that defines the activities that take place in a location, in a line of continuity that needs to be taken into account. At both events, the present was the first step to understanding the past, by experimenting, visiting, listening and exchanging. Sometimes the construction of the past as a far-away space obstructs the establishment of links with it via simply experiencing it. When requesting pictures of buildings or spiritual landscapes, we were not expecting that the simple fact of taking a picture, noticing the problems of how ‘ugly’ the picture was, or how ‘difficult’ it would be to get a good view because the location of the building, would start a series of reflections and thoughts about

heritage and the importance of the use of the spaces as a way of keeping them alive. As a result of both experiences, we have discovered that our task as historians is not a solitary one, and we have discovered that there is an audience who wants to listen to us, but that the messages need to be two-way: we also need to learn from this audience in order to explain better the value of our work and the objectives of our work. We believe that most of the activities planned as public participation in our research project can be incorporated into religious tourism experiences and benefit these experiences, by, for example, seeking collaboration between the organizers of these journeys and the universities researching different aspects of the places to be visited. We have focused here on the historical aspect, but a collaboration with art historians, archaeologists and other fields of expertise in the humanities can help us to understand the multiple meanings of a religious space across time.

Notes See Irwin (1995), Bonney (1996), and the different guidelines published by different institutions like the European Commission, such as White Paper (2015), among others. 2 We use the term ‘citizen science’ whether the project belongs to the natural sciences, the social sciences or the humanities, on the understanding that all fields of expertise are science. 1

Resources Spiritual Landscapes project website links Courses on ‘spiritual landscapes’ and monastic spaces in the Middle Ages: www.​ub.​edu/​proyectopaisajes/​index.​php/​experiences/​courses Landscapes, Models of spatial analysis of the transformation of women’s medieval religiosity in the Iberian kingdoms (12th–16th c.): www.​ub.​edu/​proyectopaisajes/​index.​php Virtual exhibition ‘Landscapes of monastic spirituality. Spaces and practices (12th-16th c.)’: http://www.​ ub.​edu/​proyectopaisajes/​index.​php/​experiences/​virtual-​exhibition Landscapes Blog: www.​ub.​edu/​proyectopaisajes/​index.​php/​es/​espacios/​blog Landscapes Gallery: www.​ub.​edu/​proyectopaisajes/​index.​php/​spaces/​gallery MOOC: A voice of their own: Women’s spirituality in the Middle Ages: www.​ub.​edu/​proyectopaisajes/​ index.​php/​experiences/​mooc-​en Spiritual Landscapes in the social networks: http://www.​ub.​edu/​proyectopaisajes/​index.​php/​spaces/​ social-​networks Spiritual Landscapes Facebook page: https://www.​facebook.​com/​pg/​landscapesUB/​notes/

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Spiritual Landscapes Facebook page posts Coventos de Carmona, Sevilla: https://www.​facebook.​com/​notes/​spiritual-​landscapes/​conventos-​de-​ carmona-​sevilla/​1048046708629542/ Conventos de Utrera: https://www.​facebook.​com/​notes/​spiritual-​landscapes/​conventos-​de-​utrera/​ 1010913435676203/ Écija - Conventos y Monasterios: https://www.​facebook.​com/​notes/​spiritual-​landscapes/écijaconventos-y-monasterios/1048032648630948/ ¡Patrimonios que nos hacen vivir el pasado en el presente! Iglesías y Monasterios de Sevilla: https:// www.​facebook.​com/​notes/​spiritual-​landscapes/​patrimonios-​que-​nos-​hacen-​vivir-​el-​pasado-​en-​el-​ presente-​igles%​C3%​ADas-​y-​monasterios-/​1034695376631342/

Further links CLAUSTRA, a project by the Institute for Research on Medieval Cultures, University of Barcelona: www.​ ub.​edu/​claustra Grand Tour: http://www.​elgrandtour.​net

References Bonney, R. (1996) Citizen science. A lab tradition. Living Bird Autumn, 7. Castellet, Lde. (2014) The sound space: thought, music and lithurgy. In: Barrera, N. (ed.) Spaces of Knowledge; Four Dimensions of Medieval Thought. Cambridge Scholars Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 35–48. Córdoba (2017) El ‘Proyecto Paisajes’ de la UB estudia las iglesias y conventos de Córdoba. Available at: www.​diariocordoba.​com/​noticias/​cultura/​proyecto-​paisajes-​ub-​estudia-​iglesias-​conventos-​cordoba_​1142212.​html (accessed 10 August 2017). Irwin, A. (1995) Citizen Science. Psychology Press, Abingdon, UK. Rosillo, A. (2013) Habeant ecclesiam Sanctorum Blasy et Latzari edifficatam iuxta dictum eorum monasterium Sancte Clare: evidences and hypotheses on the foundation of Santa Clara of Manresa. In: Garí, B. (ed.) Women Networks of Spiritual Promotion in the Peninsular Kingdoms. Viella-IRCVM, Rome, pp. 167–183. Rosillo, A. (2014) Los conventos de clarisas del Obispado de VIC: Manresa, Tárrega, Cervera y VIC (siglos XIV–XVI). In: Peláez del Rosal, M. (ed.) Las Clarisas, Ocho Siglos de Vida Religiosa y Cultural. Asociación Hispánica de Estudios Franciscanos, Priego de Córdoba, Spain, pp. 567–579. Rosillo, A. (2016) El monasterio de Santa Clara de Manresa (siglos XIV–XVII). LAS clarisas en la Cataluña central. PhD thesis. Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. Spiritual Landscapes (2017a) Conventos de Carmona, Sevilla. Available at: https://www.​facebook.​ com/​notes/​spiritual-​landscapes/​conventos-​de-​carmona-​sevilla/​1048046708629542/ (accessed 6 September 2017b). Spiritual Landscapes (2017b) ¡Patrimonios que nos hacen vivir el pasado en el presente! Iglesías y Monasterios de Sevilla. Available at: https://www.​facebook.​com/​notes/​spiritual-​landscapes/​ patrimonios-​que-​nos-​hacen-​vivir-​el-​pasado-​en-​el-​presente-​igles%​C3%​ADas-​y-​monasterios-/​ 1034695376631342 (accessed 6 September 2017). Spiritual Landscapes (2017c) Conventos de Utrera. Available at: https://www.​facebook.​com/​notes/​spiritual-​landscapes/​conventos-​de-​utrera/​1010913435676203/ (accessed 6 September 2017). University of Barcelona (2011) Claustra. Available at: www.​ub.​edu/​claustra (accessed 25 January 2019). University of Barcelona (2016) Spiritual landscapes. Available at: www.​ub.​edu/​proyectopaisajes (accessed 5 September 2017). White Paper (2015) White paper on citizen science for Europe. Socientize and European Commission. Available at: www.​socientize.​eu/​sites/​default/​files/​white-​paper_​0.​pdf (accessed 10 December 2018).

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1

Future for Religious Heritage and the Benefits of European Cooperation

Thomas Coomans1* and Lilian Grootswagers2 University of Leuven, Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation, Leuven, Belgium; 2Future for Religious Heritage, Brussels, Belgium

Introduction Europe counts more than 600,000 places of worship – churches, cathedrals, temples, mosques, synagogues, etc. – mostly with a long history, high heritage values and rich artistic content. Today, many of them are under threat: shrinking congregations, financial distress and lack of conservation of buildings and art treasures accelerate the impending loss of a substantial tangible and intangible heritage. There is a striking contrast between the professional management and promotion of religious sites that attract both faithful pilgrims and cultural tourists and the state of abandonment of closed or underused churches. How should we deal with this huge challenge to European heritage, history and identity? In 2011 the non-governmental and nonreligious organization Future for Religious Heritage (FRH) was founded with the aim of ‘promoting, encouraging and supporting the safeguard, maintenance, valorisation and use of places of worship as well as their content and history’. FRH is the only European network of charities, governmental, religious and university departments that works to protect religious heritage buildings and interiors. Growing awareness has convinced the European Union

to include religious heritage as a key heritage focus of the European Year of Cultural Heritage (together with industrial and military heritage). How could a platform like FRH play a creative coordinating role in promoting a shared cultural heritage beyond religious, juridical, political and economic considerations? This chapter builds further on previous studies (Coomans and Grootswagers, 2016), defines the issue of religious heritage in Europe, introduces FRH and the benefits of international cooperation, and touches upon best practices among its members.

The Scale of the Issue and Contrasting National Situations Why do the institutional top-down movements, both from the states and the churches, fail in managing the present issue of redundancy of religious heritage in Europe? Why does the situation differ from one country to another? In most European countries, closing, selling and reusing churches and other places of worship is an increasing reality. The society has become more secular and people turn to other forms of spirituality than what the established religious denominations offer. Service

*Corresponding author: ​thomas.​coomans@​kuleuven.​be 160

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attendance and religious vocations are declining. Moreover, the traditional sources of funding are drying up, which draws the attention of religious management to the need to protect and conserve the historic fabric. The process of redundancy is not at the same stage in every country. In England and the Netherlands, parish churches have been demolished or recycled since the late 1960s, while in Italy, Spain and Ireland the issue is recent and mostly limited to monasteries, convents and other religious houses (Morisset et al., 2006; Noppen et  al., 2015; Bartolozzi, 2017; Chavardès and Dufieux, 2019). In a few countries like Greece and Poland, the established churches still do well. The reasons for these contrasting situations are religious, social and historical. Since 2008, however, the issue has suddenly entered into acceleration as a consequence of the combination of three crises: (i) a moral crisis within the different Christian churches; (ii) an identity crisis of Western society and states; and (iii) the persisting international economic crisis. There is a lack of precise and updated statistics about the use of religious buildings, but some estimations show the tremendous scale of the issue:









In Germany, 15,000 of the 45,000 parish churches were considered redundant in 2010 (Lange, 2010; Meys and Gropp, 2010). Church taxes – currently €9.0 billion/year – are expected to reduce by 25% within 5 years. In England, according to the National Churches Trust, 3% of the Anglican churchgoers finance nearly all the maintenance of 45% of the country’s grade 1 listed churches. In France, only about 2000 parish churches belong to the church, while 40,307 parish churches belong to the state or municipalities that have to finance their maintenance. The merger of regional and local governments will reduce the budgets available for churches. In the Netherlands, 70% of churches are running deficits. Of the 1593 Catholic churches, about 1000 will be shut by 2025. The decline will occur as the church reorganizes its parishes under the pressure of ‘drastic secularization’ and dwindling



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congregations and collections (The Tablet, 2013). In Romania, ancient Catholic wooden churches are decaying, while new Orthodox ones are built nearby.

Today, the states are no more able to manage the issue of church buildings in the traditional topdown perspective, even when parish churches are public owned, because of the existing rules between church and state, the huge number of buildings, the resistance of traditional groups and lack of money. States and municipalities have other priorities than maintaining empty churches. Security, employment, education, climate and mobility are the present priorities of Western society. In recent years, several countries have questioned the established relationships between church and state, which are complex and vary from country to country (Tsivolas, 2014). Some go back to the 16th-century Reformation (England, Scandinavia) or the Concordate between Pope Pius VII and Emperor Napoleon, 1801–1802 (Belgium); others result from 19thcentury secularization movements (France, Italy, Spain, Portugal), or post-communist time (Poland, Russia, Czech Republic, Hungary, etc.). In Sweden, the state church was ‘privatized’ in 2000 and church taxes replaced by an annual government grant of €47 million, which will reduce over time and force churches to find alternative sources of finance. In Belgium, the policy on the ‘church councils’ (fabriques d’église) has been decentralized from the federal level to the regions. In other countries, such as France, questioning the issue of underused churches is still a taboo and any attempt to demolish a church unleashes passions (Fig. 16.1). Neither the secular state, nor the church want to open the Pandora’s box of the church–state relationships.

Heritage, Public Interest and Use Value Does it matter if redundant churches are protected as historical monuments or not? How can their historical and artistic values be related to their use value? In the general context of relationships between church and state, church heritage is only one aspect, but a highly emotional one when it

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Fig. 16.1.  Saint Francis-Xavier church in Anderlecht (Brussels, Belgium): despite its protection as an historical monument, the building is underused and partially abandoned. (Photo: THOC 2013.)

leads to the demolition of churches. Often, indeed, it is only when one loses someone or something that one realizes his/her/its value. This is also true with buildings, especially churches. Usually closings of redundant churches are managed from case to case as part of a dismantling scenario ratified by the bishops. The strong coherence and interrelationship between churches’ immovable and movable heritage, tangible and intangible heritage, is pulverized. When buildings are recycled and objects relocated, the intangible heritage vanishes rapidly and the place loses its sacred significance. To prevent such dismantling, governments can protect monuments and cultural relics – ‘immortalize’ or ‘canonize’ them. A protection order has important consequences: it is the basic legal tool of heritage policy and monument

conservation. In order to qualify for protection, the public (or general) interest of the relic must be proven on the basis of values described by law. Public interest overcomes private interests and is therefore required for benefiting from public care and subsidies. The evaluation methodology used by heritage consultants consists of gathering the knowledge needed to define public interest by assessing heritage values with criteria such as authenticity, integrity, rarity, etc. (Van Balen, 2008). Because of their rich significance in the public urban and rural space as well as symbolic and often ancient identifiers for local communities, churches are particularly important buildings. Their heritage value assessment requires a systematic approach (Table 16.1). Most of Europe’s churches from the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century are

Table 16.1.  Diverse and complementary heritage aspects of places of worship. Immovable tangible heritage

Architecture

Morphology, building phases, construction, building materials, style, positioning in the architect’s oeuvre, etc.

Spatial context

Urban or rural site, archaeological site (location of previous buildings), part of a building complex, etc.

Movable tangible heritage

Interior

Furniture, works of art, stained-glass windows, organ, wall paintings, bells, liturgical coherence, total work of art or result of transformations, etc.

Intangible heritage

Performances

Specific rituals, music, etc.

Devotion

Pilgrimages, local saints, etc.

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protected as historical monuments. This is not the case with 19th- and 20th-century churches because they are numerous, more recent and their heritage values more difficult to assess. There are also economic reasons for selective protection since restorations of protected buildings are subsidized by governments that cannot maintain thousands of Gothic Revival and postwar churches. The size of the issue is too large for top-down heritage conservation policies. Whether a church is protected or not does not change much in its use for worship: protected churches also become redundant! The use value of a monument is one of the heritage values defined by Aloïs Riegl. In his theoretical essay ‘The Modern Cult of Monuments: Its Character and Origin’ (Riegl, 1903), he distinguishes two main categories of values and five subcategories: the memorial values, on the one hand, consisting of the value of antiquity, the historical value and the commemorative value; the actual values, on the other hand, consisting of the art value and the use value. Riegl makes a clear distinction between the spiritual/aesthetic dimension of art and the practical dimension of use. Appropriate social use is a decisive factor in the preservation of monuments, according to article 5 of the Venice Charter (Gazzola and Lemaire, 1964). Not only churches, but other building types – industrial, military and rural buildings, for instance – have been confronted with the need for large-scale adaptive reuse since the 1970s. In the debate about the adaptive reuse of a monument, protection becomes decisive because it sets quality criteria, provides expertise and implies best practices. Historical monuments receive more attention from the national heritage agencies that have budget for maintenance. But maintaining monuments without use is not very sustainable. Many churches that are historical monuments have a potential touristic attractiveness, which requires human resources, promotion and cultural activities, and should generate an economical return. The Netherlands and Flanders have put the issue on the official agenda and tried to define a methodology for dismantling and saving what is possible by defining priorities and appointing experts (Nelissen, 2008; Aerts et al., 2014). The Canadian province of Québec has an ‘observatory’ for religious heritage (Observatoire du

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Patrimoine Religieux). Each religious denomination has internal national offices dealing with cultural heritage, as for example the Ufficio Nazionale per i beni culturali ecclesiastici that depends on the Episcopal Conference of Italy. Some are international, like the Jewish Heritage Europe. These offices, however, are not always involved in the process of dismantling churches or developing strategies for adaptive reuse. Because there is a gap between the theoretical top-down management approach and the reality of the field – each closing church being another story, with other people involved – the support of local communities is indispensable. The case of the Centre for Religious Art and Culture [Centrum voor Religieuze Kunst en Cultuur, CRKC] in Flanders is rather exceptional because it develops an integrated approach with all the stakeholders: regional heritage administration, Catholic Church, local governments, heritage non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and citizen (Aerts et al., 2014).

Bottom-up Heritagization Movements for Saving Places of Worship Why do bottom-up heritagization movements flourish across Europe with the aim of saving places of worship? What are the motivations of people? Which heritage values are they fighting for? In Europe, the religious buildings stood central to the rural and urban communities for centuries and still continue to play an integral part in community life. Citizens are very open to the idea of promoting religious buildings for tourism if they contain architectural or artistic treasures. Religious buildings could be open to other activities than worship (Fig. 16.2). Bottom-up movements of citizens grouped into an association or a charity with the aim of saving one single threatened building are not a recent phenomenon. The ‘archaeological movement’ of the antiquarians and local historians originated in the 1830–1840s fought for the protection and restoration of historic monuments. They were militant agents of ‘heritagization’, that is, the process by which a building or a site becomes heritage and is eventually protected by the state because of its values and public

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Fig. 16.2. ALTERheritage meeting in the former parish church of Potes (Cantabria, Spain), converted into a cultural centre, on ‘Pilgrimage routes as facilitators for religious heritage’. (Photo: THOC 2015.)

interest. In many cases local societies were precious allies of the heritage administrations. As soon as legislation on associative life was issued by the state, associations of ‘friends’ of a building saw the day. So, the Friends of the Beguinage of Sint-Truiden in Belgium were founded in 1934 with the aim of saving the Beguinage church (Fig. 16.3). They bought the church that was deconsecrated but listed as a monument, and used it for cultural purposes (Coomans and Bergmans, 2008, pp. 65–77). Without friends, this church would not have survived the crisis of the 1930–1940s, because it was redundant. Today it belongs to the World Heritage serial nomination of Flemish Beguinages, inscribed in 1998. New waves of heritage bottom-up movements developed from the late 1960s and have evolved since the late 1990s thanks to the new

social media, becoming more professional in their communication and fundraising. Heritage research also developed in new directions with focus on intangible aspects. Sociologists and anthropologists examine the heritagisation of religion and sacralisation of heritage as a process of secularisation of the society (http://​heriligion.​ ku.​dk). Theologians study and compare recent evolutions of religious traditions in Europe and explore the needs of sacred spaces in a ‘multicultural, pluralistic or religiously indifferent society’ (Büchse et al., 2012; Gerhards and de Wildt, 2015). Other scholars question the complex motivations and behaviour of faith-based tourism (Smith, 1992; Alecu, 2010). In the following lines we focus on the people who volunteer for safeguarding and transmitting religious heritage rather than faith and religion – even though

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Fig. 16.3.  The Beguinage church of Sint-Truiden (Limburg, Belgium) saved from destruction by an association of ‘friends’ in 1934, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1998. (Photo: THOC 2008.)

the latter does not exclude the former, but shows the complexity of motivations. Today, in some countries, England and the Netherlands for instance, charities and trusts offer an alternative to state heritage care and management thanks to sustainable projects that the public authorities would not be able to implement. The Churches Conservation Trust, founded in 1969, has saved 350 buildings and attracts almost 2 million visitors a year. The Stichting Oude Groninger Kerken, also founded in 1969, manages 86 churches and 2 synagogues in the province of Groningen.

Such bottom-up movements are much more complex than top-down decisions made by politicians and experts, because they involve volunteers with various motivations and require creative fundraising. These ways of heritagization belong to new forms of public debate and civic behaviour. Many charities and associations exist in every European country with the aim of giving new life to places of worship. Their diversity results from different mission statements, stakeholders and volunteers who are the essence of bottom-up movements and the participative model.

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Charities related to a precise religious denomination in one country, for example: Svenska Kyrkan (Swedish Lutheran Church), Fondazione Beni Culturali Ebraici in Italia (Italian Jewish heritage), The Churches Conservation Trust (Church of England). Geographically defined associations, at local, provincial or national levels, for example: Scotland’s Churches Trust, the Förderkreis alte Kirchen Berlin Brandenburg (1990). Each Dutch province has a foundation that takes care of historic churches: Stichting Oude Groninger Kerken (1969), Stichting Alde Fryske Tsjerken (1970), etc. Associations specialized in churches of a specific style or of a specific function such as Amigos del Romanico in Spain, Straße der Romanik in Germany, La Charte des abbayes cisterciennes, etc. Some charities own buildings, while others just help keeping them open or organize cultural, artistic and touristic activities. The remarkable success of Open Churches/ Églises ouvertes/Open Kerken/Offene Kirche in Belgium, England, the Netherlands and Germany proves how a well-organized network can mobilize volunteers at local level. Every year in June, the network organizes an ‘open churches day’ that attracts more and more tourists. Many associations are dealing with art masterpieces of movable heritage and church furniture. Almost all the dioceses have a diocesan museum or a ‘treasury’, often near a cathedral. Other associations are: Catalonia Sacra in Spain, Centrum voor Religieuze Kunst en Cultuur in Flanders and Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht. Institutions specialized in collecting and valorizing archives of religious institutes and other religious movements, such as KADOC: Research and Documentation Centre on Religion, Culture and Society, University of Leuven, since 1976. Others are dealing with intangible heritage related to local devotions and pilgrimages. More exceptional are foundations such as La Sauvegarde de l’Art Français, the first benefactor of churches and chapels in France, which raises funds exclusively to help restore churches and art in churches.



• • •



The National Churches Trust in the UK specifically focuses on enabling repair and revitalization of church buildings for the benefit of the community. They work with partnership grants and have their own repair and community grants programme. Some associations promote the creation or exhibition of contemporary art in churches, such as Art Alive in Churches (England). Numerous associations of friends of one individual cathedral, abbey or church. Citizens’ movements such as Task Force Toekomst Kerkgebouwen (the Netherlands) operating on national level raising awareness and supporting local situations by developing and sharing knowledge. A final mention is for the English charity Friends of the Friendless Churches for the ‘desperate cases’ (Saunders, 2007).

Moreover, every country has other heritage regulations, legal structures for charities and church ownership (Tsivolas, 2014). There is a great diversity, as well as a great creativity for finding the most convenient possible solutions.

Future for Religious Heritage (FRH) How could an international platform help for the best possible encounter between top-down and bottom-up movements, both at local and global levels? Each heritage association is working for its own goal, within its own country. Volunteers do not always have the skills to develop long-term sustainable projects or the ambition to think globally. The sector needs to be professionalized by developing networks and disseminating knowledge. Olivier de Rohan, president of FRH, states: ‘Europe’s religious heritage is under threat and the buildings are often ill adapted to modern society needs. Knowledge transfer and innovation will be needed on a European level if this remarkable patrimony is to be handed down to future generations’ (FRH, 2014, p. 5). In February 2011, FRH was founded with the aim of ‘promoting, encouraging and supporting the safeguard, maintenance, valorisation and use of places of worship as well as their content and history’ (statutes, art. 3). Today, FRH is the only European network of charities,

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Future for Religious Heritage – European Cooperation

governmental, religious and university departments, that works to protect religious heritage buildings and interiors across Europe, with members in over 30 countries. FRH is a non-religious organization open to all, bottom-up as well as top-down organizations (​www.​frh-​europe.​ org). Initiated as a grass roots movement, it has been set up to act as a catalyst for change in the sector, to help those active in the management of Europe’s religious heritage and to provide them with tools to facilitate their task. So, FRH not only raises awareness of the threats facing religious heritage, but offers a communication platform for those working to protect Europe’s religious heritage. FRH shares experience and expertise on common challenges and promotes successful initiatives at a European level. FRH works to identify areas where a Europe-wide response is appropriate and influences policy makers on behalf of its members. All commercial activity and religious proselytizing are excluded from FRH. Its ambition is to provide a strong structural framework for ongoing intercultural and intersectorial exchanges of ideas and problems regarding religious heritage protection. The active participation from organizations and individuals across Europe is essential (Fig. 16.4).

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FRH organizes biannual international conferences on specific themes for its members. After the initial conference ‘A New European Forum for Historic Places of Worship’ held in Canterbury (2010), the following ones were: ‘Extended Use of Religious Heritage' in Venice (2012), ‘Movable Religious Heritage’ in Utrecht (2013), ‘Sustaining Europe’s Rural Religious Heritage’ in Halle an der Saale (2014), ‘Tourists, Travellers and Pilgrims: Encountering Religious Heritage in Today’s Europe’ in Vicenza (2016) and ‘Religious Heritage – Europe’s Legacy for the Future' in Paris (2018). Among other past projects, FRH coordinated an EU–Leonardo Lifelong Learning Programme: ‘ALTERheritage project – Capacity building for religious heritage conservation and management; vocational learning tools and methods’, with partners from six European countries (Bahamonde et al., 2015).

How Europeans Relate to Churches How do Europeans of all generations feel and think about their churches and other religious buildings, today and in the future?

Fig. 16.4.  Members of Future for Religious Heritage (FRH) at the conference in Paris in 2018. (Photo: THOC 2018.)

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A poll was run in April 2014 by FRH, and conducted by Sociovision with the technical support of Toluna (FRH, 2014). The objective was to provide for the first time insights into how Europeans relate to churches and other religious buildings. More precisely, 6000 people from France, Germany, the UK, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden, representative of ages over 18, were asked about: 1. The importance of religious heritage for their cultural heritage: ‘When asked about your country’s cultural heritage, do you think about each of the following fields: museums, natural sites, traditions and lifestyles, churches and other religious buildings, artistic production (literature, music, painting), recent works of urban planning?’ Average results for the eight countries situate churches as equal with artistic production (84%), after museums (89%), natural sites (89%) and traditions (86%), and far before recent works of urban planning (54%). A significant difference of interest for churches can be noted between Sweden and Denmark (80%) and France (89%) and Spain (87%). 2. The importance of religious heritage conservation for their community’s current and future life: ‘Do you personally think that preserving and protecting churches and other religious buildings is crucial for your community’s current and future life?’ Average results for the eight countries give 34% ‘absolutely yes’ and 79% ‘absolutely

or rather yes’. The extremes are France with 46% and 89%, and the Netherlands with 16% and 71%. 3. The possibility for churches and other religious buildings to be open to non-religious activities: ‘According to you, churches and other religious buildings: a) should be solely dedicated to religious practice and events related to religion; b) should be open to tourism when they hide architectural or artistic treasures; c) can be open to other non-religious cultural activities (e.g. concerts, conferences, exhibitions) if such activities can finance their maintenance and preservation?’ (Table 16.2). The three key results of the poll can be summarized as: (1) religious buildings form an essential part of Europe’s cultural heritage; (2) religious buildings have a crucial part to play in the survival of communities in the future; and (3) Europeans want to see the religious buildings used, including for cultural activities and tourism. These results also show the importance of transmitting knowledge about religious heritage in order to avoid a loss of meaning and significance. Despite sound architectural, historical, cultural and technical knowledge, a heritage value assessment of a church or a monastery without an understanding of religious life or the significance of its architecture cannot lead to a successful heritage adaptive reuse as it overlooks key elements. Therefore, contextual understanding of religious architecture beyond the beauty

Table 16.2.  The possibility for churches and other religious buildings to be open to non-religious activities. (Poll commissioned by FRH and conducted by Sociovision and Toluna, 2014.) EU FR DE UK

SP

BE

NL

PL

SW

a) Churches should be solely dedicated to Absolutely religious practice and events related yes to religion Total yes

19 22 18 14

21

16

5

29

15

56 60 59 48

56

48

33

67

45

b) Churches should be open to tourism when they hide artistic or architectural treasures

Absolutely yes

43 46 33 36

62

46

22

55

46

Total yes

87 91 81 85

89

91

89

92

83

c) Can be open to non-religious cultural activities (concert, lecture, exhibition) if it helps financing maintenance and preservation

Absolutely yes

28 32 22 28

41

29

17

26

30

Total yes

72 75 70 76

75

70

76

62

67

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Future for Religious Heritage – European Cooperation

of its stones and richness of styles is essential (Coomans et al., 2012; Coomans, 2018).



Religious Heritage in the European Year of Cultural Heritage



What could be the impact of Europe’s rich religious heritage, including reconverted religious heritage buildings, as a shared resource for cultural, social and economic development (including tourism)? How could a platform like FRH play a coordinating role in promoting a shared cultural heritage and cooperation beyond religious, juridical, political and economic considerations? On 17 May 2017, the EU decided that 2018 would be the European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH), with the purpose ‘to encourage the sharing and appreciation of Europe’s cultural heritage as a shared resource, to raise awareness of common history and values, and to reinforce a sense of belonging to a common European space’ (https://​eur-​lex.​europa.​eu/​eli/​dec/​2017/​ 864/​oj). Among the specific objectives of the EYCH, two methods that could benefit the issue of redundant churches:

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‘To promote debate, research and the exchange of good practices on the quality of conservation, safeguarding, innovative reuse and enhancement of cultural heritage, and on contemporary interventions in the historical environment’ (2.2.c). ‘To encourage synergies between cultural heritage and environment policies by integrating cultural heritage into environmental, architectural and planning policies, and by promoting energy-efficiency’ (2.2.f).

Furthermore, the EU declared religious heritage one of the four key focuses of ‘heritage in transition’ – together with industrial, military heritage and landscape (Table 16.3, point 4). One of the results of the EYCH is the creation, under the direction of the European Commission, of a working group that focuses specifically on the theme of adaptive reuse of heritage. During the European Cultural Heritage Summit in Berlin (18–24 June 2018), a workshop was held with the aim to produce a publication defining best practices of reuse. Furthermore, reuse is also a theme in new research programmes such as Horizon 2020 projects. So, the ROCK project focuses on historic city centres as extraordinary laboratories

Table 16.3.  Long-term initiatives of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018. (Authors after https:// europa.eu/cultural-heritage/actions_en, accessed June 2018.) Engagement

Sustainability

Protection

Innovation

1. Shared heritage

Cultural heritage belongs to us all

2. Heritage at school

Children discovering Europe’s most precious treasures and traditions

3. Youth for heritage

Young people bringing new life to heritage

4. Heritage in transition

Reimagining industrial, religious, military sites and landscapes

5. Tourism and heritage

Responsible and sustainable tourism around cultural heritage

6. Cherishing heritage

Developing quality standards for interventions on cultural heritage

7. Heritage at risk

Fighting against illicit trade in cultural goods and managing risks for heritage

8. Heritage-related skills

Better education and training for traditional and new professions

9. All for heritage

Fostering social innovation and people’s and communities participation

10. Science for heritage

Research, innovation, science and technology for the benefit of heritage

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to demonstrate how cultural heritage can be a unique and powerful regeneration engine, enabling sustainable development and economic growth for the whole city (https://​rockproject.​ eu). ROCK aims to develop an innovative, collaborative and systemic approach to promote the effective regeneration and adaptive reuse in historic city centres by implementing a repertoire of successful heritage-led regeneration initiatives. FRH is one of the EYCH 2018 stakeholders for the European Commission and one of the 28 supported EU Networks through the Creative Europe Network grants. The programme of FRH’s conference ‘Religious Heritage – Europe’s Legacy for the Future’ (Paris, 11–13 October 2018) focused on four themes in line with the EYCH: engaging people, promoting sustainability, fostering protection and stimulating innovation (Table 16.3). On top of the difficulties faced by cultural heritage throughout Europe, the sector faces the particular challenges of adapting to changing practices in religious observance. The relative importance of religious heritage goes largely unremarked and the sector is often underrepresented in the debate about the future of Europe’s cultural heritage. EYCH therefore presents FRH with a remarkable opportunity to:

• • •

Remind Europeans of the unique place religious heritage holds in the built environment and in its cultural identity. Indicate to policy makers the huge potential economic and social values of this patrimony. Discuss the organizational changes that are required to develop religious tourism, to adapt buildings to modern usage and to promote the greater use of religious buildings for non-worship purposes.

FRH is convinced that 2018 provided an important impetus to provoking real debate about the future of the sector and to improving sustainability through the development of policy at a European level, much broader public awareness and stronger support networks. For FRH itself the EYCH provided a strong stimulus to network building.



FRH is recruiting a major European educational establishment to prepare a study





– ‘FRH Inform’. Initial conclusions will cover: (1) methodology to measure the cultural, social, economic and environmental value of Europe’s religious patrimony; (2) outline mapping of the sector; (3) comparative analyses of the challenges facing it; and (4) recommendations as to how to provide structured support to the large numbers of volunteer bodies working across the continent to preserve Europe’s religious heritage. Two engagement projects among others aiming at involving people throughout Europe are: FRH Torch initiative, a European treasure box collecting personal testimonies of Europeans in relation to religious heritage; and a Photo walk. ‘EUROPETOUR – Vocational Training in Cultural Tourism for European Heritage’, a 3-year project under the ERASMUS+ K2 strategic partnership programme (2015– 18). Ten partners in eight different countries – eight regions, four cultural touristic networks, two tourism agencies, two economic developers, two dissemination experts, one social media expert and one training developer. Its aim is to empower rural areas to harvest the potential of cultural tourism and unlock the economic potential of Europe’s cultural treasures. It started with a survey to disclose training needs of those people active in rural tourism. One of the main conclusions is that there is a clear need (1) to improve skills in marketing and public relations, and (2) for cooperation on regional and national levels (https://​europetour.​tips/​results/​the-​europetour-​survey). In August 2018, the project presented its outcomes in an online best practice map and eight self-guided training courses for cultural tourism stakeholders in rural areas containing a series of exercises and best practices in seven languages. (https:// www.​frh-​europe.​org/​projects/​europetour/​ trainingmodules/).

Conclusions Religious heritage expressions, architectural, movable and intangible, do not follow national borders. A secular understanding of it can

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Future for Religious Heritage – European Cooperation

contribute to the European social identity as well as deepen intercultural tolerance. It encourages us to understand our own place in history. The impact of religious heritage is thus considerable. Conservation of religious heritage can be an important tool to regenerate urban and rural areas for the future. One possibility is through ‘extended use’: the coexistence of community, cultural and worship uses of a building. Urban regeneration, economic growth and cultural development are interrelated. Extended use can give an opportunity to link religious heritage, which carries meaning and identity also for nonfaith communities, with the secular mindset of our times. A benefit of extended use is a broader constituency of support for the building: bringing more people, resources and organizations to its aid. As a non-governmental and international platform at the crossing of top-down and bottom-up movements, FRH acts as a stimulating interface for European cooperation. The EYCH is a crucial year for the development of FRH,

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which aims to optimize the positive impact of religious heritage on society on multiple levels through:



• • •

Identifying and sharing innovative strategies, tools and methods that address adaptive reuse of religious heritage and new management approaches including the common ones, in order to showcase successful projects and build a blueprint of success to encourage others to regenerate (Fig. 16.5). Mobilize investment in order to realize these ambitions, including where relevant, European structural and investments funds. Raise the topic on the political agenda. Design an online European-wide homogenous, multilingual web application – ‘Religiana’ – for use by religious buildings, local communities, visitors and tour operators, which will allow visitors to contribute to conservation of buildings and contents

Fig. 16.5.  Village church of Heerle (North Brabant, the Netherlands): example of extended use including a doctor’s practice, the community centre and a reduced space for the church; by Oomen Architecten, 2011–2012. (Photo: Filip Dujardin.)

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through online donations; encourage the creating of virtual communities; enable publicizing of events; suggest visitor circuits

to increase accessibility of ‘The Largest Museum of Europe’; and raise awareness of its beauty and importance.

References Aerts, J., Jaspers, J., Klinckaert, J., Stevens, D. and Van Dyck, A. (2014) Atlas van het religieus erfgoed in Vlaanderen. Centrum voor Religieuze Kunst en Cultuur, Leuven. Alecu, I.C. (2010) Epistemological aspects of religious tourism in rural areas. International Journal of Business, Management and Social Sciences 2(3), 59–65. Bahamonde, P.G., Coomans, T., Drda-Kühn, K., Grootswagers, L., Truman, C. et  al. (2015) Capacity Building for Religious Heritage Conservation and Management. Vocational Learning Tools and Methods of the ALTERheritage Project (European Union/Leonardo Lifelong Learning Programme). Future for Religious Heritage, Brussels. Bartolozzi C. (ed.) (2017) Patrimonio architettonico religioso. Nuove funzioni e processi di transformazione. Gangemi, Rome. Büchse, A., Fendrich, H., Reichling, P. and Zahner, W. (eds) (2012) Kirchen. Nutzung und Umnutzung. Kulturgeschichte, theologische und praktische Reflexionen. Aschendorff Verlag, Munich. Coomans, T. (2018) Life Inside the Cloister. Understanding Monastic Architecture: Tradition, Reformation, Adaptive Reuse (KADOC Studies on Religion, Culture and Society 21). Leuven University Press, Leuven, Belgium. Chavardès, B. and Dufieux, P. (eds) (2019) L’avenir des églises. État des lieux, stratégies et programmes de reconversion. Presses Universitaires de Lyon, Lyon. Coomans, T. and Bergmans, A. (eds) (2008) In zuiverheid leven. Het Sint-Agnesbegijnhof van Sint-Truiden: het hof, de kerk, de muurschilderingen (Relicta monografieën, 2). Flemish Institute for Heritage, Brussels. Coomans, T., De Dijn, H., De Maeyer, J., Heynickx, R. and Verschaffel, B. (eds) (2012) Loci Sacri. Understanding Sacred Places (KADOC Studies on Religion, Culture and Society 9). Leuven University Press, Leuven. Coomans, T. and Grootswagers, L. (2016) Developing a European Network for the future of religious heritage. In: Van Balen, K. and Vandesande, A. (eds) Heritage Counts (Reflections on Cultural Heritage Theories and Practices 2. Garant, Antwerp-Apeldoorn, pp. 221–228. FRH (2014) Secular Europe Backs Religious Heritage. Survey Report with Key Results. Future for Religious Heritage and Sociovision, Brussels. Gazzola, P. and Lemaire, R.M. (1964) The Venice Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites. Second International Congress of Architects and Specialists of Historic Buildings, Venice, Italy. Gerhards, A. and de Wildt, K. (eds) (2015) Der sakrale Ort im Wandel. Bonner Zentrum für Religion und Gesellschaft, Bonn. Lange, D. (2010) Was tun mit leeren und teuren Kirchenbauten? Immobilien Zeitung, 16 December. Meys, O. and Gropp, B. (2010) Kirchen im Wandel. Veränderte Nutzung von denkmalgeschützen Kirchen. Landesinitiative StadtBauKultur NRW, LVR-Amt für Denkmalpflege im Rheinland, LWL-Amt für Denkmalpflege in Westfalen, Düsseldorf. Morisset, L.K., Noppen, L. and Coomans, T. (eds) (2006) Quel avenir pour quelles églises?/What Future for Which Churches (Patrimoine urbain 3). Presses de l’Université du Québec, Montréal. Nelissen, N. (2008) Geloof in de toekomst! Strategisch Plan voor het Religieus Erfgoed. Stichting 2008 Jaar van het Religieus Erfgoed, Utrecht. Noppen, L., Coomans, T. and Drouin, M. (eds) (2015) Des couvents en héritage/Religious Houses: A Legacy (Patrimoine urbain 8). Presses de l’Université du Québec, Montréal. Riegl, A. (1903) Der moderne Denkmalkultus, sein Wesen, seine Entstehung. Vienna-Leipzig. [English translation (1982) The modern cult of monuments: Its character and its origins Oppositions, 25, pp. 20–51; French translation (1984): Le culte moderne des monuments. Son essence et sa genèse. Paris: École d’Architecture]

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Saunders, M. (2007) Saving Churches. The Friends of Friendless Churches: The First 50 Years. Frances Lincoln, London. Smith, V.L. (1992) The Quest in Guest. Annals of Tourism Research 19(1), 1–17. The Tablet (2013) 1,000 Catholic churches in Holland to close by 2025. The International Catholic News Weekly, 4 December. Tsivolas, T. (2014) Law and Religious Cultural Heritage in Europe. Springer, Dordrecht. Van Balen, K. (2008) The Nara grid: An evaluation scheme based on the Nara document on authenticity. APT Bulletin. The Journal of Preservation Technology 49(2–3), 39–45.

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17 

Updating a Romantic View? Ruskin’s Mornings in Florence

Neus Crous-Costa* Laboratory of Multidisciplinary Research in Tourism, University of Girona, Spain

Introduction It is not without discussion that the Grand Tour is generally accepted as the social practice that paved the ways the democratization of tourism was to follow, both in terms of destinations and of gaze. Heirs to the travel accounts, the guidebooks became the most common means of attaining information from distant places to be visited. As Ellerbee (2010) points out, the rankings of sights they put together indicated what could be missed without the need to feel guilty. When the democratization of travel took root in the 19th century, the majority of sightseers did not come from the social elites, but from different (although relatively prosperous) strata. As profiles become more diverse, so too become the level of education and motivations, which will not always include self-education and at times will be closer to social appreciation. The best known, to us, guidebooks of the period are those by Murray and those by Baedeker. While it cannot be denied that these publications have evolved over the past 150 years, for the purposes of this study we can think of them essentially as a contemporary tourist guidebook. The 14th edition of Baedeker’s handbook Northern Italy. Including Leghorn, Florence, Ravenna and Routes through France, Switzerland,

and Austria (Baedeker, 1913) starts with the following statement: The objects of the Handbook for Northern Italy, which is now issued for the fourteenth time and corresponds to the 18th German edition, are to supply the traveller with some information regarding the culture, art, and character of the people he is about to visit, as well as regarding the natural features of the country, to render him as independent as possible of the services of guides and valets-de-place, to protect him against overcharges, and in every way to aid him in deriving enjoyment and instruction from his tour in one of the most fascinating countries in the world.

It is easy to see from this piece that the book would both contain practical and descriptive elements for the destinations, and the journey there. It is also important to note the scale: northern Italy (in 698 pages). As we will see later, Ruskin’s guidebooks are quite different in nature. They tend to be composed of some 150 pages and focus on a sole city. He does not give practical information, but strives to pass on to the fellow traveller his own aesthetic epiphany (Hanley and Walton, 2010). In both cases the guides could be separated into smaller volumes for the comfort of the traveller. The goal of the present chapter is to discuss the feasibility of Ruskin’s trail today, taking as a case example the guidebook Mornings

*​neus.​crous@​udg.​edu 174

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Updating a Romantic View

in Florence. This exploration will not only consider the existence of the sights referred to, most of which are still prominent tourist landmarks today, but additionally we will reflect on the interest of using this understanding of the city again from the perspective of different stakeholders.

A Brief Note on the Author John Ruskin (London, 1819; Brantwood, Conniston, 1900) was a polymath and controversial figure: draughtsman, teacher, art critic and social critic, among many other occupations. From his early childhood he enjoyed travelling with his father visiting Britain’s country stately homes, where he came close to masterpieces of architecture and painting. When he was 6, they took a family trip to France and Belgium, after which they made several trips to the continent: Switzerland and Italy being their most recurrent destinations. He did not travel without his parents until the age of 26, and even then he always followed the ‘Old Road’: from Calais, through the Alps and Northern Italy (Shepherd, 2006). Travelling also granted him the opportunity to observe and record his impressions of nature and art. Both led him to a deep aesthetic epiphany that throughout his life he tried to concretize and transmit to the rest of society (Hanley and Walton, 2010). Thus, the data and impressions that he brought back to England were not only used in the guidebooks that he would only write in his maturity, but also provided valuable information for putting together major works like Modern Painters and The Stones of Venice. Ruskin also used to acquire different materials during his trips: from rocks and samples of natural species to artworks depicting the most prominent buildings. These were often donated to schools or museums for the education of youngsters, as well as men and women from all social strata. One of the most remarkable examples of these collections is to be found at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, still in operation today.

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Components of his interpretation of places Sight, and the ability to see properly (i.e. what is important in each thing) was of paramount importance to Ruskin, a principle that permeates his lifework in different ways. In his work, Hewison (1976) studies Ruskin’s mindset as a blending of a myriad of disciplines (history, literary criticism, economics, aesthetics and philosophy to name but a few). The common element in the branches of his mind is, precisely, the visual element: Ruskin once marked the moments of change in his life as each taking place in front of, or as a result of, the work of a great painter. I have chosen these moments of visual persuasion as a motif. No one could put the case for a visual approach to Ruskin more strongly than he did himself; ‘the greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion, – all in one.’ (Hewison, 1976, Foreword).

Hanley and Walton (2010) describe his attitude before beauty as ‘Ruskin had a way of, to use his own word, “watching” things until he became absorbed in their externality’ (p. 68). His travels are a pursuit towards the Truth, all discourses and cultural associations entwined in a sensorial object: Whenever that construction breaks down – and that is mostly – he is ready to try to explain why and to denounce the art and society responsible, but readers who have been willing to travel in his footsteps have acknowledged the gift of a new way of seeing, whether or not they share its ultimate claims. (Hanley and Walton, 2010, p. 68)

This experience and the realization of aesthetic epiphany, as described by Chiaravallo (2011), will lie at the core of Ruskin’s efforts towards his contemporaries against the wickedness of their times. Regarding tourist guides, he had set a plan in his mind to lure Murray’s users towards his own ways of seeing. What Ruskin offers in his guidebooks is a Unitarian reading of the place, albeit under his own lenses.

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He criticizes the type of tourist who goes to a place to read about it in their guidebooks, barely granting the real place itself a quick glance: Without looking about you at all, you may find, in your Murray, the useful information that it is a church which ‘consists of a very wide nave and lateral aisles, separated by seven fine pointed arches.’ And as you will be – under ordinary conditions of tourist hurry – glad to learn so much, without looking. (Ruskin, 1877, p. 302)

It is important to learn to see and to see what is important, as it is the talent of the greatest artists like Giotto (Fig. 17.1). His gaze, the seeing he challenges the traveller with, is complex and informed not only by emotion and sensibility, but is also an educated one, drawing from many sources: ‘How far you are yourself capable of filling up what is left untold, and conceiving, as a reality, Eve’s first look on this her child, depends on no painter’s skill, but on your own understanding’ (p. 375). Time is a decisive component: an adequate amount of time, to allow the aesthetic impression to soak into the person’s self, and possibly an aesthetic epiphany to happen. In his guidebooks, Ruskin will often refer to this hurried pace of travel in a sarcastic manner to make the tourist realize that his urgency to follow the ‘tourist to-do-list’ to the letter will only deprive him of an invaluable opportunity for personal growth, as exemplified in this excerpt from Mornings in Florence: We were to get to work this morning, as early as might be: you have probably allowed half-anhour for Santa Maria Novella; half-an-hour

for San Lorenzo; an hour for the museum of sculpture at the Bargello; an hour for shopping; and then it will be lunch time, and you mustn’t be late, because you are to leave by the afternoon train, and must positively be in Rome tomorrow morning. Well, of your half-hour for Santa Maria Novella, – after Ghirlandajo’s choir, Orcagna’s transept, and Cimabue’s Madonna, and the painted windows, have been seen properly, there will remain, suppose, at the utmost, a quarter of an hour for the Spanish Chapel. That will give you two minutes and a half for each side, two for the ceiling, and three for studying Murray’s explanations or mine. Two minutes and a half you have got, then – (and I observed, during my five weeks’ work in the chapel, that English visitors seldom gave so much) – to read this scheme given you by Simon Memmi of human spiritual education. (Ruskin, 1877, pp. 379–380)

Same Setting, Two Moments in the Life of a Destination For the purposes of this study it is important to situate Italy and Florence as tourism destinations in each time frame: the 19th century and the early 21st.

The Grand Tour epoch Starting in the second half of the 17th century, the main lines of the Grand Tour need little

Fig. 17.1. The Birth of the Virgin by Giotto, Chiostro dei Morti (left) and Birth of the Virgin by Ghirlandaio, Tornabuoni Chapel (right), both in Santa Maria Novella. (Source: From author (left); Wikimedia Commons (user JarektUploadBot) (right).)

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Updating a Romantic View

presentation. Whether we agree that it ended during the Napoleonic campaigns across Europe or in the second half of the 19th century, there is little doubt that the elites of the 1800s followed the travel patterns that were already well established by the end of the 18th century. In this context, Italy was presumably the most prominent part of the Grand Tour, a notion epitomized by the title of an exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay in 2009 Voir l’Italie et mourir (to see Italy and [to be ready to] die). The enlightened Europe stressed the value of travel as an educational tool that allegedly would foster cosmopolitanism. Although this was true to an extent, as Calaresu (1999, p. 140) argues in the case of Italy, the motivation for the trip ‘was mostly limited to the illustration of ancient history rather than the confrontation with new moral worlds’. Hom (2015) points out that Byron ‘is going there to learn to see [original emphasis] among the ruins’. The Classical past, rescued and reinterpreted by the Renaissance, becomes idealized and the routes will be defined so that the traveller can verify what has been written about by Classical and contemporary authors. Under the light of what we would now call ethnography tourism, the author goes on to describe how the first travel guides crafted the otherness travellers eagerly looked for and, at the same time, partook in the cultural comfort expected from a guidebook. Main Italian destinations included: Turin, Milan, Florence, Pisa, Padua, Bologna, Venice, Rome and Naples, which was usually the southern termini. Some travellers would venture as far as Sicily (Greek ruins) or climb Mount Vesuvius. Of course, after the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum were discovered, they became an added attraction. By the time the first Baedeker was published, in 1861, it seems that the standard periods of time a ‘hurried’ tourist (comparing to aristocratic travel) had to spend in each city were already well established. If we think of a journey of 60 days, 3 were to be spent in Venice, another 14 in Rome and its surroundings, and 10 in Naples and its surroundings (Ritter, 2009). Other cities, including Florence, were allocated a visit of 1 or 1.5 days. As aforementioned, Ruskin was most critical of this sort of travelling race, which did not allow for a proper meditation of sights.

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As for Florence itself, the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale – Firenze (2004) has published an analysis of the most prominent travel accounts of the time, which, among other things, gives insight into the main points of interest as shown in Table 17.1. According to this analysis, it was only in architecture where Grand Tourists allowed themselves a degree of relative freedom, which allowed for certain Gothic structures (perceived as barbaric until a renewed appreciation for this style surfaced) to enter the list. But what is more relevant for our study is the relevance attributed to the British community in the city to transmute it into a world class tourism destination: ‘it can even be said that it was the British who made Florence the artistic capital of the world’ (Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale – Firenze, 2004). Estimated figures show that in the second half of the 19th century about one-third of the population was composed of foreigners, mostly from Great Britain. This community was renowned for its writing capacity (personal letters, but also guides, articles, etc.) as well as the parties and social gatherings, especially these held by its ‘moving spirit’, Sir Horace Man. It is possibly to this ambience that Ruskin makes a veiled reference while accompanying the traveller through the Certosa di Firenze (or Certosa del Galluzzo): And you may see some fading light and shade of monastic life, among which if you stay till the fire-flies come out in the twilight, and thus get to sleep when you come home, you will be better prepared for to-morrow morning’s walk – if you will take another with me – than if you go to a party, to talk sentiment about Italy, and hear the last news from London and New York. (Ruskin, 1977, p. 311)

It is easy to see how it was from the image created by this community that Murray, Baedeker and Thomas Cook, among other pioneers of mass tourism (or the democratization of the Grand Tour), drew when they composed their guidebooks and travel packages to Florence. As for the travellers themselves, the two reasons described by Ellerbee (2010) for the American trip to Italy can be extended to most to most tourists: either they were spending money on something fashionable that would result in social prestige, or they were seeking ‘to discover

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Table 17.1.  Main sights in Florence as described by Grand Tourists. (Source: own compilation using data from the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale – Firenze, 2004.) Sight

Brief description

Galleria degli Uffizi

No other place can rival how it was appreciated for the admiration of both painting and sculpture. Part of the appeal was due to the exhibition, organized and specifically intended to receive public

Palazzo Pitti

Its architecture was eclipsed by its collections (which many authors found easier to write about than the those at the Uffizi) and, mostly, by the Boboli Gardens

Piazza della Signoria

The two statues at the entrance of Palazzo Vecchio: Bandinelli’s Hercules and Michelangelo’s David

Piazza del Duomo

Including the visit to Santa Maria de Fiore (and its dome), the Campanile and the Baptistery. Although a newfound appreciation for Gothic architecture would not surface until the last decades of the Grand Tour, these architectural pieces seemed to be ‘uncontaminated’

Religious architecture

San Lorenzo, Medici Chapel, Orsanmichele and the Annunziata, Santa Maria Novella, Santo Spirito and the Carmine. Santa Croce was mainly appreciated for its sepulchral monuments. In fact, religious architecture was perceived to be neverending

Palaces and townhouses

Basically appreciated for their solidity rather than for their grace. Palazzo Vecchio, Riccardi, Capponi, Gherardesca, Peruzzi, Rucellai, Corsini, Strozzi

“the majestic shadow of the past”, which could not be found in London or Paris but which was available in Rome’ (p. 3). It is interesting to note that the way Italians perceived the attractiveness of their own country was in fact modelled following this image created by foreigners. In 1894 the Touring Club Italiano was created as a result of a growing curiosity among locals to know what so many eager tourists came to see. Essentially, national tourists drove on the roads paved by Cook and, before him, Grand Tourists. Hom (2015) describes the creation of the present-day image of Italy as a continuous dialogue between external travellers and national factors (travellers, but also politics and other stakeholders).

Present-day Florence Nowadays, Italy is placed fifth in the World Tourism Organization (United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2016) ranking of destinations by international tourist arrivals, although it ranks seventh when it comes to revenue. Beyond statistics, it is also one of the few European countries with a tradition of

managing tourism and culture together even at a political level. Still now the contact in the UNWTO listing is the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo (Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and of Tourism) (United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2017). The idealization of Italy has played a crucial role in the fixation of today’s most prominent sights and tourist destinations: Rome, Florence and Venice (Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale – Firenze, 2004; Hom, 2015). The historical town centre of Florence was inscribed in the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List in 1982. The description of the selection criteria highlights the creative power on display, as well as the city being the cradle of renowned artists and scientists (Brunelleschi, Donatello…), merging its commercial power in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (UNESCO, 2017). All these ideas permeate today’s tourism slogan: ‘Firenze Contagiosa Bellezza’ (Florence Contagious Beauty), which indeed corresponds to the behaviour of the tourist flows the city is receiving at the present moment. The city receives an estimated 16 million visitors per year, to a

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Updating a Romantic View

population of 350,000. According to statistics from the Citt Metropolitana di Firenze (2017), 2016 registered 3.6 million overnight stays, with an average stay of 2.60 nights. These rates are not without consequences – massification of main attractions and deterioration of heritage (including vandalism) – and some voices have already advised that the city should be moved to the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger (Payne, 2015). The sights of choice for current tourists show some similarities to those from the Grand Tour. The Golden Triangle in the city, encompassing Galleria dell’Accademia – Duomo – Piazza della Signoria – Ponte Vecchio – Palazzo Pitti – Santa Croce, which has been traced in Fig. 17.2 (Comune di Firenze and Instituto Superiore sul Sistemi Territoriali per l’Innovazione, 2013a). It encompasses about 0.5 km2 and comprises most sights that appear in Table  17.2, which has been compiled with data from the Comune di Firenze and the Ministero dei beni e delle attivit culturali e del turismo 2016 (2017). The Duomo complex is not included for lack of current statistics, but the press reported almost 1.4 million visitors in 2015 (Addario, 2016) a figure that would make it second only to Galleria dell’Accademia. Further documentation issued by Comune di Firenze and Instituto Superiore sul Sistemi Territoriali per l’Innovazione (2013b) states that 91% of respondents to a study declared their will to visit a museum, 83% will ramble around the city and 79% have the intention to visit monuments. Other activities such as attending events seem to be popular as well: visits to temporary exhibitions (30.3%), theatre plays (12.2%) and other events (11.1%). Shopping is of interest to over one-third of respondents (38.2%) and visits to the countryside account for little more than one-fifth (22.7%). Regarding sights, most respondents showed interest in the Galleria degli Uffizi, followed by Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio, Galleria dell ‘Academia and the complex of Santa Maria del Fiore. It is also important to note that over 60% of the sample declared themselves to be in Florence for the first time, while 15% said they were on their second visit and another 15% had been there between three and five times.

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Factorizing Mornings in Florence A guiding purpose was implied in many of Ruskin’s works, and it was not until his mature years, from the 1870s to 1882 that he undertook the task of writing tourist guides (Hanley and Walton, 2010). In the texts he made reference to Murray guides, usually in a critical or satirical tone. For example, he always remained extremely critical of Murray’s enthusiastic reception of modernity and, even worse, ‘judicious’ restoration of works. The exhaustive list of things a traveller should view, the shallow explanations and, particularly, the time to be spent in front of each piece and at each destination. Yet it seems he is always assuming any traveller abroad will be carrying a Murray guide with him and sometimes uses it to his advantage in practical matters: ‘Walk straight to the chapel on the right of the choir (“k” in your Murray’s Guide)’ (Ruskin, 1877, p. 296). The full name of the book studied here is already self-explanatory: Mornings in Florence: Being Simple Studies of Christian Art, for English Travellers. Admittedly the term ‘simple’ is open to discussion even considering Christian religion was much more embedded in the population (British citizens) in the 19th century than it is today, in a secularized society. But the guidebook does create a narrative linking Christian artworks in Florence (architecture as well as paintings), thus explaining the city and the core values of its history and its religious history. Thus, the narrative unfolds a very personal perception of the soul of the city, at the same time that it is a universal and transcendental one. As for the word ‘traveller’, the book was indeed intended to be taken on a real trip. Some editions of the book were edited in a single volume; others were published as six separated booklets consisting of 20–30 pages. All editions contained illustrations (engravings or pictures); the number of these would depend on the edition and its price. Illustrations had two purposes. On the one hand, illustrations were meant to be an aid for the actual traveller in appreciating certain details pointed out in the text by the author. On the other hand, one of the goals of Ruskin towards the British society was the progress of the human soul, regardless of class. Hence, an illustrated book would be

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Fig. 17.2.  Outline of the itinerary in Mornings in Florence, with duration of visits and current entrance fees. (Source: Author.)

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Table 17.2.  Main sights in Florence according to visitor numbers (2016). (Source: own compilation using statistics by Città Metropolitana di Firenze and Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo.) Sight

Visitors (2016)

Galleria degli Uffizi

2,010,631

Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze

1,461,185

Circuito Museale Boboli e Argenti di Firenze

852,095

Santa Maria Novella

470,345

Galleria Palatina di Firenze

400,626

Cappelle Medicee

321,091

of used for the armchair tourist who could not afford to undertake such journeys across the continent. The version used here is that included in the Library Edition of John Ruskin’s works, edited by E. T. Cook and A. Wedderburn in 1906. This compilation includes the last version of Mornings in Florence, reviewed and with some comments added. It also includes one extra morning, completing the description of the Spanish Chapel in Santa Maria Novella. The seventh morning, written by R. Caird, was commissioned by Ruskin and, although arranged for printing, Ruskin never included the comments he intended nor was it finally printed. The present study uses the full version of the guide (seven mornings) as it offers a complete description of the Spanish Chapel. The narrative is geared towards communicating to – or creating in – the tourist his own aesthetic epiphany. Even if the text makes allusions to the classics, the Bible and other sources related to ‘high culture’, his writing style is compelling and talks to the reader as if walking with a friend (as he himself points out at the very beginning).

The itinerary Mornings in Florence is a coherent narrative about and through the city, one condensation of Ruskin’s extensive studies of Italy, Tuscany and its capital. One should not be misled to suppose

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that the small portion of terrain covered in the guidebook includes all he knew about it. The visit to the Uffizi highlights but a handful of artworks, and he does not even suggest a walk into the Battistero di San Gionvanni, which he obviously knew. Caird, in a letter to Ruskin included in the last page of the Library Edition of the guide dated 15 October 1877, mentions how much attention The Laws of Fesole was receiving. The Schools of Florence (aesthetics and mathematics) is also part of the 23rd volume of the Library Edition. Ruskin selected only four places to visit in Florence – suggesting a fifth (Certosa di Firenze) that will not be contemplated in this study as it is not a central part of his argument and is only mentioned in the text without a proper explanation. The sites are: Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, Galleria degli Uffizi and Santa Maria dei Fiori (Duomo and Campanile). Yet, he encourages the traveller to return to these places several times in a particular order. These partial visits to one site and a subsequent return to it after having observed other sights are an important part in exposing his narrative of the city and changing it would alter the actual meaning of his words.

Walking in Ruskin’s footsteps Figure 17.2 presents an outline of the itinerary in Mornings in Florence. Each element has been accompanied by an estimated time of visit for each sight as experienced by the author while visiting Florence using Ruskin’s guide. Current entrance fees are also included. Other relevant aspects of planning a tourism visit have been omitted. These include transportation time from one sight to the next, which is a minor inconvenience here: any sight is within walking distance of the rest. The longest trail, from Santa Maria Novella to Santa Croce, takes about 20 min. Conversely, queuing times can be a greater inconvenience in the Galleria degli Uffizi and to enter the Duomo itself. Allowing oneself enough preparation time before the trip, the entrance to the Uffizi can be booked for a specific time and date. Another solution, which also works for the Duomo, is arriving in first morning light. In both cases, Ruskin suggests visiting first thing in the morning.

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Ruskin’s Mornings are reasonably long: between 1 and 2 h 30 min, plus walking and queuing times. This includes both reading his text and looking at the sight, at least the parts he describes. The first day is a rather relaxed one, with just an introductory visit to Santa Croce. The remaining six mornings take between 100 and 150 min (1 h 40 min, and 2 h 30 min) each, again, walking times to be added. Entrance fees are between being free of charge and €8, to a maximum total of €16 a day. These estimates are a reasonable investment for a tourist visit to a city. As planned by Ruskin, afternoons are in principle, free of intellectual activity. It is not without irony that he recognizes other needs of the traveller, such as time to buy souvenirs. However, the guide is dotted with suggestions for the truly cultural tourist towards his own purposes – who would leave the Uffizi after having seen only one of the pieces? Take for another example the first morning: he suggests an afternoon excursion to the Certosa in Val d’Ema (Certosa di Firenze) to see tomb-slabs by Donatello: And you may see some fading light and shade of monastic life, among which if you stay till the fire-flies come out in the twilight, and thus get to sleep when you come home, you will be better prepared for to-morrow morning’s walk – if you will take another with me – than if you go to a party, to talk sentiment about Italy, and hear the last news from London and New York. (p. 311)

On another occasion, after visiting the Uffizi, the traveller leaves with homework to do: to copy the Bible’s passage referring to what has been seen. And ‘copy’ here has to be understood as a form of meditation for the copyist so as to better understand today’s visit and, again, be better prepared for tomorrow’s. Yet, he shows implicit understanding of the rhythms of travelling: some ‘homework’ is to be done when back at home (see p. 358). This should serve as revision of what has been experienced or learnt during the trip, to meditate on it, in what today is called the post-trip stage.

Discourse overview Ruskin’s guidance is not geared to give a list of famous sites, but to explain why have they

become famous – why so many people have admired them across time. Perception (sensitivity and emotion) as well as thought and meditation are required for understanding the reasons, hence the importance of time – which translates here as a rather lengthy journey. It is not the aim of this chapter to disclose how the aesthetic epiphany is passed on to the traveller in Mornings in Florence, whether for the actual or the armchair traveller. Nor is it to justify his selection of places in the delicate equilibrium between the path to deep experiences and the limited time of a traveller. Common tourist behaviour is to visit each sight once, especially if it covers an extensive area or charges an entrance fee, at least in the same trip. Still, Ruskin asks the traveller to leave a place before it has been completely covered and to return to it another day to look at another portion, or even at the same portion but shifting attention to other particulars. But this disconnection is only a spatial one. In the same way that he is known for using many different and sometimes seemingly inconsistent sources in art critique, he may seem to be making an absurd use of the traveller’s resources (attention, time and money). However, a closer look at the text readily evinces that there is a coherent narrative that uses artworks in different locations when it is most convenient – or rather, that these artworks construct the narrative (Hewison, 1976). Order is, thus, essential. This obviously poses a challenge to modern travellers in terms of costs, which will be discussed in the next section. The guide starts in Santa Croce: ‘You will return home with a general impression that Santa Croce is, somehow, the ugliest Gothic church you ever were in. Well – that is really so; and now, will you take the pains to see why?’ (p. 302) – with Giotto. The introduction to the city unfolds describing how Giotto operates as the link that, by recuperating classic GreekRoman artistic tradition, allowed the blooming of Gothic art into Renaissance. The traveller is to familiarize himself with the spiritual Florence and its axis, its place in the Christendom, and the figure of Giotto and Cimabue. The city, its grand architecture and its artistic masterpieces, is an endeavour to make Christianity go further. The traveller is to familiarize himself with the spiritual Florence and its

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Table 17.3.  Steps in the spiritual itinerary, as understood by the author. (Source: own creation.) Morning

Topic for study and meditation

Morning 1. Santa Croce

Introduction to the character of the city of Florence. On the centrality of Giotto and Florence in the connection of cultures and epochs through art

Morning 2. The Golden Gate

How to look at the true nature of things, what is important of and in them: ‘you shall see things – as they are’ (p. 23.321)

Morning 3. Before the Soldan

The representation of the individual and the universal

Morning 4. The Vaulted Book

Appearances may lead to deception. On true greatness of size and heart

Morning 5. The Strait Gate

Into true knowledge and righteous action through Earthly and Heavenly sciences

Morning 7. The Visible Church

Who embodies the Sacred down on Earth. Who can take part in the path to Heaven: what is to be done, and what is to be avoided (shown in examples)

Morning 6. The Shepherd’s Tower The vertical path from humbleness to Heaven. Coincidentally, this is represented by the element designed to call the people to the holy assembly, which at the same time suggests the possibility of the union between Earth and Heaven

axis, and with the lessons contained in each one of these religious sights. Later, in the Uffizi, the centrality of Italy and Florence in particular as the place where the two great Christian art schools merged: the Latin breed from the cold of the north, and the Byzantine developed in the sands of the east. But not only that, Giotto will also be applauded, in Ruskin’s judgement, for bringing together action (the Norman) with repose (the Byzantine) ‘not merely that of war with religion, – it is the meeting of domestic life with monastic, and of practical household sense with unpractical Desert insanity’ (p. 331). Once this has been settled, the traveller will engage in a trip that is inner and exterior at the same time, in the same vein a true pilgrimage is both at the same time. Santa Croce and, above all, Santa Maria Novella will unfold the lessons (principles, theory and practice) needed to enter the Strait Gate of Heaven, of illumination. Once Ruskin (and Caird) have left the reader, the vertical path towards the gate should be clear(er) to him or her. Table  17.3 summarizes, according to the author’s experience and understanding, the main steps that compose the inward path described in the guidebook. A mere glance to the content of each chapter allows one to realize that, in fact, the itinerary

around Florence is a materialization of Ruskin’s ideas on the path to spiritual progress that aesthetic epiphanies opened to him – or maybe the key to the main artworks that helped Ruskin to develop it. The order of the two last mornings has been altered. Reading the original guide, Ruskin himself explains his reasons for skipping the last part of the Spanish Chapel and focusing on the Campanile: he is waiting for some further research his helper Caird is carrying out in Oxford and he is under the impression that an interpretation of the Campanile is most needed at that moment. So as not to leave the reader without a clue on the last wall of the Chapel, he outlines some relevant aspects of it before moving on. Hence, Caird’s contribution has to be placed as the final stage in Santa Maria Novella.

Brief note on the use of Mornings in Florence today All five places that make up the itinerary are open to the public today and some are in fact among the most visited sites. But there are two artworks that are not on public display nowadays. First, the fresco of Saint Louis in Santa Croce, which makes the central point of one

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of Ruskin’s arguments, has been removed under the criterion of authenticity. Even though Ruskin identifies it as a Giotto original, today it is considered a reconstruction by Gaetano Bianchi, who worked in Santa Croce in the 1800s. The restored piece is stored in Santa Croce’s deposit, away from visitors (C. Timossi, personal communication, 25 May 2017). The second is the first artwork the reader is asked to look at while at the Uffizi, Agony in the Garden, again by Giotto. Today it would be easy to replace the vision of these two pieces with a digital image the reader could have in any personal device. As in the case of the Saint Louis fresco, from today’s perspective we may be aware of a few inaccurate attributions in Ruskin’s works. In fact, he himself acknowledged some during his life span, while he would usually point out mistakes in Murray’s guidebooks. However, a change in authorship does not affect his argument or, we can dare say, the quality of his work. And it is precisely in Mornings in Florence where we find the reason for that: he looks for the real value of the picture, wherever it may lie, which is what he intends to communicate to the audience (Ruskin, 1877). It has been mentioned before that maintaining the order of the visit is important for the comprehension of its message. Travel and living conditions in the 19th century were significantly different: trips took longer (and were less frequent), tourists spent more time abroad and most places had not started charging an entrance fee. Present-day tourism obviously requires economizing on these two elements. Hence, some concessions could be made to

accommodate better to contemporary travel rhythms, while hopefully still allowing for sufficient meditation time and not altering the comprehension too much. Table 17.4 below outlines a possible contemporary way of following in Ruskin’s footsteps. The first day, Santa Maria Novella could also be visited, and Agony in the Garden could be contemplated in a restful place, not necessarily inside the Galleria. This would leave the second day to visit the Uffizi (which also saves money in tickets and queuing time). Unless the visitor chooses to spend the whole day in there to make the most of the entrance fee or satisfy his artistic cravings, time would allow for a return to Santa Croce. The third day would start with an early visit to the Duomo (which should also help reduce waiting time), the visit inside is a rather agile one. Definitely, ‘The Seventh Morning’ should be read after the fifth, and leave the sixth for last. This would tempt us to concatenate the three texts about the Spanish Chapel (here, we disregard the one from the sixth day, since it is a mere reference). Yet this would make an estimated visit time of over 6 h. It is doubtful that most visitors, however interested in culture and erudite, would enjoy that in the same room. It does not seem advisable to even attempt to break it into a morning–afternoon visit. Hence, we would finish the third day in the Spanish Chapel in Santa Maria Novella and start the fourth in the same place (having left only Caird’s text for this day), but with a refreshed mind and eyes. The Campanille could be contemplated on this same fourth day, either in the morning or in the afternoon.

Table 17.4.  Suggestion for a ‘condensed’ itinerary for the contemporary traveller. (Source: own creation.) Day

Agenda

First

Santa Croce (60 min; €5)

Santa Maria Novella (115 min; €5)

175 min €10

Second

Galleria degli Uffizi (70 minutes; €8)

Santa Croce (60 min; €5)

130 min €13

Third

Santa Maria del Fiori (20 minutes; free)

Santa Maria Novella (270 min; €5)

290 min €5

Fourth

Santa Maria Novella (105 min; €5)

Campanile (120 min; free)

225 min €5

Total investment

Daily investment

820 min (13 h 40 min) €33

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Updating a Romantic View

Thus, the reduction in the number of days is significant, from seven to four, which may correspond to a long city break. Although it could be compressed even more by ‘using’ the afternoons, the objective was to remain faithful to the title word Mornings so as to allow sufficient time not only for meditation and homework, but also for other activities or even to take the visit to the Certosa (now open to the general public within a regular schedule). Expenditure is also lessened almost by half, without affecting the message. Yet, for the moment there is no ticket that permits repeated entrance to Santa Croce or Santa Maria Novella for a consecutive number of days, which forces the tourist to purchase the general ticket several times. Even if the Firenze Card is used, it only allows the owner one entrance to each site. This study deals with the possibility of using Mornings in Florence as a tourist guide today only considering the existence of the selected pieces and its accessibility for tourists and the general public. However, given the reach of the tourism industry today it would be convenient to explore some other aspects and implications. For instance, would it help in solving the overcrowding some sites go through nowadays? The population in the West seems to be turning towards certain forms of spirituality again: how would this itinerary be received (as a sort of semi-secular pilgrimage)? Is the tourist of today willing to spend so much time on a city break, and to concentrate his time in recurrent visits to a handful of sights? From the perspective of city managers, a visit such as this one would help having visitors staying longer – leaving more income in the city and maybe causing more mitigated impacts. At the same time, it could encourage return visits, since not all the must-see sights would have been visited, and the now educated gaze could be more likely to appreciate sights that receive lower visitor numbers such as Dante’s house or even the Etruscan remains in the hill of Fiesole. Practical matters (such as orientation) are not part of the original text, since Ruskin was relying either on Murray’s Guide or, possibly, a valet-de-place that would be readily dismissed when already on the site. Including at least a map in the text and including the route in one

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of the existing tourist apps developed by the Metropolitan City of Florence should be easy actions. A final aspect that would need careful consideration is the use of multimedia technologies as mediums of interpretation using this discourse. For example, it would be easy to make a multimedia version of any fresco with a sign to be clicked on any detail with explanatory text, so the visitor could choose to click and read or hear Ruskin’s text. But again, order in some cases is important if not crucial. Attention to detail and meaning of the content would be a must for such a remediation. Besides, audio explanations may lead to a reduction of attention in the discourse for some visitor profiles; possibly they would need to be complemented with some other resource to keep attention focused in a leisurely way.

Discussion and Conclusion The essence of Florence as a city of art – and probably not so much as a place of encountering of the branches of Christianity – is what has soaked into the tourism imaginary, as the slogan Firenze Contagiosa Bellezza points out. Once the sights and one possible message have been presented, it is plain to see Mornings in Florence as a city-sized pilgrimage. An inner and outer path that resembles the itinerary along the Stations of the Cross chapels. Walking from cultural tourism, to the admiration of art to the aesthetic epiphany. External and internal movement at the same time that require the comprehension of the blending of cultures towards apprehending how to enter the Strait Gate towards Heaven. This guidebook does not only explain isolated artworks, historical events or religious doctrine. It composes a coherent, albeit personal, narrative that connects and goes beyond these. Religious or not, and Christian or not, the traveller-reader grasps the place of Florence in Christianity, and its worth. Even more importantly, the traveller will by the end be a skilled looker, an ability that can be applied to future destinations and everyday life.

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Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Dr Keith Hanley, from Lancaster University, for pointing out the relevance of researching the possibility of following the itinerary described in Mornings in Florence today. The author would also like to thank the Ruskin Library in Lancaster University for their help and the opportunity to access the documents in their archives.

References Addario, S. (2016) Opera del duomo di Firenze: 1,3 Milioni di visitatori nel 2015. Osservatore Libero. Available at: www.​osservatorelibero.​it/​2016/​03/​22/​opera-​del-​duomo-​di-​firenze-​13-​milioni-​di-​visitatori-​nel-​2015-​video (accessed 20 August 2017). Baedeker, K. (1913) Northern Italy : including Leghorn, Florence, Ravenna and Routes through France, Switzerland and Austria: Handbook for Travellers (14th edn). Karl Baedeker, Leipzig, Germany. Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale – Firenze (2004) Grand Tour. Journeys in Tuscany made by British and French travelers from the late 17th century to the early 19th, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale – Firenze. Available at: http://​grandtour.​bncf.​firenze.​sbn.​it (accessed 20 August 2017). Calaresu, M. (1999) Looking for Virgil’s Tomb: The End of the Grand Tour and the Cosmopolitan Ideal in Europe. In: Elsner, J. and Rubiés, J.P. (eds) Voyages and Visions: Towards a Cultural History of Travel. Reaktion Books, London, pp. 138–161. Chiaravallo, A. (2011) The secret of the aesthetic epiphany, conscious connection. Available at: www.​ cons​ciou​scon​nect​ionm​agazine.​com/​2011/​03/​the-​aesthetic-​epiphany (accessed 20 August 2017). Citt Metropolitana di Firenze (2017) Movimento delle strutture Alberghiere e extra. Florence. Available at: www.​cittametropolitana.​fi.​it/​wp-​content/​uploads/​2017/​03/​Firenze_​movimento_​turistico_​2016-​01-​ 01_​2016-​12-​31.​pdf (accessed 9 April 2019). Comune di Firenze and Instituto Superiore sul Sistemi Territoriali per l’Innovazione (2013a) Destinazione Firenze: accoglienza e gestione dei visitatori nel centro storico di Firenze. Analisi pilota sull’utilizzo della Firenze Card. Florence. Available at: www.​fire​nzep​atri​moni​omon​diale.​it/​wp-​content/​uploads/​ 2015/​11/​2.-​Report_​FI_​Card.​pdf (accessed 1 December 2012). Comune di Firenze and Instituto Superiore sul Sistemi Territoriali per l’Innovazione (2013b) Destinazione Firenze: accoglienza e gestione dei visitatori nel centro storico di Firenze. Analisi dei luoghi sotto fruiti (‘zone fredde’) nelle guide turistiche internazionali. Florence. Available at: www.​fire​nzep​atri​moni​ omon​diale.​it/​wp-​content/​uploads/​2015/​11/​5.-​Report_​Guide-​turistiche.​pdf (accessed 5 November 2015). Ellerbee, G. (2010) Voyage to Italia: Americans in Italy in the nineteenth century. Sheldon Museum of Art Catalogues and Publications, 83. Available at: http://​digitalcommons.​unl.​edu/​sheldonpubs/​83 (accessed 7 May 2010). Hanley, K. and Walton, J.K. (2010) Constructing Cultural Tourism: John Ruskin and the Tourist Gaze. Channel View Publications, Bristol, UK. Hewison, R. (1976) The argument of the eye, VictorianWeb. Available at: www.​victorianweb.​org/​authors/​ ruskin/​hewison/​4.​html (accessed 2 February 2017). Hom, S. (2015) The Beautiful Country. Tourism and the Impossible State of Destination Italy. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo and London. Ministero dei beni e delle attivit culturali e del turismo 2016 (2017) Tutti numeri dei #museitaliani, Ministero dei beni e delle attivit culturali e del turismo. Available at: www.​beniculturali.​it/​mibac/​export/​MiBAC/​ sito-​MiBAC/​Contenuti/​MibacUnif/​Comunicati/​visualizza_​asset.​html_​892096923.​html (accessed 25 August 2017). Payne, E. (2015) Save Florence from mass tourism! New campaign bids to reclaim city from its 16 million visitors and monitor the damage they cause. Daily Mail. Available at: www.​dailymail.​co.​uk/​travel/​ travel_​news/​article-​3041513/​Save-​Florence-​mass-​tourism-​New-​campaign-b ​ ids-​reclaim-c ​ ity-​16million-​visitors-​monitor-​damage-​cause.​html (accessed 22 January 2019).

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Ritter, D. (2009) Allez! Arrêtez! Vite! Impressions d’Italie dans la littérature et la photographie de voyage au XIXe sciècle. In: Pohlmann, U. (ed.) Voir l’Italie et mourir. Skira Flammarion, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, pp. 48–55. Ruskin, J. (1877) Mornings in Florence: Being Simple Studies of Christian Art, for English Travellers. George Allen, Sunnyside. Shepherd, J. (2006) Journeys of a lifetime. Ruskin’s continental tours, Ruskin Library. Available at: www.​ lancaster.​ac.​uk/​users/​ruskinlib/​Pages/​continental.​html (accessed 24 August 2017). UNESCO (2017) Historic centre of Florence, UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Available at: http://​whc.​ unesco.​org/​en/​list/​174 (accessed 24 August 2017). United Nations World Tourism Organization (2016) Tourism highlights. Madrid. Available at: www.​e-​unwto.​ org/​doi/​pdf/​10.​18111/​9789284418145 (accessed 22 January 2019). United Nations World Tourism Organization (2017) Italy – regional information. World Tourism Organization. Available at: ​www2.​unwto.​org/​en/​country/​italy (accessed 18 August 2017).

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  Discussion Questions

Chapter 2

• • • •

Do you think that Mircea Elíade’s theories between the sacred and the profane continue in force today? Are people who have the culture of appreciation of the sacred allowed to perceive a universal understanding? Do you think that the symbols of sacred can also be symbols of cultural exchange and tools for peace and mutual understanding? How should they be explained? Do you think that people from different cultural and religious backgrounds can share the same space and time in sacred places?

• • • • •

Chapter 3

• • •

What makes a sacred space always a contested space? What is the connection between sacred spaces and different worldviews? What implications or impacts does it have for visitors? How can religious sites be presented to nonreligious visitors so that the visit fosters mutual understanding?

Chapter 4



188

How should a holy building be deconsecrated and turned into one that is useful in a secularized society? What difference is there between the adaptive renovation and reuse of religious and non-religious buildings?

What discourse models can be proposed to substitute the biased, Western historical discourse of holy places? Do left- and right-wing policies differ in how they value holy architecture? Should tourists be excluded from liturgical celebrations, or should this be an opportunity for them to increase their knowledge? Does the tourist’s visit contaminate – empty of force and meaning – a place that is holy to a community that is not their own? Is holy architecture able to reveal its mystery without the use of liturgy, or is it vital to guarantee human presence in order to renew the force of that which is holy?

Chapter 5

• •

• • •

What would be the role of sacred art in India? What was the order of appearance of the visual and speech in religious practices of Ancient Greece, and what etymological relationship would the image have with knowledge? In Neoplatonism or Corbin’s theory, how do images relate to ideas or the intelligible world? In Aby Warburg’s theory of images, what purpose and role do emotions have? What are images good for in cultural tourism, according to the author of the article?

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Discussion Questions

Chapter 6

• • •

How would you structure a tourist product that includes artworks described in this chapter? Do you think this type of speech is suitable for several types of audiences? Why? Do you think international visitors perceive the Christian roots in Europe?





What aspects of Nature have been considered sacred over time? Why do you think the most secularized societies are those that are turning with more interest towards Nature nowadays? How would you structure spiritual–sustainable tourism products that appeal to a wide range of visitors?

Chapter 8

• • •

What kind of values are associated with religious artefacts? Why is it important to take them into account when creating an exhibition? Think of a museum you have visited recently. Is the context of religious artifacts (of any kind) recreated in some way? If you are familiar with the notion of authenticity and representation in tourism studies, do you think, taking into account the answer in the previous question, this recreation of the original context gives a feeling of authenticity to the artefact?

Chapter 9

• •

How do you think the core values of pilgrimage can be marketed to religious tourists (not specifically pilgrims)? Do you think there is little knowledge about the core values of Hajj? How can tourism help to improve this situation for a global audience?

How do you think the influence of a pilgrimage experience in after-trip daily life could be researched?

Chapter 10



Chapter 7

• •

189

• •

Does an interpreter's support and the appropriate storytelling process destroy the genius loci of a holy place, its special atmosphere and individual spirituality or increase the attractiveness of a holy place and change its perception as a pilgrimage object? What are the main points of the guidance and storytelling in sacred places, on pilgrimage routes and shrines? Is it possible to set the border between sacrum (where there is no interpretation needed) and prophanum (guiding and interpretation) during sacral place visiting?

Chapter 11



• •

• •

Based on reading this chapter, which five ways, methods or strategies can you name as being especially suitable in the promotion of pilgrimage tourism through the use of apps and/or social media? What is the difference between taking a pilgrimage and touristic travel to a religious place? Does an interpreter's support and the appropriate storytelling process destroy the genius loci of a holy place, its special atmosphere and individual spirituality or increase the attractiveness of a holy place and changes its perception as a pilgrimage object? What are the main points of the guidance and storytelling in sacred places, on pilgrimage routes and shrines? What are the main points of the guidance and storytelling in sacred places, on pilgrimage routes and shrines?

Chapter 12



How may a change of political system affect the status of a church and its heritage?

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• • • •

Discussion Questions

Is it important that the State recognize religious tourism in its development strategies? Why do the lifestyle of orthodox monks represents challenge for tourism? Point out the strengths and weaknesses of intercultural dialogue in Artis Center programmes. Why, in your opinion, do women seem to be more interested in cultural and creative tourism?

Chapter 13

• • • •

• •



Out of the three pilgrimages described in the chapter, which would you like to take part in and why? Consider the characteristics described for each of the three pilgrimages – do any of them encourage sustainability within their tourism offer? Do you think the locals referred to in the chapter show a high level of generosity only because they share the same religious beliefs as the pilgrims, or are there any other justifications for their actions? The focus of this chapter is on locals who receive pilgrims in their own homes, and locals who provide lodging in houses or hostels built expressly for pilgrims. Discuss other forms of participation regarding pilgrimages which do not involve walking the road.

Chapter 15



• •

Would you define Ramon Llull as a great traveller? What was the purpose of Llul's travels within the Christian world? What was the purpose of his travels to Northern Africa? What is Llull's opinion about pilgrims?

Chapter 14





Which other strategies can be used in religious tourism as a bridge with research

projects, linked to concepts as ‘heritage’, ‘memory’, ‘cultural memory’ and ‘public participation’? What are the pros and cons of using social media for posting pictures of historical buildings that are not so well known when visiting a city – does it benefit the visitor projects in those locations? Does the role of the tourist guide allow the collaboration of researchers and scientists in the actual tour plans? Would you participate in one of these actions? Do history, art history and other disciplines from the humanities aid better understanding of the landscape we visit if explained in a participatory way?

Chapter 16

• • • •

Why and how could the diversity of shared religious heritage contribute to strengthen Europe’s identity? Why is heritagization a key process to enhance cooperation between bottom-up and top-down movements? In what way and to which extent could tourism – faith-based or not – contribute to maintain and safeguard religious heritage? What changes are indispensable to further develop awareness of the public interest of heritage, especially amongst younger generations?

Chapter 17



• •

If a company wanted to commercialize a tour of Florence as described in Mornings in Florence, do you think it is important to have the cooperation of the local DMO or site managers? Why or why not? Why can a repeat visit to a site be beneficial for feeling the sense of place, thus gaining a better understanding of the site’s meaning? For today’s travellers, do you think a guidebook is enough to transmit Ruskin’s aesthetic epiphany?

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Index

Note: Page numbers in bold type refer to figures Page numbers in italic type refer to tables Page numbers followed by ‘n’ refer to notes abbeys, Mont Saint-Michel (Normandy, France)  78 accommodation guests’ religious concerns  3 hostels  8, 144 pilgrim hosting as pilgrimage  141–148 Antonio’s bar  144–145 Casa Fernanda  145 facilities offered  144–145 Fatima pilgrimage  142–143, 144 host interviews  142, 144–147 Lenten pilgrimage  143, 145, 146, 147 literature review  141 locals and pilgrims interaction  147 methodological and logistical aspects  141–142 payment  142, 145–146 personal feelings (hosts) 146 Santiago pilgrimage  142, 143–147 Acoma Pueblo (New Mexico, USA)  9–10, 10 aesthetic dimensions  11 aesthetic epiphany  174, 181, 182, 185 Agony in the Garden (Giotto)  184 Alevi-Betkashi communities  80 alter, shetiyah stone  51 ALTERheritage meeting  163, 164 Amman Declaration on Peace Through Tourism (2000)  2 Angkor Wat (Cambodia)  5 aniconism  65 Anthropocene geological era  77

apps  6, 185 Camino  117, 118, 119, 122 Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem, Israel)  97 archetypes  62 architecture  45, 47, 48 art Christian  91, 179 collections  88–90 Florence  179, 185 Greek  53 holy and the Bible  70 Byzantine icons  53 and evangelization  88, 90 Florence  179 heritagization movements  163–166 learning to see  176 mandorla (halo of light)  53 removed from churches to museums  89–90 as spiritual experience  9 and idols  65 Indian tradition  59 artefacts religious  69, 90, 91–92 symbolic  25 Arthurian myth  6 Artis Center  121, 125–128, 129 artistic interpretations  70

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Index

ashram culture  5 Asia, influence of Western ideas  7 astrological observatories  89 Athos, Mount (Greece)  79 audio guides  48, 185 authenticity  34

Balkan tours  125 baptism  50 baptisteries  50, 52 Barcelona (Spain) Sagrada Família  54, 55 University  150 Beguinage of Sint-Truiden (Belgium)  164, 165 behaviour etiquette  4, 10 Belgium Friends of the Beguinage of Sint-Truiden  164, 165 Saint Francis-Xavier church (Anderlecht)  161, 162 belief systems, comprehension  9 bell-tower  52 Bethlehem Declaration (UNWTO, 2015)  1 Bible and religious tourism  69–76 artistic interpretations  70 birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ  74–76 Decalogue  73–74 Exodus and the battle of Kadesh  72 Genesis 3 (original sin)  74, 75 Israel (people of God)  71–72 Jesus Christ  57, 74–76, 79 Magnificat  73 newspaper article  69–70 St Paul on the way to Damascus  70–71, 71 Western cultural history  69, 70, 75–76 biblical exegesis  19 Blaquerna (Llull)  135, 137 blogs  119, 144–145 Buddhism pilgrimages  96–97, 98 shrines, Burma  33 Tantric Tibetan  59 Wutaishan monasteries (China)  8 buildings ‘friends’ of   164 physical  30 see also religious buildings burial objects  92 Burma, Buddhist shrines  33 Cambodia, Angkor Wat  5 Camino apps  117, 118, 119 Camino de Santiago see Way of Saint James Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)  134 Catalonia National Art Museum  89 see also Nau Côclea (Catalonia)

Catalonia Sacra  6 Catharijneconvent Museum (Utrecht, Netherlands)  91 Cathedral of Saint Pierre and Saint Paul (Troyes, France)  54 Centre for Religious Art and Culture (CRKC)  163 Centro de Interpretación del Misticismo (CIM)  88 ceremonial structures, man-made  24 chapels, multifaith  34 Chickasaw Cultural Centre (Oklahoma, USA)  92 China  7–8, 47 chivalric combat  131 Christ Pantocrator (Master of Taüll)  66 Christian art  91, 179 doctrine, images  59 experience, seeking meaning in scripture  69–70 heritage  91, 161–163, 162 monastic communities, care for nature  79 religious building, Middle Ages archetype  44–45 symbolism  50–51 temples  26 baptisteries  50, 52 church door  51 cloister  52–53 gardens  53 heritage, public interest and use values  161–163, 162 Judeo-Christian architectural tradition  48 Romanesque and Gothic  50, 51–52 traditional Biblical meaning  48–49 vault  52 Vitruvius method  51 Christianity  50 cultural legacy  90 Eastern churches  79 episcopal museums  90 Llull’s concern to convert Mongols  139 and pilgrimage  134 church furniture  163 property abandonment/reuse of   160–161, 163, 168, 168, 171–172, 171 demolition  161–162 desacralization  121, 122, 128 extended use example  171–172, 171 heritagization movements for saving  163–166, 164 as historical monuments  161 selective protection  163 use for non-religious activities (reuse)  163, 168, 168, 169, 171–172, 171 underused  161

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Index

churches rock-hewn (Lalibela, Ethiopia)  5 spiritual (New Orleans)  11 Churches Conservation Trust  165 cities, utopia of the ideal city  47, 65 citizen science  149–150 movements  163 cloisters  52–53 collective consciousness  16 communicative process heritage interpretation  8–9, 86–87 hosts’ welcome  146 images  57 interpretation of sites  8–9 narrative forms  105, 109–110, 110–113 professionally provided  111 consciousness, imaginal basis  61 conservation churches  165 monument or holy building  45 nature  81 contested spaces, religious sites  4 Conversion of St Paul, The (Caravaggio)  70, 71 cosmological symbolism  50–51 Creation, theological concept  80 cross, Greek  50 cross-cultural dialogue  6 understanding  33–34, 35 crypt  51 cultural heritage and cultural diversity  94 growing interest  85 tourist activities  105 cultural history, Western world and Bible  69, 70, 75–76 cultural landscapes  25 religious group meeting place  31–32 cultural and religious understanding  1 ‘Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity’ (UNEP)  81 cultural tourism Artis Center  126 changing human needs  108, 113 diversity in understanding  107 interest in meaningful knowledge  5–7 Day of the Dead  6–7 de Perellós, Ramon  131 Decalogue  73–74 Delos Initiative  81 democratization, tourism  174 devotees  3–4 devotional centres  26 digital humanities  156 Digital Pilgrim Lebaniego  119–120 divine uniqueness  15

193

Dominican nuns  154 Duomo complex (Florence, Italy)  179 Đurðevi Stupovi Monastery (Ras, Serbia)  122 Dutch society  91 Dveri (travel agency)  125 Eastern Christian churches  79 Egeria  134 Egypt heavenly fields  43 mummies  91 theory of statues  57 Egyptian campaign (1798–1801)  72 Eleusinian Mysteries  61 emotional experience  34 episcopal museums  90 Estonia, Maausk  78 Ethiopia, rock-hewn churches (Lalibela)  5 ethnic identities  33 European cooperation (benefits)  160–173 European Cultural Heritage Summit  169 European museums, religions in  91–92 European Year of Cultural Heritage  160, 169–170, 171 expectations of tourists  105 experience children’s  83 Christian  69–70 emotional  34 pilgrimage  3–4, 110 religious  20, 109 transformative  31 facilities  107 faith-based humanitarian causes  33 faiths, clash of   9 female spirituality, Iberian Peninsula  150 Florence (Italy) Grand Tour epoch  176–178, 178 present-day  178–185 Christian art  179 city of art  185 Duomo complex  179 Golden Triangle  179 main tourist sights  178, 179, 180 tourist apps  185 visitors per year  178–179 World Heritage List (UNESCO)  178 see also Mornings in Florence (Ruskin) food and drink  3–4 gastronomic heritage  126, 127, 128, 128 France Cathedral of Saint Pierre and Saint Paul (Troyes)  54 Mont Saint-Michel Abbey (Normandy)  78 Nôtre-Dame Cathedral (Paris) 54, 94 Francis of Assisi  79 French sociology school  14–15, 16, 17

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194

Index

Friends of the Beguinage of Sint-Truiden (Belgium)  164 ‘friends’ of a building  164 Future for Religious Heritage (FRH)  160, 167–168, 171 international conferences  167, 167

gardens  53 gastronomic heritage  126, 128, 128 gematria  53–54 Genesis 3 (original sin)  74, 75 Göbekli Tepe (Turkey)  78 Goddess movement  98 Grand Tour Europe  174, 176–178 Florence  176, 177, 178 reasons for  177–178 Grand Tour (Nau Côclea) see Nau Côclea (Catalonia) gravitational waves  69 Greece Eleusinian Mysteries  61 Mount Athos  79 Greek art  53 cross  50 Guide for the Traveller (Picaud)  134 guidebooks  175, 179, 184, 185 Baedeker’s  174, 177 Lonely Planet  11 Murray’s  179, 184, 185 Rough Guide  8 Ruskin’s  174 see also Mornings in Florence (Ruskin) guided tours  92 guides tourist knowledge of a place  105 on a pilgrim trail  110–111 role of counsellor  110 storytelling  105–106, 109–113 training courses  6, 8 handbooks see guidebooks heavenly fields (Egypt)  43 Hebrew Bible  73 Hebrew letters  53 heritage cultural  85, 94, 105 definition of term  108 gastronomic  126, 128, 128 interpretation Beck and Cable principles  87 communication of information  8–9 Tilden principles  86–87 management  5 national agencies  163 Neolithic  99 spiritual  108–110

value assessment  162 see also religious heritage; Serbian medieval world heritage sites heritage tourism  116 heritagization movements  163–169, 164 hermeneutics  15 definition  19 Eliade on  20–21 Gadamerian proposal  19 language of symbols and myths  20 hierophany  20, 24, 25, 26, 46, 47 Hindu altar  54 deities  6 mandala  50 Hinduism Brahman  16 darshan  59 Kali Goddess idol (Kalighat Kali Temple, India)  59, 60 Khajuraho group of temples (India)  5 historic monuments  45–46, 161, 163 holy abodes  43 holy art see art, holy holy buildings see religious buildings Holy Land Aquitanian  134 church organized tours, Spain  3 Franciscan custody  79 natural sites associated with Jesus  79 pilgrimages in Middle Ages  136 holy places, specific past event  47 holy and the profane, territorial dynamic  47–48 holy space, definition  44 Homo religiosus  15, 21, 23, 44 Homo sapiens  59–60 hostels  8, 144 human behaviour  15 human nature  14 human remains  91 human spirit  18 humanitarian causes, faith-based  33

icons Byzantine  53 etymological meaning  57 Nigra Sum collection  91 Tantric Tibetan Buddhism  59 ICT see information and communication technologies (ICT) identity  33, 35 self- 34 idols  65, 73 images  5, 58 and archetypes  62 Benjamin’s theory of   64 creation, Lewis-Williams thesis  59–60 educational purposes  64–65

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Index

embodiment of the sacred  58–68 allegoric code  63 aniconic destruction  65–66 connected energy  63 iconoclastic criticism  58 medieval Christian doctrine  59 Moses’ snake effigy  66 Native Americans  64 spectator theory  64 spiritual truths  62 as a form of knowledge  61 as powerful signs  63 imagination, language of images  61 imago mundi  46 India Kali Goddess idol (Kalighat Kali Temple)  60 Khajuraho group of temples  5 Lonely Planet guides  11 royal cities  43 sexual sculpture  5–6 tourist image  5 indigenous religions  9–10 information brochures  92 panels  92 see also guidebooks information communication heritage interpretation  8–9, 86–87 hosts’ welcome  146 images  58 interpretation of sites  9 narrative forms  105–106, 110–113 professionally provided  111 information and communication technologies (ICT) blogs  119, 144–145 Camino apps  117, 118, 119, 120 Florence  185 interpretation tools for religious heritage  93, 109–110, 117, 118 massive open online course (MOOC)  151 planning trips/research  116 Spiritual Landscapes project  151, 156–157 Wi-Fi connectivity  119 see also social media, pilgrimage tourism Intangible World Heritage (UNESCO)  6–7 intercultural interaction, religious tourism as  10–11 International Council of Museums (ICOMOS)  88 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), spiritual values of nature  81, 81 interpretation academic perspective  86 appropriate means and message  4 centres  88–89 crucial role  85 principles and objectives  86–87 religious tourism  105–114 additional activities  107 contemporary tourism  107–108 genius loci  105, 109, 110, 113

195

and pilgrimages  106–108, 107 spiritual heritage  108–110 tourist guide or spiritual guide  110–113, 112 of sites  8–10 see also religious heritage, interpretation tools interpreters, professional  105 interpretive facilities  116 Islam core values  104 exchanging salaam  99 Hadith  99 Llull’s interaction with men of learning  138–139 Qur’an  99, 104 virtues to be observed  99–100 Islamic pilgrimage (Hajj)  97, 98–104 Israel cultural knowledge of   73 as ethnic group  72 great profession of faith  73–74 history of in Egyptian stela  71–72 see also Holy Land; Jerusalem Italy Grand Tour epoch  176–178, 178 idealization of   178 Santa Maria dei Greci church (Agrigento, Sicily)  78 Vatican Museums  90 see also Florence Itinerarium Burdigalense  134

James, Saint  135 see also Way of Saint James Japanese university students  2 Jerusalem Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock  97 Edict of Milan  79 Jewish tradition of city of heaven  48 New Jerusalem  55 pilgrimages in Middle Ages  136 significance to different religions  97 Jesus Christ birth and resurrection  74–76 natural sites associated with  79 representative image  58 Judeo-Christian architectural tradition  48

Kantian knowledge theory  19 knowledge transfer activities  149–150 Končul Monastery (Serbia)  127, 128

landscapes cultural  25, 31–32 diachrony of   149–159

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196

Index

landscapes (continued) citizen science  149–150, 156–157 Grand Tour of the Nau Côclea  151– 156 models  150–151 public participation project  151, 157, 158 ‘sound landscapes’ 152–154, 155, 158 synchronic and diachronic perception  154–156 walking  152 therapeutic  31 see also spiritual landscapes, Spiritual Landscapes project laws of divine proportion  48 Lebaniego Way  119–120 legends, of place  9, 24 leisure education  83 Leningrad Codex (L)  73 Lenten pilgrimage  143, 145, 146, 147 liturgical chant  153 liturgical food calendars  3 Lonely Planet guides  11 Louis, Saint, fresco  183–184 Malta, Neolithic heritage  98 mana  16 mandala temple floor plan  50 mandorla (halo of light)  53 Manila Declaration (1980)  2 Māori  92 Marian shrines  106 marketing religious heritage  32, 33 social media  10, 116, 119 word-of-mouth  10–11 Masoretic manuscripts  73 massive open online course (MOOC)  151 materialistic reductionism  80 meaning, search for  69–70 Medieval monasticism  150 music  153 sound landscapes  153 spirituality  150 meditation techniques  61, 63 meeting houses, Mormon  32 Middle Ages Llull’s travels  131–139 numerology and the holy  54 travelling in  130–131 missionaries, use of paintings  64–65 missionary enterprise, Llull’s  138–139 monasteries  91, 119, 121, 122, 157, 157 China, Wutaishan Buddhist  8 Serbia Končul  127, 128

Sopoćani Monastery (Ras Complex)  121, 122, 124 Studenica  122, 123 Spain Montserrat (Catalonia)  91 Santa Clara of Manresa  154–156, 155 Santa Maria de la Merced (Huete)  157, 157 Santo Toribio de Liébana (Cantabria)  119 monastic communities, Christian  79 monastic lifestyle  125, 127, 128, 150 monasticism medieval  150 research  154 Mongols  139 monotheism  66 Mont Saint-Michel Abbey (Normandy, France)  78 monuments  46, 161, 163 Mormon meeting houses  32 Mornings in Florence (Ruskin) 174–187 aesthetic epiphany  181, 182, 185 armchair and real tourist  179–181 artworks not on display now  183–184 Caird letter to Ruskin  181 Certosa  185 coherent narrative  182 entrance fees  182, 185 excerpts  176, 182 factorizing  179–181 Grand Tour epoch  176–178 information and communication technologies (ICT)  185 itinerary contemporary traveller  184–185, 184 original  180, 181 seventh morning  184 spiritual 183, 183 timing of visits  176, 182, 185 learning to see art  176 Library Edition of John Ruskin’s works  181 note on the author  175–176 order of visits  184 partial visits and subsequent return  181, 182 practical matters  185 Santa Croce  182, 183–184 Spanish Chapel in Santa Maria Novella  181, 184 Uffizi  164, 181, 182, 183, 184 updating a romantic view  174–187 use of guidebook today  183–185 visual elements  175–176 walking in Ruskin’s footsteps  181–185 multifaith buildings  34 mummies, Egyptian  91 Murray’s guidebooks  179, 184, 185 museums definition  88

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Index

dissemination function  89 episcopal  90 heritage management tools  93 interpretation tools  88–90 new forms of art  87 religious objects/art in  89–90 Territorio Alghero Museum project  93 Vatican  90 music, medieval  153 mystical terror  18 mysticism, Platonic  54, 62

National Art Museum Catalonia  89 National Churches Trust, The  166 national heritage agencies  163 national identities  33 Native Americans  9, 64 Natività del Cristo, La (Novgorod)  75 natural spaces  79, 83, 85 nature conservation  81 Nau Côclea (Catalonia) artists  151–152 members’ actions  152–156 Monastery of Santa Clara of Manresa  154–156, 155 sanctuary of El Miracle  152–154, 155 ‘sound landscapes’ 152–154, 155 synchronic and diachronic perception  154–156 walking  151–152 needs  113 Maslow’s pyramid of   90 Nemanjić-dynasty (Serbia)  122 Neolithic heritage (Malta)  98 Neoplatonic Hermetism  64 Neoplatonic ontology  63 Netherlands, Catharijneconvent Museum (Utrecht)  91 New Orleans (USA), spiritual churches  11 Nigra Sum collection  91 Nôtre-Dame Cathedral (Paris)  54, 94 numerology and the holy  53–54 nuns  154

orbis terrarum  46

Pagan pilgrimages  98 paintings, missionaries’ use  64–65 Paris (France), Nôtre-Dame Cathedral  54, 94 Parliament of World Religions  34 paschal candle  52 pathosformeln  63 Pavlica Church (Ibar Valley, Serbia)  126, 126 Peace Boat  2 peace and mutual understanding  1–3 ‘Peregrino Lebaniego Digital’  119–120 Perennial Philosophy  45

197

Petrarch  130 phenomenology, definition  17 pilgrim hosting as pilgrimage see accommodation pilgrimage centres  108 Christian faith’s non-requisite of   134 collective journey  133 ‘Compostellan’ style  109 experience internal-external nature  3 religious  109 fascinans  18–19 Fatima pilgrimage  142–143, 144 Hajj  97, 98–104 host communities  141 human mobility  29 intellectual (search for truth)  137 Lenten  143 Middle Ages  133–134 Pagan  98 period of time to make  98 purpose  97–98, 106 religious experience  109 religious motives  110 Rocamadour pilgrimage  131, 132 as a ritual of initiation  98 shared tradition  104 social interest  7 social media  115–120 support vehicles  142, 144 tourism as phenomenon  106 see also social media visitors numbers (UNWTO)  115 walking  78, 142, 144, 151–152 pilgrimage routes interpretation and guidance  111 revalorization  77–84 core ideas  83–84 inspirational tendencies  82–83 materialistic and positivist modernity  80 nodal sites  77–78 positive turning point  81–82 pilgrims basic needs  3 code of conduct  97 concept  3–4 as counsellor  135–136 definition  78, 133 Llull’s description of   132 risks in Middle Ages  133–134 pioneers, mass tourism  177 places holy  47 of worship, saving  163–166, 164 Platonic mysticism  54, 62 Pomerania, religious tourism and pilgrimages  110–113, 112

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198

Index

Poor Clare nuns  154 predestination, Calvinist doctrine  15 profane, definition  47 protection orders  162 Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, The (Weber)  15 Purgatory  131 Qur’an  99, 104 Ras complex (Serbia)  122–123 rationalist conceptualism  64 reflexive tourist  11 religions classification  90 decline in influence of   33 deinstitutionalization  90 East/West meaning  6, 8 increasing indifference  7 Jerusalem  97 learning the basics online  6 non-dominant/dead  6 origin of term  47 other faith as barrier  4 phenomenological research  15 phenomenology of   17–18 sacred administration of   16 terminology for  21, 22 social conditions  15 tourists fear of attempt to convert  4–5 interest in  107 trivialization  94 Universalist interpretation  45 religiosity decrease in  106 in visited area  107 religious acts  108 religious artefacts community context  89 endowed with life  91–92 practical function  91 tourism  69 religious authenticity  32 religious buildings abandonment/reuse of   46, 156–157, 160–161, 163 art removed to museums  89–90 Christian  44–45 extended use example  171–172, 171 heritage aspects  162 heritagization movements for saving  163–166, 164 laws of divine proportion  48 multifaith  34 non-religious use  168, 168, 169,

171–172, 171 religious debate (Llull)  138–139 religious events  19 religious experience  20, 109, 110 religious heritage Christian  91, 161–163, 162 comprehension of   8 conservation  167 interpretation tools  85–95 appropriate  92–93 distant religions in European museums  91–92 European religions in European museums  91–92 final considerations  93–94 human remains  91 ICT 93, 109–110, 117, 118 interpretation spaces  87–93 intervention typologies  92 media types  87 modern technology  109 museums and art collections  88–90 principles and objectives  86–87 regional traits  85 in situ  92–93 taboos and cultural norms  92 territorial interpretative planning  93 tangible and intangible values  44 tourism marketing  32, 33 religious observance  170 religious organizations, confiscation of lands  80 religious practices  23 religious sites art removed to museums  89–90 contested spaces  4, 29, 32–33, 35 interfaith visitors  4, 26, 34 managers  32–33 meaningful discourse, lack  6 meaningfulness of place  32 ‘Thirdspace’ 34 tourism and mutual understanding  2 as tourist attractions  31 tourist visits  4 travellers at  4–5 religious territoriality  31–32 religious tourism artefacts  69 contemporary  107–108 growth of   29 as intercultural interaction  10–11 interpretation and guidance see interpretation, religious tourism motives  108 reasons for  115 Serbian Orthodox Church  123–125 Serbian travel agencies  125 and tolerance  94 see also Bible and religious tourism religious tourist, concept  3

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Index

religious typologies  17 Renaissance Hermeticism  63–64 reputation management  116 research  8 public engagement  149–150, 157, 158 rituals  17, 47 Rocamadour pilgrimage  131, 132 ROCK project  169–170 rock-hewn churches (Lalibela)  5 Roman culture  79 ‘Romers’ 133, 135 rose window  51, 52 Rough Guide  8 Ruskin’s guidebooks  174 sacralization practices  44–45 sacraments  47 sacred definition (Berger)  22–23 interreligious dialogue  14–28 bridges of   23–26 comparative history of religion  23 devotional centres  26 hermeneutics of the sacred  19–21 phenomenology of the sacred  17–19, 23 sacred manifestations  21–23 sociological and ethnological theories  15–17 notion of   7–8, 9 Otto principles for investigation  18–19 and profane, distinction  16, 21–22, 29 social functions  16 sociological theory  14–15 spirit, a priori category of   19 symbolic function  16–17, 24–25 terminology for  21, 22 universality of concept  26 see also images, embodiment of the sacred sacred geography  78 sacred groves  79 sacred spaces as affective spaces  31 characteristics  25–26 delimited from profane spaces  25 Eliade’s views of   30 ‘interaction’ with  109 management issues  29 ‘real’ or socially constructed  30 special silence  153 visitors’ need for guidance  86 Sagrada Família (Barcelona, Spain) 54, 55 Saint Francis-Xavier church (Anderlecht, Belgium)  161, 162 Sami indigenous tradition  78 San warrior  91 Santa Croce (Florence, Italy)  182, 183–184 Santa Maria dei Greci church (Agrigento, Sicily)  78

199

Santiago de Compostela (Spain)  135 Pilgrims’ Office  7 see also Way of Saint James Sauvegarde de l’Art Français, La  166 scouting movement  83 secular visitors historic/architectural interests  34 as a nuisance  3, 32 secularization  7, 8, 161 self-identity, construction through travel  34 Serbia Old Pavlica Church (Ibar Valley)  126, 126 Ras Complex Nemanjić-dynasty  122–123 Sopoćani Monastery  121, 123, 124 Studenica Monastery  122, 123–125, 123, 124 Tourist Organization  127 travel agencies  125 Serbian medieval rulers, female history  121, 126–127 Serbian medieval world heritage sites  121–129 Artis Center  121, 125–128, 129 Church autonomy and power (regained)  123 gastronomic heritage  126, 127–128 monastic administrations  125 monuments in Kosovo  122–123 Ras complex  121, 122–123, 124 restoration on monastic centres  122 Serbian medieval rulers, female history  121, 126–127 Serbian Orthodox Church and tourism  123–125, 128 special interest tourism  125, 126, 127–128 UNESCO cultural heritage protection  122–123, 125, 128 women as predominant tourists  126 Yugoslavia anti-religious propaganda  121, 128 desacralization of Church property  121, 122, 128 separation of church and state  122 Serbian Orthodox Church  121, 122, 123–125, 128 Shamanism  61 Sharing Sacred Spaces Project  34 shrines, Marian  106 sin, King Solomon’s prayer  74 sites interpretation of   8–10 see also Serbian medieval world heritage sites skeletal remains  91 smartphone connectivity  117, 118, 119 social activism  154 social media heritagization movements  164 pilgrimage tourism  115–120 blogs  119, 144–145 connectivity of visitors  116–117, 117 management implications  116 marketing  119

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200

Index

social media (continued) nature of demand for  115–116 nature of social media  117–118 planning trips/research  116 target group marketing  116 Spiritual Landscapes projects  151, 156–157 tourism marketing  10, 116, 119 society benefit of religion to  33 as sui generis reality  16 sociology definition  15 French school  15, 16, 17 Solomon’s temple  49 Sopoćani Monastery (Ras Complex, Serbia)  121, 122, 123, 124 soul archaic Greek culture  61 cognitive apprehension  19 Neoplatonic theory  63 ‘sound landscapes’  152–154, 155, 158 spaces holy  44–45 natural  79, 83, 85 ritualized construction  44–45 see also sacred spaces Spain Barcelona Sagrada Família  54, 55 University  150 Catalonia  6, 89 see also monasteries; Nau Côclea (Catalonia); Santiago de Compostela Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella (Florence, Italy)  184 special interest tourism  116 gastronomic heritage  125, 126, 127–128 spectator theory  65 Spiritour project  9 spiritual churches, New Orleans  11 spiritual heritage  108–110 spiritual hubs  108 spiritual landscapes revalorization  77–84 core ideas  83–84 history of   78–80 inspirational tendencies  82–83 materialistic and positivist modernity  80 nodal sites  77–78 positive turning point  81–82 Spiritual Landscapes project  150–158 abandonment/reuse of religious buildings  156–157 citizen science  156–157 Grand Tour of the Nau Côclea  151–156 landscape models  150–151 members’ actions  152–156 pictures of spiritual landscapes  156–157, 158 public participation project  151, 157, 158

social media  151, 156–157 ‘sound landscapes’  152–154, 155, 158 synchronic and diachronic perception  154–156 spiritual magnetism  30 spiritual needs  113 spiritual truths  62 spirituality female  150, 151 growth of   14 increased interest  7 medieval  150 in the Middle Ages  150 Spring (Botticelli)  62 stained glass, rose window  51, 52 Stari Ras (Old Ras, Serbia)  121, 122–123, 124 Stichting Oude Groninger Kerken  165 Stonehenge (UK)  6 storytelling, tourist guides  105–106, 109–110, 110–113 Studenica Monastery (Serbia)  122, 124 Sufi communities  79–80 supernatural power  21 symbolic artefacts  25 symbolism built temple  43–57 architectural symbols  55 circle/sphere and square/cube  49–50 cosmological symbolism  50–51 geometrical order and ritual orientation  48 harmony and order  49 holy art principles  54 making tangible the intangible  44–46, 55 mandorla (halo of light) 53 numerology and the holy  53–54 orientation and route inside  50–51 other elements  51–53 place of the holy, localization and structure  46–48 rose window  51, 52 temple elements  48–51 temple floor plan  50 Christian  50–51 cosmological  50–51 doors  51 function of the sacred  16–17, 24–25 human capacity  25 psychological dimension  60–61 sacred spaces  29–35 locative and itinerant dimensions  31–33 shifting views of sacred space  30–31 tourism and cross-cultural understanding  33–34, 35 visitors’ understanding of   86 talismans  59

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Index

Taoism, yin yang symbol  6 target group communication  9 marketing  116 Task Force Toekomst Kerkgebouwen  166 Tawaaf   102–104, 103 temenos  78 Temple Mount (Jerusalem, Israel) 97 temples India Kalighat Kali  59, 60 Khajuraho group  5 mandala floor plan  50 Solomon’s  49 see also Christian temples; symbolism territorial interpretative planning  93 Territorio Alghero Museum project  93 theological symbolism  50–51 therapeutic landscapes  31 Tilden principles  8 Tintagel Castle (UK)  6 ‘to-do-list’ 176, 177, 179 totemism  16 tours, guided  92 transcendental phenomenology  17 transformative experiences  31 travel as educational tool  177 ‘individualization’ of   109, 110 influencers  119 in the Middle Ages  130–131 tolerance through  94 see also guidebooks travellers at religious sites  4–5 concept  3–4 definition  133 tribal societies  17 TripAdvisor  4–5, 6 truths, spiritual  62 Turkey, Göbekli Tepe  78

United Kingdom (UK)  6 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) cultural heritage protection (Serbia)  122–123, 125, 128 Day of the Dead  6–7 Intangible World Heritage  6–7 Ras complex  121, 122–123, 124 Spiritual Convergence and Intercultural Dialogue project  26 tourism and management of heritage sites  1

201

World Heritage List  178 World Heritage Sites  1, 121, 128–129 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), ‘Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity’  81 United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)  1, 115, 120 United States of America (USA) Acoma Pueblo (New Mexico)  9–10, 10 Chickasaw Cultural Centre (Oklahoma)  92 New Orleans spiritual churches  11 University of Barcelona  150 University Twinning and Networking (UNITWIN)  1–2 urban environment, children’s experience  83

Vatican Museums (Italy)  90 Virgin iconography of the image  91 of Montserrat  91 visitors, secular  3, 32, 34 Vita Nuova, La (Dante)  133 Vitruvius method  51

Wailing Wall (Jerusalem, Israel)  97 walking Grand Tour of the Nau Côclea  151–152 see also pilgrimage waqf mortmain system  80 Way of Saint James Antonio’s bar  144–145 Camino apps  117, 118 information for pilgrims  143–144 ‘Peregrino Lebaniego Digital’ (Digital Pilgrim Lebaniego)  119–120 pilgrim hosting as pilgrimage  142, 143–147 ‘stamp’ for Compostela  144 see also Santiago de Compostela Wi-Fi connectivity  119 word-of-mouth marketing  10, 11 World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA)  81 World Heritage List (UNESCO)  178 World Heritage Sites (UNESCO)  1, 121, 128–129 see also Serbian medieval world heritage sites world peace  2, 93–94 world religions  45

‘Yellowstone model’  81 yin yang Taoist symbol  6 Yugoslavia see Serbian medieval world heritage sites

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Tourism, Pilgrimage and Intercultural Dialogue Interpreting Sacred Stories Edited by Dolors Vidal-Casellas, Silvia Aulet and Neus Crous-Costa Religious heritage and sacred sites offer an opportunity for visitors to explore a community’s cultural knowledge. However, it is important to consider the role of interpretation, meaning, experience and narrative. This book is a timely re-assessment of the increasing interconnections between the management of diversity and religious tourism, and secular spaces on a global stage. It explores key learning points from a range of contemporary case studies on religious and pilgrimage activity; these relate to ancient, sacred and emerging tourist destinations, and new forms of pilgrimage, faith systems and quasi-religious activities. By providing a conceptual framework, the book demonstrates the symbolism of sacred spaces within religious traditions and the relationships developed between them. It offers explanations on how to manage and communicate religious diversity and provides a solid overview of: • Religious tourism as a tool for intercultural dialogue; • Interpretation of religious heritage for tourism; • Cross-cultural contacts. This book will provide a valuable resource for those researching and practising tourism management, pilgrimage and religious tourism.

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