On The Way of Heaven
Are you a devout pilgrim or an existential tourist? Along the Camino the route is set within the context of its past heritage, framed by natural, historical and cultural landscapes. Have you abandoned the comfort of home to perform an inner journey to a spiritual destination, or are you seeking an encounter with cultural and natural Otherness, far from your everyday life?
Today the most diverse people engage with pilgrimage spaces and holy places in search for a sense of authenticity. On their way to the sacred relics of St. James, tourists are led by the desire for a physical challenge or look for ‘a contact with nature’. On the Way to Heaven is an attempt to explore and explain the power of place, as cultural and natural landscapes accompany the experience of both devout pilgrims and non-devotional visitors to pilgrimage sites and routes. In the late twentieth and the early twenty-first century there has been a renaissance of interest in Christian pilgrimage in Western Europe, as contemporary pilgrimage practices blend the medieval and the modern. Competing demands are placed on pilgrimage spaces and a sensitive management is needed to meet complex requirements and preserve the nature and charisma of holy places.
