“There is of course a deep spiritual need that the pilgrimage seems to satisfy, particularly for those hardy enough to tackle the journey on foot.”
― Edwin Mullins, The Pilgrimage to Santiago====================================================================
(in northwestern Spain) The city of Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia. It lies near the confluence of the Sar and Sarela rivers, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of A Coruña city. The final stop on the epic Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail, Known as "The Apostle's City," Santiago is a unique city imbued with the aura of a millennium's worth of journeys. Long-gone centuries live on in its arcaded streets and magnificent stone architecture, of which the famous cathedral is the jewel in the crown. (In 1985 UNESCO designated the city a World Heritage site.) In 813 CE a tomb discovered at nearby Padrón was said to have been supernaturally revealed to be that of the apostle St. James, martyred at Jerusalem around 44 CE. His bones had been taken to Spain, where, according to legend, he had formerly evangelized. The discovery of the relics provided a rallying point for Christian Spain, then confined to a narrow strip of the northern Iberian Peninsula (most of the remainder of which was occupied by Moors). Alfonso II of Asturias built a church over the tomb, which Alfonso III replaced with a larger structure, and during the Middle Ages the town that grew up around it became the most important Christian place of pilgrimage after Jerusalem and Rome.
+ The religious and almost divine spirit that threads the history of Santiago is also responsible for the coincidence of the date of the official foundation of the city, with the construction of the first church, in the year 830. Later, a Muslim attack that left the city practically destroyed, saving only the tomb of the Apostle. It was Diego Gelmirez who promoted, in the 11th century, a reconstruction around it, and the construction of a beautiful temple, with the consideration of Metropolitan Cathedral. Also responsible for the Codex Calixtinus and the Compostelan History, he was a visionary, able to guess the importance that this city was going to have. (In the 12th century, the Way of St. James was officially recognized through the declaration of 1122 as the first Jubilee Holy Year.)
+ Reaching Santiago de Compostela, walking it, and even imagining it, is almost a spiritual experience. Just like reaching the compostela, contemplating the façade of the cathedral from the center of the Plaza del Obradoiro, and to approach, face to face, the Santo dos Croques, to inhale the incense from the smoke of the botafumeiro, to attend the pilgrims’ mass, and to cross the Puerta del Perdón. Indeed, walking through this city means getting lost in a time tunnel. (Surround yourself with pasts that float among the tiny drops of the Galician orballo, or are reflected in the brightness of the medieval stones that populate its streets.)
+ The religious and almost divine spirit that threads the history of Santiago is also responsible for the coincidence of the date of the official foundation of the city, with the construction of the first church, in the year 830. Later, a Muslim attack that left the city practically destroyed, saving only the tomb of the Apostle. It was Diego Gelmirez who promoted, in the 11th century, a reconstruction around it, and the construction of a beautiful temple, with the consideration of Metropolitan Cathedral. Also responsible for the Codex Calixtinus and the Compostelan History, he was a visionary, able to guess the importance that this city was going to have. (In the 12th century, the Way of St. James was officially recognized through the declaration of 1122 as the first Jubilee Holy Year.)
+ Reaching Santiago de Compostela, walking it, and even imagining it, is almost a spiritual experience. Just like reaching the compostela, contemplating the façade of the cathedral from the center of the Plaza del Obradoiro, and to approach, face to face, the Santo dos Croques, to inhale the incense from the smoke of the botafumeiro, to attend the pilgrims’ mass, and to cross the Puerta del Perdón. Indeed, walking through this city means getting lost in a time tunnel. (Surround yourself with pasts that float among the tiny drops of the Galician orballo, or are reflected in the brightness of the medieval stones that populate its streets.)
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