On the Road:
Pilgrimage, Travel and Migration across Time and Space
A Roundtable
On Monday 20th March 2017, the School of History and Heritage hosted a roundtable to accompany the exhibition entitled ‘Hospitality on the Pilgrim Road to Santiago de Compostela’ which is displayed at the Chapter House in Lincoln Cathedral until Sunday 2nd April 2017.
The event was introduced by Dr Francisco Singul (Xunta de Galicia) who highlighted the importance of hospitality, ceremony, and personal encounters with nature and other pilgrims on the route to Santiago de Compostela
This was followed by short presentations by Dr Jamie Wood, Dr Michele Vescovi, Dr Robert Portass, Dr Antonella Liuzzo Scorpo, and Dr Sarah Longair . The speakers touched on several different aspects of pilgrimage; including how architecture, ecclesiastical ambitions and economic pragmatism shaped the experience of medieval pilgrims, and how the history, meaning and power of the pilgrimage experience (medieval and modern) can be conveyed through exhibitions such as ‘Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam’ at the British Museum and ‘Hospitality on the Pilgrim Road to Santiago de Compostela’ in Lincoln Cathedral.
This roundtabl
e was a great companion to the current exhibition hosted at Lincoln Cathedral and sponsored by the Xunta de Galicia, as it offered different methodological approaches to the study of medieval pilgrimage which, in turn, inform our understanding of contemporary experiences of the spiritual and physical journey – the pilgrimage. Indeed, pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela remains a very popular phenomenon that attracts people from over 150 nationalities and across 5 continents.
The personal experiences of these pilgrims are beautifully captured by Manuel G. Vicente.
Photographs by Manuel G. Vicente