What follows is my attempt to chronicle and recreate a few of experiences in Spain and France this summer for those interested. Focus primarily will rest on history and religion, and in particular the history that lives in the churches and castles that line the pilgrim roads to Santiago Compostella in Spain.

The Muslim conquest of the Holy Land in the Seventh and Eighth centuries caused the traditional pilgrimage to Jerusalem to become increasingly dangerous. As the Middle Ages unfolded, the journey across the Pyrenees and into Spain to the traditional burial place of St. James became the dominant pilgrimage route. The results were dramatic. The first great wave of Christian churches in the Middle Ages sprung up along the pilgrim roads - the age of Romanesque was born. Architecture, spirituality, culture and politics would all be dramatically affected by the great mass of Medieval Christians on the road to Compostella.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Sevilla


The tomb of Columbus in the Sevilla Cathedral

One of the biggest Reredos in the world


From the belltower

The Alcazar in Sevilla - beautiful gardens







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1 comment:

  1. UnknownAugust 21, 2009 at 12:17 AM

    Sevilla.. nice and beautiful city..
    please the name of the tower at the back of you two in the last picture is: La Giralda, which was the minaret of the mosque.. As happened Cordoba, here too the previous mosque was converted in christian church after the reconquest...
    By the way, inside the tower there are not steps but a ramp so you could climb at the top riding a horse... ^^)

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