Christianity
Catedral de Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela Cathedral
“Over the apostle's tomb, where the long walk comes to rest”
Photo: Jrodriguezdm · CC BY-SA 3.0
Scenes
Meaning
You stand in the Praza do Obradoiro and the cathedral's facade fills the sky, while the great censer — the Botafumeiro — swings wide across the nave, scattering incense.
Tradition tells that the tomb of the Apostle Saint James — Santiago — was discovered here and the cathedral raised above it; since the Middle Ages it has been counted with Jerusalem and Rome among Christianity's three great pilgrimage destinations. The Camino Francés and many other pilgrim roads end in the square before its doors.
Voices across time
“The pilgrim road is a very good thing, but it is narrow: the turning from vice, the lowering of the body, the way of the righteous.”
Roads through this light
Field notes
- Location
- Santiago de Compostela · Galicia · N42.9° · W8.5°
- Best time
- Midday, for the pilgrims' Mass — on great feast days, the rite of the great censer as well.
- Getting there
- Facing the Praza do Obradoiro in the old town.
- Etiquette
- Keep quiet during Mass, and honor the place of those who have just completed their pilgrimage.
Sources
- · UNESCO World Heritage
- · Encyclopaedia Britannica
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