The initiative to achieve its inclusion sprang from the Xunta de Galicia, which took over the proposal formulated by the International Committee of Experts in the Way of St James, and submitted it to a vote at the Jacobean Council held in Santiago de Compostela in December 2015, coinciding with the opening of the Jubilee of Mercy. This possibility was then evaluated by Spain’s other regions and by the institutions present in this organisation, presided by the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, Mr Íñigo Méndez de Vigo. His department, in concert with the General Office for Culture, was responsible for processing the application through the Sub-Directorate General for State Archives, part of the Directorate General for Fine Arts and Cultural Property, Archives, Libraries and Museums.

The inclusion of the Liber Sancti Iacobi in the Memory of the World Register underscores UNESCO’s appreciation of its value and significance, and shows that its relevance transcends the bounds of time and culture, and that it must thus be preserved for current and future generations and be shared will all the peoples in the world. This thus protects and raises awareness of the Codex and deepens the universal value of Jacobean heritage.

Eyewitness to Medieval Europe

Along with the Codex Calixtinus, UNESCO also recognises the medieval copies stored in the libraries and archives of Spain and Portugal. In fact, the full name of the proposal was The Codex Calixtinus of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral and other medieval copies of the Liber Sancti Jacobi: The Iberian origins of the Jacobian tradition in Europe, as proof of the importance that all of these documents containing the written tradition of the cult of St James and the Way of St James had in medieval Europe.

The Memory of the World programme is one of UNESCO’s three complementary initiatives that seek to protect and raise awareness of the world’s cultural heritage. The other two are the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, of which the World Heritage List is a part, and the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Galicia thus expands its catalogue of properties in these programmes, which already included the historic city of Santiago de Compostela, the Camino Francés, the Walls of Lugo, the Tower of Hercules in A Coruña, the Camino Primitivo and the Camino del Norte, as well as the various sites along the aforementioned routes of St James, such as the cathedrals of Lugo and Mondoñedo and the Monastery of Santa María de Sobrado.

Organized by: International Committee of Experts on the Way of St. James and Turismo de Galicia
Director: Paolo Caucci von Saucken, chairman of the International Committee of Experts on the Way of St. James

Aim
The aim of the 10th International Congress on Jacobean Studies is to thoroughly explore the most significant aspects of the patronage of St James. From this perspective, it will analyse the characteristics of the Apostle as the patron saint and protector of nations, cities, hospitaller orders, military orders, confraternities and churches. There will be a special focus on investigating the spiritual, iconographic, symbolic, political and historical aspects of a relationship which has had a profound impact on the culture and mindset of many peoples in Spain and the Americas.

Audience
Students, teachers, scholars of Jacobean culture, members of Friends of the Way of St. James associations and other interested persons.

Registration
Free registration. Space is limited.
Registration period: 12 September 2017 to 3 November 2017
Registration form: https://goo.gl/NZ1Gc5

Grants
The Xunta de Galicia, in partnership with the Way of St. James and Pilgrimages Department of the University of Santiago, is offering two grants for researchers to cover lodging expenses for the duration of the conference.

Accommodation
Students, the unemployed and members of Friends of the Way of St. James associations will be entitled to free lodging at the San Lázaro pilgrim hostel, located in Santiago de Compostela, during the conference.
Those interested in requesting free accommodation will be required to provide proof of their status as a student, unemployed person or member of a Friends of the Way of St. James association when submitting their registration.

Information and contact details
S.A. de Xestión do Plan Xacobeo
Área de Cultura Xacobea
Tel.: 881 996 265
Cultura.xacobea@xacobeo.org

Image: Codex Calixtinus of the University of Salamanca (©Universidad de Salamanca)

PROGRAM

Thursday, 9 November
4.30 Official Opening
5.00 Opening lecture: Santiago patrón de Compostela [Fernando López Alsina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain]
5.45 Santiago patrón de las Españas [Paolo Caucci von Saucken, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Italy]
6.30 Break
6.45 Santiago y la Monarquía francesa [Adeline Rucquoi, CNRS, France]
7.30 Santiago y la identidad del Portugal medieval [Paulo Almeida Fernandes, Universidades de Coimbra e Porto, Portugal]
8.30 Welcome Reception

Friday, 10 November
09.30 Santiago patrón de la Orden de Santiago [Hugo O’Donnell y Duque de Estrada, Real Academia de la Historia, Spain]
10.15 Representaciones escultóricas de Santiago en iglesias medievales portuguesas. Patronazgo y modelo de virtudes en la construcción de imágenes de caballeros [Carla Varela Fernandes, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal]
11.00 Coffee break
11.30 La colegiata de Santiago de Coimbra [Maria José Azevedo Santos, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal]
12.15 El apóstol Santiago patrón de las Españas. Iconografía de la Ofrenda Real en la Catedral de Santiago [Miguel Taín Guzmán, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain]
13.00 Round table
13.45 Break
04.00 Il patronato di San Giacomo sul mare [Rosanna Bianco, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Italy]
04.45 San Giacomo patrono di hospitales: San Giacomo al Colosseo. La decorazione pittorica di un ospedale del Trecento a Roma [Philine Helas, Bibliotheca Hertziana Roma, Germany]
5.30 Break
6.00 Fasti, nefasti e metamorfosi del culto e del patronato di San Giacomo in Sicilia: Capizzi, Messina, Caltagirone [Giuseppe Arlotta, Centro Italiano di Studi Compostellani, Italy]
6.45 Idea y concepto de Patronato [Francisco Puy Muñoz, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain]

Saturday, 11 November
10.00 Santiago patrón de Filipinas y de las Indias orientales [Anna Sulai Capponi, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Italy]
10.45 Santiago y el virrreinato de Nueva España [Antonio Casasola, Instituto Teológico Pío XII, San Sebastián, Spain]
11.30 Coffee break
12.00 Santiago patrón de Santiago de Cuba [Jorge Catasús Fernández, Archidiócesis de Santiago de Cuba, Cuba]
12.45 Santiago patrón de Santiago de Chile [Eduardo Andrades Rivas, Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile]
13.30 Break
4.00 Patronazgo, espiritualidad y religiosidad en las órdenes militares de la península ibérica
[Klaus Herbers, Universität Erlangen, Germany]
4.45 Espiritualidad y sentido del patronato de Santiago [Piotr Roszak, Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, Poland]
5.30 Break
6.00 Formazione e caratteri del patronato di Santiago a Pistoia [Lucia Gai, Comitato san Jacopo, Pistoia, Italia)
6. 30 Santiago patrón de cofradías actuales [Segundo Pérez López, dean, SAMI Catedral de Santiago de Compostela, Spain]
7.15 Official Closing.

On 10 November 2016, while opening up a wall in the chamber located in the lower part of the cathedral bell tower in order to remove the image by Master Mateo buried in the same area and discovered a few days earlier, when the perpend stones that made up the wall were removed, a fragment of a male figure was found. It had been built into the wall, with the back being reused as construction material.

Based on its characteristics, the piece has been ascribed to the so-called Master of the Wet Drapery, an enigmatic artist whose workshop was active in the cathedral around 1070. The cathedral museum contains three other pieces attributed to the same artist or workshop. All of them are linked by one common feature, the folds and treatment of the clothing, clearly influenced by classical models. The most immediate parallel is contemporary Burgundian work.

Following the discovery, the piece was thoroughly cleaned to remove the mortar attached to it. This work was carried out by the restoration department of the Cathedral Foundation. This prepared the piece, which still requires a more comprehensive restoration, to form part of The Power of the Past: 150 years of archaeology in Spain, an exhibition opening this October.

After its presentation, the piece will be on public view in the Grammarians’ Hall at Pazo de Xelmírez until 11 September, when it will travel to Madrid for the aforementioned exhibition. When the show closes, it will be placed on permanent display at the Santiago Cathedral Museum, which will celebrate its 90th anniversary in 2018.

Source: Xunta de Galicia

The four sections that make up the exhibition – Master Mateo, The Façade of the Portico of lana Gloria, The Stone Choir of the Cathedral and The Cathedral, Portico of Galicia – allow visitors to take a complete tour of the artist’s work on the cathedral, from 1168 to the consecration of the church in 1211. In addition, the show provides an opportunity to restore pieces that require conservation work, such as the statue/columns of David and Solomon from the Obradoiro façade, and carry out additional study and research on them.

Through sculptural works that have come down to us after a long journey through time, demonstrating that there are experiences which never lose their relevance, visitors will discover that 12th-century Galicia was a focal point of innovation and culture for the West. And they will find that Master Mateo – one of the most important artists, who left a truly lasting mark on the history of art – can thus be considered a contemporary.

+INFO: Catedral de Santiago

The 100,000th pilgrim to complete the Way of St. James in 2017 reached Compostela today and was welcomed at the end of the journey by the Santiago Cathedral Chapter, headed by Dean Segundo Pérez, along with Xacobeo Manager Rafael Sánchez, representing Turismo de Galicia.

The pilgrims who marked the achievement of this symbolic figure were Juliana Pivato and Eliezer Ribeiro Antunes Junior, a Brazilian couple who completed the pilgrimage by bicycle, taking the French Route from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. After collecting their Compostela, they were welcomed to the shrine of the Apostle at the evening Pilgrim Mass, where they were congratulated and honoured with various mementos.

This milestone, which came earlier than in previous years, once again confirms the vitality of the Way of St. James. As we approach the end of the first half of the year, arrivals are around 12% higher than during the same period in 2016, at the end of which the pilgrimage route beat its absolute record for pilgrims, with 277,854 Compostelas being issued by the Pilgrim Office, located in the new International Pilgrim Welcome Centre. This is one of the main infrastructure elements which Turismo de Galicia, in partnership with Santiago Cathedral, has created in order to meet the current needs of the pilgrimage route set out in the Way of St. James Master Plan.

Five continents among the top nationalities

In the first six months of 2017, 65% of the pilgrims who reached Compostela came from abroad, compared to 35% from Spain, with Germany, Italy, the United States and Portugal being among the most notable countries of origin. The top fifteen nationalities found on the Way of St. James represent five of the seven continents. They include France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Poland for Europe; Brazil for South America; Canada and Mexico for North America; Korea for Asia; and Australia. This is another sign of the strong international presence of the Way of St. James.

Although 60% of pilgrims continue to choose the French Route to make their way to Compostela, other options – such as the Portuguese Route; the North and Primitive routes, both added to the World Heritage List in 2015; the Vía de la Plata; the English Route and the Portuguese Coastal Route – are growing in importance. The Xunta de Galicia is working to improve signage and the available infrastructure on all of these routes, among other initiatives.

Edition Number VII of Ad Limina was coordinated by Professor Manuel Castiñeiras, member of the International Committee of Experts on the Camino de Santiago, with the intervention of several of its members – Simon Barton, Robert Plötz, Adeline Rucquoi and Manuel Castiñeiras- who will give reviews of some new publications on the Camino de Santiago.

The most relevant part of this number corresponds to the original articles signed by several researchers who sent their works from Galicia, Catalonia, Bari (Italy) and Edinburgh (United Kingdom).

Thus, it is composed of five articles and nine bibliographical reviews, highlighting the original work of Victoriano Nodar Fernández (University of Santiago de Compostela) “A possible representation of the Apostle Santiago on a capital of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the light of the sermons of the Liber Sancti Iacobi”, Juan Antonio Olañeta Molina (Universitat de Barcelona) “Models, programmes and interpretation of the representation of Daniel in the lions’ den as an allegorical image of Christ Triumphant at some milestones of the Jacobean route “, Rosanna Bianco (Università degli Studi dice Bari) “Apulia in the Camino de Santiago. Worship and Iconography of Santiago de Compostela in Apulia”, Marta Ameijeiras Barros (The University of Edinburgh) “Mapping the cult of St James in England during the Middle Ages” and Miriam Elena Cortés López (University of Santiago de Compostela) “Before the gates of the Apostle. The stairways of the Plaza de la Quintana and the Plaza de las Platerías, in Santiago de Compostela”.

The guide begins with a visit to the ancient gates of the city of Santiago, San Domingos de Bonaval Monastery and Santa María do Camiño Church, and then continues on to Casas Reais Street, A Quintana Square and Antealtares Convent.

The third itinerary in this informative publication centres on Santiago de Compostela Cathedral itself. This is followed by the entrances and façades of the basilica, the cathedral spaces most closely linked to the pilgrimage to Santiago and Europe’s great place of assembly, Obradoiro Square. From there, it takes us from the Franciscan convent to San Martiño Pinario Monastery and from Mazarelos Square to Solovio Church.

One of the sections is also devoted to St. James and his pilgrims in the streets of Compostela, another to Alameda Park, and yet another to Santa María do Sar Church, Santa María de Conxo Monastery and A Rocha Vella Castle.

Moving away from the centre of Compostela, the guide explores the Jacobean connections at Monte do Gozo. The final sections delve into the importance of the surrounding area, with Mount Pedroso, Sacro Peak and Iria Flavia, ending with Santiaguiño do Monte and Padrón.

Having examined the petition made by several foreign associations, confraternities, the Association of Galicia of Friends of the Camino de Santiago, as well as by the Town Hall of A Coruña and several Jacobean Institutions so that the “Compostela” might be granted to the pilgrims who leave A Coruña on a pilgrimage to the sepulchre of the glorious Apostle Saint James, it has been agreed with the approval of the Archbishop, that this document may be issued to the following pilgrims:

1. Given the historically documented tradition of the arrival of numerous pilgrims through the Gate of A Coruña, the possibility to obtain the Compostela is granted to those who, having travelled part of the Camino in their countries or regions of origin, travel on foot the distance which separates the Port of A Coruña from the Cathedral of Compostela.

2. Moreover, the inhabitants of the city of A Coruña and its surrounding district who, “devotionis causa”, visit the Jacobean areas of their city and travel the rest of the pilgrimage on foot to the sepulchre of Saint James the Apostle.

3. As regards pilgrims or walkers who do not comply with these conditions, these may, however, receive the document accrediting having visited the Cathedral and the sepulchre of Saint James the Apostle.

Source: Chapter of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

Image: Saint James the Greater. Church of Santiago in A Coruña.

The Chair will also promote cooperation with university professors and departments in any way that favors the comprehensive education of students. It will also encourage field research on the Way of St. James and on pilgrimages to Compostela, and the publication of said research in journals and other media so as to make it available to a wide audience.

Another notable aspect is that this Chair will create and maintain a bibliographic and documentary archive on subjects pertaining to the Way of St. James and its related disciplines. This archive will also provide job placement services to university students so that the culture of the Way of St. James can be increasingly associated with higher learning.

The four sections that make up the exhibition – Master Mateo, The Façade of the Portico of lana Gloria, The Stone Choir of the Cathedral and The Cathedral, Portico of Galicia – allow visitors to take a complete tour of the artist’s work on the cathedral, from 1168 to the consecration of the church in 1211. In addition, the show provides an opportunity to restore pieces that require conservation work, such as the statue/columns of David and Solomon from the Obradoiro façade, and carry out additional study and research on them.

Through sculptural works that have come down to us after a long journey through time, demonstrating that there are experiences which never lose their relevance, visitors will discover that 12th-century Galicia was a focal point of innovation and culture for the West. And they will find that Master Mateo – one of the most important artists, who left a truly lasting mark on the history of art – can thus be considered a contemporary.