The audiovisual exhibition Memory of Pilgrimage is the outcome of a recent trip by photographer Manuel Valcárcel and musician Alexandro González, both Galician natives, along pilgrimage routes to Santiago with a long history and tradition. The aim of this modern journey was to immerse themselves, every sense at the ready, in the intimacy of historical locations which make up a considerable portion of the cultural memory of all humanity.

The exhibition reflects an intense journey lived to the fullest, taking them to Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Italy, Northern Spain and the pilgrimage route through Galicia. A very unusual pilgrimage, on which both artists remained diligently aware of the cultural tradition and religious feeling that pervade these locations and routes, highlighting realities which have at times been silenced, using their approach to reveal situations and circumstances that affect populations living near the pilgrimage routes, or the modest way of life in so many places.

In short, Memory of Pilgrimage presents the plurality and wealth of a Europe formed by the routes of the Way of St. James. It cannot fail to leave any observer indifferent.

Location: Patronotato Provincial de Turismo de Granada
Address: Cárcel Baja, nº 3. Granada

Dates: do 2-29 June 2017
Hours: Monday–Friday: 10.00 am.–8.00 pm. Saturday: 10.00 am.-7.00 pm. Sunday and holidays: 10.00 am.–3.00 pm.

Organized by: S.A de Xestión do Plan Xacobeo. Turismo de Galicia. Xunta de Galicia
In partnership with:  Asociación Jacobea de Almería Camino Mozárabe and Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada.

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.

With its curator Ramón Yzquierdo Peiró  the exhibition ‘Maestro Mateo’ can be visited until January 2017 in the Museo Nacional del Prado, which will make it possible to disseminate and give international relevance of the person who i, in the words of the Assistant Director of the Museo del Prado, Miguel Falomir, “the greatest sculptor born in Spain”.

This is an exhibition which brings together diverse pieces of the heritage of the Maestro Mateo, currently in the hands of several private institutions and collectors; through which a complete tour is made of the work of the Maestro in the Cathedral of Santiago from1168 to 1211. In total 10 pieces and another 8 pieces of materials are exhibited, among which documents and several graphic and textual materials are regarding the Cathedral of Compostela and its restoration.