Turismo de Galicia Director Nava Castro closed today’s working meeting of the International Committee of Experts on the Way of St. James, a prestigious group of specialists on the pilgrimage route which has advised the Xunta on this subject for the past 25 years. On the occasion of this anniversary, Castro offered congratulations in a speech thanking the committee for its tireless efforts, which began in the months leading up to Holy Year 1993, which marked a turning point in the recent history of the pilgrimage, and have continued down to today, as we look forward to another important Holy Year, to take place in 2021.
Nava Castro thanked the nine members of the committee, headed by Paulo Caucci, professor at the Università degli Studi di Perugia, ‘on behalf of all Galicians and pilgrims for your support over this first quarter century in defining, managing and promoting the Way of St. James’. Some members were even involved in getting the pilgrimage route listed as the First European Cultural Route, an event which took place 30 years ago this October and which Turismo de Galicia plans to commemorate with special programming.
At the meeting, held today at the International Pilgrim Welcome Centre, the International Committee of Experts on the Way of St. James discussed various key topics related to promotion and research around the route. These included the International Congress on Jacobean Studies, scheduled for November in Santiago de Compostela; issue 8 of Ad Limina magazine; and the Way of St. James and Pilgrimages Department, recently created by Turismo de Galicia, the University of Santiago and Santiago Cathedral. The department director, Domingo González Lopo, took part in the meeting in order to coordinate with the committee, which provides advisory services. The various reports presented by the specialists demonstrate the opportunities and dynamism represented by the Jacobean phenomenon.
The International Committee of Experts on the Way of St. James is made up of: Paolo Caucci, chairman, professor at the Università degli Studi di Perugia and president of the Confraternita di San Jacopo di Perugia; Manuel Castiñeiras, professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona; Klaus Herbers, professor at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürberg; Fernando López Alsina, head of the Medieval History Department at the Universidad de Santiago; Robert Plötz, professor at Universität Würzburg and president of the Deutschen St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft; Adeline Rucquoi, director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and president of the Société Française des Amis de Saint Jacques de Compostelle; Simon Barton, professor at the University of Exeter; Segundo Pérez, director of the Compostela Theological Institute and dean of Santiago Cathedral; and María José Azevedo, professor and head of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal).