The Camino Imagined: Visions and Dreams across Time and Space

The inscription by UNESCO of the pilgrimage routes in France and Spain testifies to the enduring consideration for the itineraries borrowed by countless pilgrims in the Middle Ages. A physical journey implicated the network’s material composition (roads, bridges, monuments...), and brought pilgrims for their spiritual journey to the threshold of the holy at the network’s many tombs and relics. The spiritual journey, however, could also entail a dematerialization of that network with an emphasis on a different kind of experience. This paper examines one expression of the routes’ dematerialization, namely their role in several dreams and visions of pilgrimage. In dreams and visions, the time and space of pilgrimage provide a counterpoint to the real roads traveled.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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