World Heritage Identification Number: 868
World Heritage since: 1998
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇫🇷 France
Continent: Europe
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France: Medieval Pilgrimage Routes in Western Europe
The Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998, represent some of the most significant medieval pilgrimage routes in Western Europe. These routes were essential conduits for religious and cultural exchange between different European regions during the Middle Ages.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
Santiago de Compostela was the supreme goal for countless thousands of pious pilgrims who converged there from all over Europe throughout the Middle Ages. To reach Spain pilgrims had to pass through France, and the group of important historical monuments included in this inscription marks out the four routes by which they did so.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (ii): The Pilgrimage Route of Santiago de Compostela played a key role in religious and cultural exchange and development during the later Middle Ages, and this is admirably illustrated by the carefully selected monuments on the routes followed by pilgrims in France.
Criterion (iv): The spiritual and physical needs of pilgrims travelling to Santiago de Compostela were met by the development of a number of specialized types of edifice, many of which originated or were further developed on the French sections.
Criterion (vi): The Pilgrimage Route of Santiago de Compostela bears exceptional witness to the power and influence of Christian faith among people of all classes and countries in Europe during the Middle Ages.
Encyclopedia Record: Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France
UNESCO designated the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France as a World Heritage Site in December 1998. The routes pass through the following regions of France: Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Bourgogne, Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Ile-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Midi-Pyrénées, Picardie, Poitou-Charentes, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. UNESCO cites the routes' role in "religious and cultural exchange", the development of "specialized edifices" along the routes, and their "exceptional witness to the power and influence of Christian faith among people of all classes and countries in Europe during the Middle Ages".Additional Site Details
Area: 97.21 hectares
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
(vi) — Directly associated with events or living traditions
Coordinates: 45.18405556 , 0.722944444
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© Jibi44, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
