Land- and Skyscapes of the Camino de Santiago: An Astronomy and World Heritage Sustainable Approach
1
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Universidad de La Laguna, Calle Vía Láctea s/n, 38200 La Laguna, Spain
2
Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio, Incipit–Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Avda. de Vigo s/n, 15705 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Giulio Magli
Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 3047; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14053047
Received: 18 January 2022
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Revised: 16 February 2022
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Accepted: 2 March 2022
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Published: 4 March 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sacred Landscapes and Astronomical Heritage)
The Romanesque churches dotted along the Way of Saint James are magnificent examples of cultural heritage, and their analysis from the perspective of cultural astronomy may, in an unobtrusive manner, provide information of hitherto unexplored facets of these treasures. This study aims to examine the pilgrimage road as a communication channel and to seek possible regional variations in the Christian kingdoms of Leon, Castile, Navarre and Aragon. Seen as a whole, the Romanesque churches of our sample present two main orientation patterns: towards either the ecclesiastical and astronomical equinox or to certain Easter Sunday celestial phenomena. However, equinoctial orientations are present only in Leon and Navarre, while Easter appears with more or less significance in every kingdom. The Camino de Santiago constitutes a sacred landscape with a common heritage, with a certain degree of cultural diversity that depends on the territory. These subtle differences have surfaced only in light of archaeoastronomical investigations.
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Keywords:
cultural astronomy; church orientation; camino de santiago; romanesque architecture; easter; equinox; iberian peninsula
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MDPI and ACS Style
Urrutia-Aparicio, M.; Belmonte, J.A.; González-García, A.C. Land- and Skyscapes of the Camino de Santiago: An Astronomy and World Heritage Sustainable Approach. Sustainability 2022, 14, 3047. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14053047
AMA Style
Urrutia-Aparicio M, Belmonte JA, González-García AC. Land- and Skyscapes of the Camino de Santiago: An Astronomy and World Heritage Sustainable Approach. Sustainability. 2022; 14(5):3047. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14053047
Chicago/Turabian StyleUrrutia-Aparicio, Maitane, Juan A. Belmonte, and Antonio C. González-García. 2022. "Land- and Skyscapes of the Camino de Santiago: An Astronomy and World Heritage Sustainable Approach" Sustainability 14, no. 5: 3047. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14053047
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