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Spain is made up of a pot-pourri of cultures belonging to civilisations which, down the centuries, gradually came to settle on Iberian soil and make it their home. This historical legacy draws its strenght from the very variety of this mosaic, the wealth of nuance and the ultimate fusion of the respective contributions. Added to this is the fact that all the major currents in culture and art have found their echo in a native creative talent of true relevance.

Origins. The Altamira Cave (Cantabria), with its wall paintings dating from some 15,000 years ago, is only the most outstanding among a whole series of archaeological sites and caverns. Bronze Age stone towers (talaiots), altars (taulas) and mausoleums (navetas) in a good state of preservation are to be seen in Menorca, while the earliest examples of Iberian art dating frome the Iron Age, such as the weathered animal figures in the foothills of the Gredos, known as the Toros de Guisando and the stately head of the Dama de Elche, are to be found in other points in Castile and the so-called Levant region (Valencia/Alicante area).

The Phoenicians, venturing in from the Mediterranean, set up colonies and left the imprint of their culture along the shores of Andalusia (Adra, Cádiz), the Levant region (Cartagena) and Ibiza. The Greeks founded colonies at points along the Levant and South (Ampuries, Roses) but it was the Roman conquest of the Peninsula in 218 A.D. that signalled the contribution of a vigorous civilisation.

So pervasive and profound was the process of Romanisation, that Spain produced its share of emperors, intellectuals and military men, and in return received a legacy of large-scale infrastructures and civil-engineering works (roads, mines, quarries, aqueducts, bridges) as well as the creation of a number of cities (Tarragona, Barcelona, Mérida), which still conserve their heritage (hot springs, baths, amphitheatres, circuses), plus the ruins of many more in Cuenca, Soria, Seville and Málaga. The sheer wealth of their collections makes the Mérida and Tarragona museums fundamental reference points.

Once in Spain, the barbarian invaders from the north who had spelt an end to the Roman Empire, sowed the seeds of a fertile culture, the Visigothic, with Toledo acting both as capital and principal point of diffusion.

The Medieval Age: crucible of cultures. The invasion of the Moors in the year 711 and their ensuing sway for eight centuries, was to create a civilisation of great splendour and establish a formidable bridgehead between East and West. The imprint of Islam was so profound as to even impregnate the Christian style, giving rise to two new schools: Mozarabic, the style of the Christian minorities and Mudéjar, that of the Moorish minorities. The Jewish community, the third culture present in Spain for a number of centuries, in many ways emulated the artistic forms favoured by Islam. The Jewish Quarters (juderías), ritual baths and synagogues (Tránsito and Santa María la Blanca Synagogues in Toledo, and the synagogue in Córdoba) are notable examples of the mark left by this community.

Christianity led to the emergence of the Romanesque School in the wake of the pilgrims as they trod the Way to Santiago (the Church of St. Martín in Frómista, St. Isidore's Basilica in León, the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral) and to the Style's subsequent evolution under Byzantine (Zamora) and French influences (Catalonia). Castles and monasteries lent expression to an era that was to reach a pinnacle of aesthetic glory during the age of Cathedrals. The 13th and 14th centuries signalled the preeminence of the Gothic Style, the most important examples of which are to be seen in the churches built in Burgos, Toledo, León, Palma and Girona. With the advent of the 15th century, the Perpendicular Style was to leave works of the stature of Seville Cathedral, the Royal Hospitals of Santiago, Granada and Toledo, San Juan de los Reyes Monastery (Toledo) and the Infantado Palace (Guadalajara).

In the 10th century, under the Caliphate, Moorish art attained its greatest splendour. The Cordoba Mosque and the Royal Court-City of Medina Azahara, nearby, are the period’s most representative works. Dating from the reign of the taifa kingdoms or factions (11th century), are the Malaga Alcazaba (Fortress) and the Zaragoza Aljafería (Moorish palace), and the Zaragoza Aljafería (Moorish palace), and from the subsequent Almohad period, the Giralda and Torre del Oro (Golden Tower) in Seville. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Nasrid art in the tiny kingdom of Granada was to leave exquisite examples of intricate ornamental work, culminating in the complex formed by the Granada Alhambra and the Generalife Gardens.

The Age of Discovery and the Golden Age - The discovery of America (Indies Archives -Archivo General de Indias in Seville) and the humanist Renaissance which inspired a style based on classical forms that came to be known as Plateresque, left behind a series of splendid examples in the 16th century, such as the façade of University of Salamanca, the cathedral and palace of Charles V in Granada and, in keeping with the austere Herrera style, the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Artists such as Morales and El Greco and sculptors such as Berruguete were to be the precursors of the period known as Spain’s Golden Age (Siglo de Oro - 17th century), thanks to the universal stature of sculptors of religious imagery (Gregorio Hernández, Martínez Montañés and Francisco Salzillo) and artists (Diego Velázquez, Zurbarán, Ribera and Murillo).

On the threshold of modernity - The return of Neoclassicism left its mark on buildings such as the Prado Museum in Madrid and heralded the appearance of the artistic genius of one, Francisco de Goya, a genuine forerunner of contemporary art. The eclecticism of styles in evidence in the 19th century looked to Romanticism for themes of an historical bent or those depicting customs and manners (Benlliure, Sorolla), and the appearance of Modernism in the closing years of the century spelt renewal at the hands of the Catalonian architect, Antonio Gaudí (Church of the Holy Family, Güell Park in Barcelona). In the present century, the artistic avant-garde found a genius of universal appeal in the person of the Malaga-born artist, Pablo Ruiz Picasso, while Salvador Dalí an Joan Miró played key roles in the Surrealist and Abstract movements. Spanish contribution to art in recent decades has come from outstanding architects (Sert, Bofill, Calatrava) painters and sculptors (Tàpies, Antonio López, Barceló, Chillida), who have set their seal on works of great individuality.

The Silver Route

Through its enormous mineral wealth as well as subsequent colonization by Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, southern Spain acquired enormous importance as a source of precious metals. Originally created for strategic reasons, the Silver Route was one of the most important of Iberia's Roman roads. From the 1st to the 19th century, Roman roads and bridges were the foundation on which Spain's modern roads and highways came to be built. In the Middle Ages, these were the only roads in existence. Consequently, the Silver Route constitutes an exceptional artistic and historical legacy. Not only were whole cities, theatres, circuses and amphitheatres, temples, aqueducts, bridges and Roman baths established along its lenght, but it later became home to a rich tradition of rustic architecture, folklore and handicrafts.

The Pilgrims´ Way to Santiago

The stages along the way - The «Pilgrims' Guide» in the Codex of Calixtus very clearly describes the four main roads that crossed France from one end to the other and the road from the Pyrenees to Galicia in the north of Spain. There were two points of access into Spain which converged near Pamplona. From then onwards there was only one way despite the alterations to which it was subjected in the course of time. It also had branches that came frome a coastal road which was quite popular at certain periods. In the following pages we suggest the traveller should take the itinerary described by Aimeric Picaud, but he must not forget that the stages to which he refers belong to the time when the pilgrimages were undertaken on foot or on horseback. They are very different in length which is why we have not kept to the original division of the journey.

There is not room in these pages to describe the other routes to Santiago. The oldest, which also came out of France, crossed the Basque Country, Cantabria and Asturias and reached Galicia by way of Lugo. The pilgrims from other Mediterranean countries began their journey after visiting Montserrat, Santes Creus and Poblet in Cataluña and continued on their way through the region of Los Monegros to Zaragoza. From there they went on to Logroño where they joined the «French Way». The pilgrims who lived in Islamic territory, on the other hand, used to take the road known as La Vía de la Plata, a Roman road which returned into Christian hands with the fall of Sevilla, Córdoba and Jaén in the middle of the 13c. In their case, the itinerary went through Extremadura, Salamanca (where they were joined by those coming from Portugal) and Zamora. At that point, some went on by way of Verín and Orense and others took the Pilgrims' Way at Astorga. As regards the pilgrims to Santiago who arrived by ship from England and the Scandinavian countries, they used to land, pirates permitting, at the harbours of Padrón, Noya and Coruña.

The discovery of St Jame´s tomb

The discovery of St. Jame´s tomb - St. James, one of the 12 Apostles, son of Zebedee and brother of John the Divine, was a fisherman of the Sea of Galilee, who by the 11c had become a «more'slaying» knight and thanks to popular imagination to be turned into a humble pilgrim with a broadbrimmed hat, a pilgrim's staff and a gourd a few years later. According to the confused stories handed down from the first years of Christianity, the distant Hispanic lands had been assigned to this apostle for spreading the faith. When he failed to convince but a handful to become his followers, he returned to Jerusalem where he was martyred at the order of Herod who also forbade his beheaded body to be buried. During the night, however, a group of Christians gathered up his remains and took them to shore where they founded an unmanned ship ready to go to sea. There they put the apostle's body in a marble sepulchre which was taken by an angel across the seas to the distant kingdom of the Asturians.

The apostle's body remained undiscovered in that far-off enclave of Christianity until a supernatural light appeared in the first years of the 9c and showed the burial place to a pious hermit. Thus the area that had been the sit of cemetery in Roman times becomes known as Campus Stellae in medieval writings, ie, the Star Field, with which Compostela is identified from then onwards. Excavations have in fact unearthed Roman tombs, while the appearance of the star, which as in the case of the Magi pointed to a chosen spot, has only left its mark in the well-intentioned chronicles. Whatever the case, however, both items are not contradictory.

But the legends do not end with the discovery of St Jame's tomb. From the moment Bishop Theodomir accepted as valid what the solitary monk had found and had a church built over the sepulchre, the prodigies, miracles and visions multiplied and created an extensive collection of stories designed to give courage to the warriors who fought against the advances of al-Andalus and also to the pilgrims who very soon began to make their slow way along the Path to Santiago.

The codex of Calixtus - Possibly with the help of the Order of Cluny, a French priest called Aimeric Picaud wrote five volumes in the first half of the 12C, which included all the stories connected with the apostle, apart from a fair amount of practical advice for the pilgrims. The Liber Sancti Jacobi (still to be found in the cathedral of Compostela) is known in history as the Codex of Calixtus. After describing in detail the life of and the events connected with the Saint, therefore, the author of the Codex does the same with the routes which after passing through France and the north of Spain converge on the cathedral of Santiago. This «Pilgrim's Guide» is an invaluable help for today's travellers

The Pilgrimages - The itinerary described in the Guide is of course not the only one followed by the pilgrims. Practically all the roads of today were used to travel to the holy place of Compostela. But is should be stressed that the routes described in the Codex were the ones most popular with the greatest number of pilgrims. Without being, by any means, the only ones, the Franks contributed a fair share of the faithful travelling to Compostela, and it was the so-called «French Way» -the one linking the Pyrenees with Galicia- which stood for the Pilgrims' Way to Santiago in the end. The discovery of an apostle's tomb was more than enough reason to promote long, arduous pilgrimages compensated by indulgences and by the experience itself gathered perforce along the way. But other factors that had nothing to do with the discovery contributed to turning Galician Finisterre into one of the capitals of the Christian world in a short time. The pilgrimages, a sanctifying rite common to other religions, had reached a remarkable development at Bethlehem and Jerusalem in the 2c and 3c.

The Pilgrims - Not all of those who went on the journey did so for spiritual reasons. Quite frequently, the pilgrimage was a punishment imposed for some crime that had been committed or even a means of earning money since there were cases in which the convict chose to send a poor man with all expenses paid to Compostela under the condition that part of the penitence would be dedicated to the salvation of his client. Nothing special was required to become a pilgrim to Santiago. What later became the costume because it was always shown in exactly the same way in all the pictures was at first nothing but the normal dress of any traveller. A short cloak which did not interfere with walking, a cape and a hat against the heat and rain were the only items considered reasonable in the face of a long journey. The staff was simply a stick on which to lean along the difficult stretches. It was also a useful weapon against wolves and robbers. The preferably deer-skin pouch was already more part of a pilgrim's equipment since it always had to be carried open in proof of good faith. The scallop finally was the unmistakable badge on the pilgrim's dress that would open the doors of the inns for him along the way. The gourd, on the other hand, was a light canteen fastened to the pilgrim's staff or belt. Along the way, in the main towns and on the most rugged mountain passes hospital facilities were built. At times, however, it was necessary to use the inns since in general the influx of pilgrims only took place at certain times of the year and the hospices were overcrowded.

Facing St. James or Santiago - Shortly before reaching their goal and in view of Compostela, the pilgrims used to wash themselves in the river to leave behind everything that was impure and unpleasant on the Way. Upon arrival they had to keep vigil all night in the cathedral and sing canticles to the tune of instruments of all kinds. At dawn the offerings were made following the instructions of a polyglot priest who repeated the ritual in several languages.

The towns along the way - Not every pilgrim however made the whole journey both ways. The need to consolidate the territories conquered from the Muslims led the Christian kings to grant exemptions and privileges to all those foreigners who decided to settle in the towns along the Way. The former villages inhabited by farmers and shepherds slowly became real towns with currency circulation and the exchange of manufactured goods. In the 13c, Burgos, one of the main commercial powers in the peninsula, controlled the Cantabrian mountain passes, while the fairs and markets established in the previous century in general continued growing because of the stream of visitors from the Pilgrims' Way to Santiago. The towns that grew naturally along the Way were at first nothing but a single row of buildings on either side of the pilgrims' path. After the hospitals and churches came the inns, shops, smithies and workshoops which took, care of what was needed and which very soon formed a «calle mayor» or main street around which the urban pattern developed. Places like Santo Domingo de la Calzada or Puente la Reina are the clearest examples of this type of settlement which sometimes lay on the site of a Roman encampment or developed from practically zero.