CED 2010 - Santiago

Santiago de Compostela is located in the northwest corner of Spain, only a few kilometres inland from continental Europe's westernmost coastline, in the region now called Galicia, which the Roman's considered the end of the Earth (Finis Terrae).

Santiago is the cultural and political capital of Galicia, one of Spain's 17 Autonomous Regions.

Camino History

The Jacobean way is made up of a network of pilgrimage routes that link the most distant parts of Europe with the tomb of the Apostle, and represents one of the essential foundations upon which European consciousness was constructed. It was the first route to be declared European Cultural Itinerary by the Council of Europe in 1987, and received further recognition of its importance from the UNESCO declaration of the way as a World Heritage Site in 1993. It also received the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord in 2004.

The discovery of the tomb of the apostle Saint James the Great almost immediately sparked off a stream of pilgrims towards the site, which soon converted the small locus Sancti Iacobi into a religious and cultural centre of great importance to the West, and led to the creation of Santiago de Compostela, a city which still maintains its extraordinary capacity to attract people

The second Holy Year of the 21st century is to be celebrated in 2010. The Jubilee Year of Compostela has been celebrated since the Middle Ages, whenever the feast day of the Apostle Saint James, 25th July, fell on a Sunday.

The Jubilee usually takes place every 5, 6, and 11 years. The last three years in this cycle were 1993, 1999 and 2004 and the following ones will be in 2010 and 2021.