TERRITORIO, MUSEOS Y PARTICIPACIN CIUDADANA

KEYNOTEPILAR G. BAHAMONDE

Pilgrimage and Community FRH Conference in Vicenza10th Nov. 2016

The Camino Lebaniego of Santo Toribio

Cantabria, Pilgrimage and comunity

Ao Jubilar Lebaniego 2017/Libana Jubilee Year 2017

Pilar G. Bahamonde @Bahamonde Centro de Estudios Lebaniegos/ Libana Centre for Studies (SRECD)

3The North Ways to Santiago/Caminos del Norte are the perfect frame to transmit History: Regional (in every community they cross over), National and European. They represent the first steps of the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

4Cantabria is presented as a crossroad of Caminos. It is the only region with two Caminos of Jubilee, the one to Santiago and its own to the Monastery of Santo Toribio de Libana, where the biggest piece of the Cross of Jesus (63cm x 33cm) is custodied from ancient times. Tested by the International Forest Institute as a Palestinian variety of Cupresus Sempervivens, and dated more than 2.000 years old, the wood of this formidable relic was used by the Church to test the authenticity of the other existing relics in the world.

Monastery of S anto Toribio de Libana, Holy Place of Jubilee

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-Camino de Santiago-Camino LebaniegoTherefore, we find on one side the Camino de la Costa a Santiago de Compostela/Coast Way to Santiago, and on the other side the Camino Lebaniego of Santo Toribio leading the pilgrims feet into the mountains of the Picos of Europe to visit the Relic of the Cross. Once they obtain their certificate at the monastery, they can continue their way through the mountains into the French Way/Camino Francs to Santiago (mapa de Cantabria dos Caminos)

7Thousands of pilgrims pass through villages of Cantabria on the Northern route to Santiago, yearly; while only a bit more than 500 take the challenge to go into the mountains on the Camino de Santo Toribio.

Cantabrian population that lives all along the 187km on the coast experience a different reality than the population who lives all along the 55,32kms of the Camino Lebaniego de Santo Toribio near to the mountains.There is much to be done in Cantabria to promote the millenary pilgrimage of Santo Toribio, ratified by the Pope Julius the 2nd in 1512 and listed World Heritage by UNESCO in 2015 as one of the North Ways of Pilgrimage.

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Cantabria

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10Camino Lebaniego of Santo Toribio/the way to Santo Toribio:From Midle Ages Santo Toribio de Libana is one of the 4 holy places of Jubilee in perpetuum (perpetual), of Christianity, along with Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela

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Recently, at the end of 20th century, Urda, Caravaca and last year Valencia benefit from the same condition

13It has its own credential and also a certificate of the pilgrimage to be obtained once you get to Santo Toribio. Its name is Lebaniega (meaning from Libana, the valley where the monastery is located)The pilgrims that do the Camino de Santo Toribio are known as CRUCENOS or Pilgrims of the CrossLast Jubilee Year in Santo Toribio, in 2006, brought 1.250.000 visitors. The population of mountaneous region of Libana in Cantabria? We dont reach 6.000 inhabitants Next one?, in 2017

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Door of Forgivness/Puerta del Perdn,to be open in Jubilee Year 2017

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16With the proximity of the Lebaniego Jubilee Year, that will start in April 2017, and will end in April 2018, the Government of Cantabria is planning a marketing strategy for raising awareness, improving knowledge, giving value and developing its touristic side as a product.

Libana & Picos de Europa

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Pilgrims in Camino Lebaniego de Santo Toribio 2007-201618

Shelters in figures19

Motivation/reason20

Pilgrims gender21

Arrival22

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As a main pillar of this rich intangible religious heritage, we propose in Libana the rescue of a historic personage, Beato de Libana, who caused and help drawing the actual map of Christianity in Europe.

An abbot, in the 8th century who lived and wrote the hymn of Saint James Apostle declaring him as patron saint of Hispania in the same monastery that custodies the Lignum Crucis. He is considered the first Cantabrian and Hispanic author and was in his time the most relevant person of the Hispanic and European Church together with Alcuin of York, his closest friend.He defended the orthodoxy of Christianity against the heresy of the almighty Church of Toledo with its archbishop Elipando as a visible head influenced by the Islam.And in his Comments on the Book of Revelation he reinforced the presence of Santiago Apostle as well by placing him in a mapamundi with the rest of the disciples.

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It is known that around 15 years later of that hymn, the tomb of Santiago was found by Teodomiro, bishop of Iria Flavia, who sent to call the King to visit the tomb of the Apostle in Compostela. It would be the King, Alfonso the 2nd, the very first pilgrim, ordering after that, a sanctuary to be raised in that place, to honor him.Unfortunately the book of Beato has not been preserved, instead, as result of 5 centuries copying his book in different monasteries of Spain and Europe, 25 of those several manuscript illuminated copies, named beatos, are now included in the Memory of the World Register by UNESCO and zealously preserved in Libraries and Museums of the world. Thus, Paris, Londres, Berlin, Ginebra, Madrid, Manchester, Gerona, Turin, Lisboa, New York, Mxico Pity none in Cantabria, with the consequences of having fallen into oblivion in the local population.

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Exhibition of 22 Beatos facsimiles

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Miniatures of the Book of Beato/Miniaturas contenidas en los beatos

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El Armagedn

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El Alfa y Cruz de la Victoria/The Alpha and Cross of Victory

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Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis/The four knights of Apocalyps

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All this formidable religious cultural heritage comes to a context in Libana, 2,5km away from the Monastery of Santo Toribio, in the museum Torre del Infantado, with a permanent exhibition of 22 facsimiles of those beatos.

Museum Torre del Infantado

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Potes

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Dentro del libro de Beato/Inside the Book of Beato

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The museum together with the Centro de Estudios Lebaniegos/Centre for Studies of Libana and Cantabrian Pilgrims Office, located in the same building (the reused 14th century parish church monument) belongs to the same paradigm, promoting the religious heritage from a cultural and identity perspective.Today, with all this Tangible and Intangible heritage, with the services and tools we have in our hands, Cantabria Government is developing a holistic program, in which Pilgrimage itself can make citizens, locals, get involved in contextualizing the cultural living history that lays underneath their traditions, their religiosity, making them be more conscious about the preservation of their heritage. Apart from that and at the same time showing them the possibilities of the pilgrimage as a source of sustainability.

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Old church of Potes. Pilgrims Office Libana Centre for Studies

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Today receiving pilgrims

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Organising groups of pilgrims for youth

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Workshop for children

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We count on a net of pilgrims shelters and a Pilgrimage Office all along the 277 kms of both ways with 27 shelters + 5 more in the other 3 routes, adding 83 kms to the principal one., such as: Camino Lebaniego-Castellano, Camino lebaniego-Leons and Camino Lebaniego-Vadiniense. These days 2 more shelters will be added in tthe coast, to reinforce the Camino.

With the Project Camino Lebaniego en Red promoted by the Regional Governement, with a public/private investment of 400.000, there is free wifi in the Camino Lebaniego, with connectivity all along the way with technology to enable pilgrims to share and interact with others. The projects been designed by the Cantabrian company Zwit Project, with contents adapted to handicapped people. Volunteers in different municipalities are surveying signs, posible deficiencies, arrows, cleaning, etc that might confuse the pilgrims.Improve the Camino!/Mejora el Caminohttp://caminolebaniegoenred.com/mejora-el-camino-lebaniego/We are of course conscious that even if we check the caminos monthly or every forthnight, a pilgrim is prone to have some difficulties on his/her way to Santo Toribio. Due to that The Government of Cantabria developed an application for smartphones called Mejora el Camino /Improve the Way. With it the pilgrim, in situ can notify what he considers of utility to the others following his/her steps.The website www.caminolebaniego.com is fully working and being in constant updating.

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We are finishing with the installation of new signs and panels with information as well as the arrows in both Caminos: the yellow ones for the Way to Santiago, and the red one for the Way to Santo Toribio

,,,,, La flecha amarilla propia del Camino de Santiago & ,,,,,, La flecha roja del Camino Lebaniego de Santo Toribio

Mejora el camino http://caminolebaniegoenred.com/mejora-el-camino-lebaniego/ 44

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The Camino is fully protected in Cantabria territory with the maximum level of protection, awarded BIC/dated 11 September 2013The Region is member of Future for Religious Heritage (FRH) since 2012.The award of UNESCO listing both Caminos as World Heritage is being a great support and caused Cantabrian scepticle citizens to give recognition to the relevance of their heritage.Weve also participated in the Leonardo Education project, ALTERheritage The other Heritage, together with other partners Belgium, Germany, UK, Holland and Sweden.

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FRH & ALTERheritage project in Cantabria

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Nowadays the Region is participating in its second educational Project, the Erasmus+ EUROPETOUR, with partners from Germany, Poland, Romania, Bulgary, Belgium, Austria and Italy, in the network strategies for managers and stakeholders of the religious-cultural rural heritage, as a source of sustainability for the territories.

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AND LET ME TELL YOU THIS

We are experiencing changes in the population, in our community. Precisely 2 weeks ago, an old lady whose family tree belongs completely to the region of Libana in the Picos of Europe from XII century, she came to the Centre for Studies of Libana to tell us very humbly and shyly the tradition she inherited from her ancestors..51

52By oral tradition it is said there is a forest with a hidden fountain and the stones of a former chapel where there was once a monastery. According to the oral tradition of that valley, Beato de Libana was found dead by the fountain and would be buried in that little chapel

She would never dare to speak these words if she wouldnt have been inspired by the discovery of our membership in Future for Religious Heritage, the ALTERheritage family of delegates in Potes, and finally UNESCO listing the Camino Lebaniego of Santo Toribio.

Last week we visited the place, and her testimony is been recorded and written as well as some others that hold the ancient spirit of this community

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An event like this one, today, to whose organizers once more I express my gratitude and Greetings, it places our heritage in the map, all together, this is our contribution, because Europe is made of many small heritages, their differences and their commonalities.We are helping citizens to be aware of the importance of Pilgrimage as the ultimate exponent of a most valuable intangible heritage. We cannot understand Europe without the Pilgrimage, this is the thread that connects our tangible religious heritage. It gives sense to all the religious buildings incardinated all along it, to be understood by the new generations to come. Those are the markers of the Camino, they are a part of the Europe we can touch. In symbiosis, they support the Caminos. One day they could just simply not be there anymore if we dont commit ourselves to preserve them. If nobody would care anymore. AwarnessFacing now the celebration of Libana Jubilee Year of Santo Toribio 2017, European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, Europe Horizon 2020, and Jubilee Year in Santiago de Compostela in 2021, here and now, we are rescuing and safeguarding the intangible heritage of a period which explains why we are today what we are, as community, and not something different; who we are and not somebody else.

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55A commitment with a time in Europe when:Charlemagne was EmperorAlcuin of York in Saint Martin de Tours was hosting monks bringing him letters from his good friend Beato de Libana, while he was consulted in Canterbury for the ceremony of Aethelbert as archbishop.

A time when Beato de Libana, was assessing Alcuin about the interpretation of the Gospels, since no one but him would domain the subject. The time when he finally wrote the Hymn of Santiago Apostle, as Patron Saint of Hispania,Tutorque nobis et patronus vernulus, seeding the need of a patron who would reinforce Christianity: Santiago the eldest, the Son of the Thunder. The reason why we keep doing the Camino in perpetuum to Santiago de Compostela.

When the bishop of Iria Flavia (La Corua) sent to call the King so that he could check by the tomb of the Apostle.And as simple as we can think of this is the very beginning of the Camino de Santiago, the Camino Primitivo, in the North of the Peninsula for the whole Europe.When in Iona, or Lindisfarne the Columba monks were lavishly producing the beauty of the Book of Kells.

And when the Albelda Chronicle, not that far from here nither was writing for the first time in Europe too the first Arabic numbers such as we know them today, 1, 2, 3, 4Because everything has a start

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Alles van waarde is weerloos Everything of value is defenceless (Lucebert) North Ways to Santiago Heritage, Camino Lebaniego of Santo Toribio, Camino Primitivo, Camino Interior Vasco-Riojano, Camino de la Costa

To all of youThank you,Grazie, GraciasGood way, buen camino! pilar.bahamonde@srecd.es @BahamondePG@CELebaniegos

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