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Welcome to Camino Downunder
CAMINO DOWNUNDER devises and presents classes, workshops and individual consultancies for Australians and New Zealanders wishing to undertake the great pilgrimage routes of France and Spain which have been in existence since the 9th century, to Santiago de Compostela in north western Spain.
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In 1987 the Council of Europe declared the Camino the first European Cultural Route and in 1993 the Camino de Santiago (el Camino Francés) was placed on the World Heritage List because it demonstrated "having outstanding universal value".
In 1998, France had all its four original medieval pilgrimage routes also placed on the World Heritage List under the title of: "Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France". In Latin and French they are called:
- Via Turonensis … la voie de Tours
- Via Lemovicensis … la voie de Vézelay
- Via Podiensis … le chemin du Puy-en-Velay
- Via Tolosana … le chemin d’Arles
The 21st century pilgrim walking these routes will also experience and discover that along the Camino Francés in Spain, are four other World Heritage Listed sites:
- The city of Santiago de Compostela (Old Town) listed in 1985 "one of the world's most beautiful urban areas"
- The Burgos Cathedral listed in 1984
- The architectural works of Antoni Gaudí (in León & Astorga) 1984
- The Archaeological Site of Atapuerca (near Burgos), listed in 2000
In 2004 the prestigious Prince of Asturias Foundation from Spain - La Fundación Príncipe de Asturias bestowed an award on the Camino de Santiago.
The main objectives of the Prince of Asturias Foundation are to encourage and promote scientific, cultural and humanistic values which form part of mankind's universal heritage.
Therefore, the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord (harmony) was awarded to the Camino de Santiago, in September, 2004.
The Concord prize is an award bestowed upon a person, institution or a group of people or group of institutions whose work has made an exemplary and outstanding contribution to mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence amongst men, in the struggle against injustice, poverty, disease or ignorance, and to the defence of freedom, or whose work has widened the horizons of knowledge or has been outstanding in protecting and preserving Mankind's heritage.
In part, the citation for this (track), the Camino de Santiago stated:
“From these beginnings, the pilgrimage to Santiago became a driving force for extraordinary spiritual, social, cultural and economic vitality. In the course of its 1,200 years of history, it also became a symbol of fraternity amongst different peoples and the corner stone and focal point for an incipient, generalised awareness of Europe.
The Way of Saint James was spawned in and by a religious-minded society. Religious motivation lives on today, although meeting other people, personal achievement and integration with nature and art have also come to figure as reasons to undertake the pilgrimage, which has become a mass phenomenon of pilgrims and volunteers from the four corners of the globe. ( …) Improvement and maintenance of the 800 kilometre-long Road, which for the most part crosses Spain and France, is the work of thousands of volunteers and hospice wardens.
The Council of Europe confirmed its backing in 2004 by naming it a Primary European Cultural Itinerary, stating that it demonstrated "the importance of man in society and the ideas of freedom and justice (it is) a niche for tolerance, learning and solidarity, for dialogue and coming together."
In other words: many different cultures and languages, innumerable different nationalities coming together from around the world, different religions and levels of observance; but all united by one track – unique.
No where in the world do you have such a concentration of World Heritage sites as you have on or near the Camino Francés. This is both unique and exciting for any person/pilgrim walking the Camino. Do allocate time for these most worthwhile detours. Australians and New Zealanders live so far away, so when you are there, take advantage of this embarrassment of past riches.
In Rioja between Nájera and Santo Domingo de la Calzada, approximately 15 km from the Camino de Santiago route you have the 1997 World Heritage listing of the Yuso and Suso Monasteries at San Millán.
- The monastic community founded by St Millán in the mid-6th century became a place of pilgrimage (well before the Camino de Santiago). It was here that the first written piece of literature was produced in the Spanish language (Castilian). Yuso and Suso witnessed the birth of the Spanish language. Suso is the older of the two monasteries and it is the site where various texts in the Spanish and Basque languages were written for the first time.
At Ponferrada (location of the fabulously impressive Knights Templar castle), 20 kilometres west is another World Heritage Listed site:
- Las Médulas (also listed in 1997) - the Roman Empire gold mines of the first century - listed because it is an outstanding example of innovative Roman technology amongst a devastated natural environment that is nonetheless stunningly beautiful (colour, size, weird shapes) due to its environmental destruction nearly 2,000 years ago.
The art and architecture from the 10th century onwards along the 800 kilometres Camino Francés from Roncesvalles in the Pyrenees to the main entrance of the Cathedral in the Praza de Obradoiro in Santiago de Compostela is so culturally rich and resplendent that no one is left unmoved by past human endeavour and creativity.
Camino de Santiago
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These long distance routes are generically known as the: CAMINO DE SANTIAGO
- Camino is a Spanish word meaning: route, way, track
- Santiago is the Spanish name for Saint James
- The Camino de Santiago is known in English as Saint James Way
In 2008, Camino Downunder for the first time, will offer Australian and New Zealand universities and their French & Spanish language departments a unique and exciting consultancy and study program combing French and/or Spanish language practice (immersion); literature; architecture; intercultural experiences; pilgrimage and medieval history with heavy duty walking to achieve unique personal, intellectual, moral and spiritual goals lasting a lifetime.
THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO
OVERSEAS STUDY PROGRAM
"...the pilgrim at once the complete insider, the total outsider. This is why the pilgrimage is not a tour, not a vacation, not at all a trip from point A to point B, but a journey that is both an experience and a metaphor rather than an event. This is why the pilgrimage must be done on foot, never on bicycle; why you must stay in refugios, not in hotels; and why the journey should be long and hard. And this is why you then experience a place and culture in a way vastly different than as a traditional visitor or even as a local."
Conrad Rudolph, Pilgrimage to the end of the world.
