PROJECT

LOCI IACOBI 1 SUDOE-INTERREG IV-B

2008-2010

The “LOCI IACOBI: Places of Santiago, Lieux de Saint Jacques” project was developed between 2008 and 2010 with the support of the European Union through the Operational Program for Transnational Cooperation in the Sudoe Area 2007-2013. Its objective was the investigation, promotion and tourist and cultural revitalization of the Camino de Santiago as a cultural itinerary of high historical value in the partner territories of the project.

LOCI IACOBI allowed the establishment of stable instruments for cooperation in tourism and natural resource management between political and social actors in each of the project’s territories. Its main fruit was the birth, in 2011, of the European Federation of the Roads of Santiago and its continuity and development in a second and third Loci Iacobi and Creative Loci Iacobi projects.

Thanks to transnational cooperation, the critical territorial mass was increased and synergies between the territories were exploited. The promotion of and investigation of the Camino de Santiago allowed the creation of an identity brand in the partner territories through a series of activities such as the holding of musical concerts and exhibitions in the participating territories, the virtual reconstruction of certain existing monuments on the Camino, the creation of two Jacobean study centers and a hostel for pilgrims or the organization of an international congress on the phenomenon of pilgrimages and their expression in the SUDOE Space. All this contributed to the tourist revitalization of the partner territories, assuming a development engine for SUDOE.

Products

• Preparation of research on the Camino in the southern area of Portugal.
• Virtual reconstruction of the Le Puy cathedral complex.
• Virtual reconstruction of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
• Preparation of signaling elements for the identified sections of the Camino (Santiago do Cacém and Le Puy) with the aim of making them accessible.
• Creation of two Jacobean study centers and a hostel for pilgrims.
• Carrying out a traveling exhibition on pilgrimages and popular festivals related to the Camino de Santiago and preparing its catalog.
• Organization of an international congress on the phenomenon of pilgrimage and its expression in the SUDOE space and production of a book with the same presentations.
• Holding of three thematic seminars on the transfer of knowledge and information in the project’s partner territories.
• Preparation of a document of good practices resulting from the exchange seminars held.

Budget

• 872,000 euros, of which 654,000 were financed with FEDER funds.