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Tourist Showcases

TOURIST SHOWCASES

These postings will be about a series of attractions worldwide that were created to tell a particular story to those who go to see them. Such places use the languages of architecture, landscape gardening, sculpture and decorative art as appropriate, often supported by visitor interpretation in the form of exhibitions, guide books, guided tours and other media. Please email me with your comments or thoughts about others to add.

Image: Bom Jesus do Monte

A PILGRIM STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
TITLE: Bom Jesus do Monte (Good Jesus of the Mountain)
LOCATION: Braga, North Portugal
PURPOSE: To provide a religious experience
CONSTRUCTION: 1722-1811
CREATIVE LEADERS: The Archbishop of Braga in 1722, Rodrigo de Moura Telles, and the Archbishop, in 1781, Gaspar de Bragança
ARCHITECTS: Carlos Amarante, André Soares, Manuel Pinto Vilalobos (previous Church of Bom Jesus)
DESCRIPTION: A zig-zag stairway known as the Sacred Way has small chapels with the Stations of the Cross. It leads up to the next stairway (pictured), the Stairway of the Five Senses with statues of biblical, mythological and symbolic figures. Wall fountains provide movement and sounds and refer to the senses – sight, sound, touch, taste and smell – within their settings. Above this Stairway rises the shorter Staircase of the Three Virtues with further figures. At the summit, 116 metres (381 feet) higher the pilgrim’s spiritual journey reaches a level area with panoramic views and the Church of Bom Jesus, designed by architect Manuel Pinto Vilalobos. . Nearby are hotels, cafes and a hidden boating lake and a funicular railway of 1882 now runs alongside the Stairway as an alternative way to the summit.

Besides being a place for religious devotion and experience, Bom Jesus is a tourist attraction in the broader sense. The naming of the Stairway of the Five Senses is a reflection from the early eighteenth century of how travelling to a landscape attraction has the advantage of engaging much more than the human voice, books or music alone are able to do.

[More will be added shortly]

[Photo: Wikipedia Commons/Joseolgon]

Image: Bom Jesus do Monte - diagrammatic

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