Location
2C - Histories
Start Date
29-6-2017 4:01 PM
End Date
29-6-2017 5:30 PM
Description
Following the chronological analysis of Christian pilgrimages over the course of around 2,000 years of existence, we find that there have been swings in their level of popularity: strong whenever the ruling classes (whether religious or civil) protect the sanctuaries most in demand; with declines occurring whenever opinion makers manage to turn leadership against participation in pilgrimages.
The paper analyses how religious tourism was influenced by two dictatorships: a fascist one in a western European country, Portugal (1928-1974) and a communist one in a central European country, Slovakia (1948-1989) – at that time part of Czechoslovakia. In the first case the transition from a dictatorship to a democracy didn’t alter much the continuous development of religious tourism. In the second case many changes occurred with the fall of the dictatorship; the democracy allowed people to manifest freely their religious beliefs increasing therefore the number of domestic and international religious trips.
Included in
Religious Tourism under Fascist and Communist Dictatorships: Portugal and Slovakia
2C - Histories
Following the chronological analysis of Christian pilgrimages over the course of around 2,000 years of existence, we find that there have been swings in their level of popularity: strong whenever the ruling classes (whether religious or civil) protect the sanctuaries most in demand; with declines occurring whenever opinion makers manage to turn leadership against participation in pilgrimages.
The paper analyses how religious tourism was influenced by two dictatorships: a fascist one in a western European country, Portugal (1928-1974) and a communist one in a central European country, Slovakia (1948-1989) – at that time part of Czechoslovakia. In the first case the transition from a dictatorship to a democracy didn’t alter much the continuous development of religious tourism. In the second case many changes occurred with the fall of the dictatorship; the democracy allowed people to manifest freely their religious beliefs increasing therefore the number of domestic and international religious trips.
Comments
This work was supported by the Portuguese Research and Development Agency (FCT) and by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. SK-PT-2015-0011.