Location
Monserrat
Start Date
25-6-2026 2:15 PM
End Date
25-6-2026 3:15 PM
Description
In a context marked by an increasing search for meaning and well-being, sanctuaries are re-emerging as significant spaces within contemporary spiritual tourism. This work proposes an approach to sanctuaries located in natural environments as liminal spaces, in the anthropological sense developed by Victor Turner, where processes of passage, transformation, and the reconfiguration of personal experience are facilitated. Historically, many sanctuaries have been established in places of strong symbolic and ecological significance, often linked to singular natural elements such as mountains, springs, forests, or caves which have been perceived as sites of connection with the numinous. These spaces have functioned not only as spiritual centres but also as points of community articulation, generating bonds of belonging and social cohesion over time.
From a contemporary perspective, these spaces can be reinterpreted as therapeutic landscapes, following the concept proposed by Wilbert Gesler, where symbolic, ecological, and health-related dimensions converge. Scientific evidence regarding the benefits of contact with nature physical, emotional, and cognitive terms supports the idea that these environments possess not only spiritual value but also autogenic potential. Within this framework, the restorative power of nature is enhanced by the symbolic and ritual structures specific to sanctuaries.
In a time, characterised by disconnection from nature and a crisis of meaning typical of post-industrial societies, the renewed interest in sanctuaries can be interpreted as a contemporary expression of the human need to reconnect with what is essential. Thus, spiritual tourism not only revives ancestral practices such as pilgrimage but also re-signifies them in a contemporary framework, integrating dimensions of health, spirituality, and relationships with place. This paper argues that sanctuaries in natural environments constitute living spaces of transformation, where nature, body and symbol converge to facilitate experiences of connection, as well as processes of reordering and integration within the broader framework of contemporary spiritual tourism.
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Included in
An Approach to Sacred Spaces from the Perspective of the Connection Between Nature and Health
Monserrat
In a context marked by an increasing search for meaning and well-being, sanctuaries are re-emerging as significant spaces within contemporary spiritual tourism. This work proposes an approach to sanctuaries located in natural environments as liminal spaces, in the anthropological sense developed by Victor Turner, where processes of passage, transformation, and the reconfiguration of personal experience are facilitated. Historically, many sanctuaries have been established in places of strong symbolic and ecological significance, often linked to singular natural elements such as mountains, springs, forests, or caves which have been perceived as sites of connection with the numinous. These spaces have functioned not only as spiritual centres but also as points of community articulation, generating bonds of belonging and social cohesion over time.
From a contemporary perspective, these spaces can be reinterpreted as therapeutic landscapes, following the concept proposed by Wilbert Gesler, where symbolic, ecological, and health-related dimensions converge. Scientific evidence regarding the benefits of contact with nature physical, emotional, and cognitive terms supports the idea that these environments possess not only spiritual value but also autogenic potential. Within this framework, the restorative power of nature is enhanced by the symbolic and ritual structures specific to sanctuaries.
In a time, characterised by disconnection from nature and a crisis of meaning typical of post-industrial societies, the renewed interest in sanctuaries can be interpreted as a contemporary expression of the human need to reconnect with what is essential. Thus, spiritual tourism not only revives ancestral practices such as pilgrimage but also re-signifies them in a contemporary framework, integrating dimensions of health, spirituality, and relationships with place. This paper argues that sanctuaries in natural environments constitute living spaces of transformation, where nature, body and symbol converge to facilitate experiences of connection, as well as processes of reordering and integration within the broader framework of contemporary spiritual tourism.