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Architecture and pilgrimage 1000-1500: the southern Mediterranean and beyond

This book explores the under-researched field of pilgrimage architecture, bringing together a set of essays by scholars that address aspects of the subject from the later Medieval and Early Renaissance periods. My own contribution to the volume consisted of editing the collection, of writing the introductory essay (with D. Howard), and of contributing a substantial essay. The introduction addresses some of the main issues associated with pilgrimage architecture, such as the problems the architect encountered when designing a designing a shrine at the pilgrims’ destination; the way in which such structures house and exalt the cult focus (relic, miracle-working image or holy site); the problems of designing architecture to control pilgrims; the concerns about siting pilgrimage churches and problems of orientation. It also considers the architecture associated with pilgrim routes, as well as the symbolism associated with pilgrim ways. My own essay addresses the question of ‘Likeness in Italian Renaissance pilgrimage architecture’. It discusses the issue of ‘copying’ great shrines, such as the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Holy House of Loreto, by questioning whether the word ‘copy’ – widely use among architectural historians – is misleading, especially as precise, formal replication was never attempted at this time. It considers the case of S. Maria dell’ Impruneta, a shrine that appears to ‘copy’ two great shrines simultaneously, arguing that the phrase ‘producing a likeness’ might describe the process more accurately. It goes on to explore the reasons why patrons wanted to produce likenesses, suggesting that by making overt references to greater shrines allowed pilgrims to combine several cults in their prayers at the same time, thus fusing the power of one great cult with that of another perhaps lesser one, arguing that saints were always considered to be more powerful when they worked in concert.