The Limits of Pilgrimage Place

Through case studies of three pilgrimage sites related to the Virgin Mary, this book explores how pilgrimage places in today's globalized world do not exist as contained spaces but have porous boundaries, both physically and conceptually. Taking an interdisciplinary approach that draws on art history and heritage studies, the book considers the cathedral of Chartres, France; Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and the House of Mary near Ephesus, Turkey. In all three sites, the place of pilgrimage accommodates multiple different purposes and groups of people, intermingling devotional and commercial aspects, different memory narratives, and heterogeneous audiences. By mapping these porous boundaries, the book calls into question how we define pilgrimage place, and shows how pilgrimage sites are not set apart from the everyday world, but intimately connected with wider cultural, political, and material dynamics. This study will be relevant to scholars engaging with issues of pilgrimage, cultural heritage, and art across religious studies, art history, anthropology, and sociology.

T.K. Rousseau holds a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Denver and the Iliff School of Theology, and is the assistant director for the International Affairs Program at the University of Colorado Boulder.

1 Place and Porousness 2 The Global Dynamics of Place and Pilgrimage 3 Relics of the Past and Present 4 Heritage Place, Sacred Place 5 Revelation and Controversy at Medjugorje 6 Place and Power 7 Making History at the House of Mary 8 The Layers of the Past 9 The Limits of Place