Today is the liturgical feast of St James, the brother of St John. His legacy is treasured especially in Spain, particularly in Compostela, where every year hundreds of people make a traditional walk through the northern part of Spain, hiking with friends, sleeping in motels and special resting places, dividing their pilgrimage over a few weeks or months. The Cathedral itself was started in 1075 and finished in 1211 and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985. The Cathedral is the reputed burial-place of St James the apostle, (known in Spanish as Santiago) and it is the destination of the Way of St James, the historical pilgrimage route since the Early Middle Ages. The building is a Romanesque structure with later Gothic and Baroque additions. According to legend, the apostle Saint James the Greater brought Christianity to the Celts in the Iberian Peninsula. In 44 AD he was beheaded in Jerusalem. His remains were later brought back to Galicia, Spain.
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