It is well known that the different pilgrimage paths that lead to the supposed tomb of the Apostle Santiago, in Compostela, are basically the same ones used by different protohistoric cultures, on their spiritual journeys towards the place where the sun sets: Sunset.

Largely reused by Benedictines and Cistercians, the ancient routes and the pagan monuments that defined them, were progressively suppressed and evangelized and where before dolmens and menhirs arose, which in many cases indicated places where terrestrial tellurism could be perceived with higher intensity, monasteries, churches and hermitages were raised.

The most abundant architectural style and therefore, the one that was considered the quintessential style of Christianity, was none other than that which until well into the 20th century was called Byzantine - because its introduction into the West is supposed to have been Via Byzantium- and today it is known throughout the world as Romanesque.

Profuse in all kinds of representations - including those referring to previous cults, whose references to sins and licentious behavior were indicated in the form of horrible monsters or mythological beings, such as harpies, mermaids or centaurs - the Romanic temples were, for centuries, the 'only book 'to which the Lano people, unfortunately illiterate, could have access.

So, it is not surprising, that regardless of the artistic ability displayed by the different stonemasons or companions of the Camino, practically all of the Romanesque temples, were the Bible and the New Testament pocket, with which the people of the time they had access to the only culture that was allowed to them.

NOTICE: Both the text and the accompanying photographs are my exclusive intellectual property.