The Iron Cross on the Camino de Santiago
The Iron Cross on the Camino de Santiago
The Iron Cross is a key point on the Camino de Santiago, located at the highest point of the French Way in the province of León, at 1,500 meters, between the municipalities of Foncebadón and Manjarín.
It consists of a wooden post about five meters high, crowned by a simple iron cross, a replica of the original preserved in the Museum of the Caminos in Astorga.
At its base, over the years, a mound or cairn has formed from stones left by passing pilgrims. According to legend, when the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was built, pilgrims were asked to contribute by bringing a stone.
In any case, the tradition is to throw a stone, brought from the pilgrim’s place of origin, over their shoulder towards the cross to symbolize leaving the pass behind.
In 1982, a chapel dedicated to the Apostle Santiago was built next to the Cross, and in recent years, the Galician Centre of Ponferrada has celebrated the Feast of Santiago with a pilgrimage at the site, attracting hundreds of people and visits from various notable figures.
In summary, this is a cross not to be missed, as it suggests that the site was Christianized during its revival as a passageway for pilgrims in the Middle Ages. The first cross is attributed to Gaulcemo, a hermit with a hospitable vocation who settled in this inhospitable place at the end of the 11th century. Willing to provide all kinds of assistance to pilgrims, he built a hospital to shelter them and erected the cross on the cairn to guide them during winter, when heavy snowfalls would obscure the path. It was a religious element with a practical and humanitarian purpose that eventually gave this mythical pass its name.
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