Pilgrim Statue at Hoher Peißenberg

Pilgrim stature at the pilgrimage church of the Assumption of Mary - with a great view of the Alps in the background

Pilgrim statue on the Hohen Peißenberg. If you are serious, you can get a pilgrim stamp in the church up there.

People have always wanted to travel to places where they can be particularly close to heaven. In the Middle Ages, people made pilgrimages regardless of their origin or education.
There were three important long-distance pilgrimage destinations: Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela. The latter owed its heyday mainly to the fact that the Holy Land was occupied by Arabs and Rome was not strenuous enough for many penitent pilgrims.
The first pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela were nobles and high clergy such as bishops and abbots, including Francis of Assisi. But the common people soon followed. Most pilgrims, who came from all over Europe, had religious motives: those who made the pilgrimage to the apostle's grave would have their sins forgiven. Some went to Santiago to fulfill a vow, others wanted to ask the apostle for something. In the late Middle Ages, there were also penitential or penitential pilgrimages, to which a criminal or sinner could be sentenced by secular or ecclesiastical courts. A special form of pilgrimage was the "delegation pilgrimage", which one person undertook on behalf of another or a group.
The pilgrimage routes to St. James have stretched like a spider's web through the whole of Europe for over 800 years. All routes end in the "Camino di Santiago" (today's Basque Country), which then leads from Burgos (there are around 30 large pilgrim hostels) to the final destination, Santiago di Compostala, to embrace the statue of St. James in the cathedral.