At the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th, Gil Cordero, a cowherd from Cáceres, found the image of the Black Virgin after a miraculous apparition, hidden somewhere deep in the mountains of Las Villuercas. From then on, a shrine was established which began to receive pilgrims from the surrounding area. Around 1330, King Alfonso XI of Castile and León (1311-1350) visited the area, where he had one of his bear-hunting grounds, as recorded in his famous “Libro de la Montería” (Book of Hunting).
This king promoted the initial construction of the Monastery of Guadalupe in 1337, which brought more pilgrims to the shrine. However, the monastery’s historical influence reaches far beyond its walls: a network of routes, cultural and natural corridors grew up around it, giving rise to a rich legacy of architectural heritage and intangible oral tradition that can still be traced today. Over the centuries, the course of the original routes was lost in some cases, while in others it was reinforced as they became established lines of communication. All of this unfolds across an exceptional landscape of great scenic and natural wealth, passing through protected natural areas (national parks, natural parks, SPAs…), wetlands, forests, mountain ranges and valleys… with a high level of biodiversity and in a very good state of conservation.
The interterritorial cooperation project ITINERE1337, made up of 17 Local Action Groups, succeeded between 2009 and 2012 in recovering 12 pilgrimage ways to the Monastery of Guadalupe, a World Heritage Site, and has showcased eco-cultural corridors that act as backbones for territorial planning and drivers of development for the rural districts they connect. This is how the Ways to Guadalupe network was created.
The Asociación Red de Cooperación de los Caminos Históricos de Peregrinación a Guadalupe (Cooperation Network of the Historic Pilgrimage Ways to Guadalupe Association), registered under number 623061 in the National Register of Associations, was founded in May 2021 with the following objectives:
- To promote the development of the Historic Pilgrimage Ways to Guadalupe as a cultural, tourism and economic product.
- To encourage capitals, cities, institutions and bodies linked to the Historic Pilgrimage Ways to Guadalupe to join the Network
- To seek support for interterritorial cooperation from the regional and central administrations and the European Union.
- To set up, with immediate effect, the Technical Management Office for the historic pilgrimage ways to Guadalupe, which will carry out the initiatives agreed in assembly by the representatives of the cities, municipalities, institutions and bodies.
- To create and maintain a permanent FORUM in which cities, businesses, administrations, universities and other interested institutions and groups can analyse, debate, propose and take part in the many initiatives that are to emerge around the historic pilgrimage ways to Guadalupe.
- To access training programmes and develop cultural projects at regional, national and European level that contribute to tourism, cultural and economic development, new information technologies, cooperation and networked cultural and tourism work, in line with the demands of the times.
- To plan tourism actions and the promotion of a joint image that corresponds to the interests of the members of this Association.
- To participate and collaborate actively in the planning of the Autonomous Communities and the State Tourism Administration in this territory
- To represent the members of this Cooperation Network of the historic pilgrimage ways to Guadalupe in any public or private projects, agreements, arrangements or similar aimed at fulfilling these objectives and purposes.
