Se loger dans le passéLa récupération emblématique de l`Hostal des Rois Catholiques de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle en hôtel de luxe

Abstract

The restoration of monuments plays a key role, in effect making possible a re-inhabitation of ancient buildings which, depending on their evolution, dimensions, conception in space or their geographical situation, can offer a new service for the community of which they are part. Such a renaissance as this can be found in the transformation of some historic buildings into Paradores Nacionales in Spain during the twentieth century. A particularly elegant example is the transformation in 1954 of the old Hospital, founded by the Catholic Monarchs in 1499 and strategically placed next to the main façade of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, into a « Parador Nacional de Turismo ». The consequences of this transformation from an old Royal Hospital for pilgrims into a luxury hotel for tourists, therefore implicating both the tourist dimension and the driving force of heritage restoration, are analysed in an interdisciplinary dialogue between a Geographer and an Arts Historian.