Place Experience of the Sacred:Silence and the Pilgrimage Topography of Mount Athos

by: Christos Kakalis (Author)

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Publication Date: 23 Feb. 2024

Language: English

Print Length: 197 pages

ISBN-10: 9819962137

ISBN-13: 9789819962136

Book Description

This book explores the topography of Mount Athos, emphasizing the significance of silence and communal ritual in its understanding. Mount Athos, a mountainous peninsula in northe Greece, is a valuable case study of sacred topography, as it is one of the world’s largest monastic communities and an important pilgrimage destination. Its phenomenological examination highlights the importance of embodiment in the experience of religious places. Combining interdisciplinary insights from architectural theory, philosophy, theology and anthropology with archival and ethnographic materials, the book brings a fresh contribution to both Athonite studies and scholarship on sacred space. By focusing on the interrelation between silence and communal ritual, it offers an alteative to the traditional art historical, objectifying approaches. It reintroduces the phenomenological understanding of place, investigating also how this is expressed through a number of narratives, such as travel literature, maps and diaries.

About the Author

About the Author Dr. Christos Antonios Kakalis is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, UK.