Gustavo Riveiro D´Angelo
Culture, tourism project and evangelization
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Gustavo Riveiro D'Angelo
Dtor. of the Department of Tourism Pastoral. Spanish Episcopal Conference
Gustavo Riveiro D´Angelo
Culture, tourism project and evangelization
My intention is not to exhaust these vast topics, nor to present a complete panorama, nor would I be able to do so in front of experts in the field, I will only try to share some personal reflections, which in the best of cases, will be like brushstrokes about this necessary pastoral synergy.
Reading attentively the program of the Conference, so well articulated, whoever has the good fortune to remain during the whole development, will be able to observe the composition of a well integrated, rich and harmonious mosaic. I will limit myself to a brief mention of other related topics, which will be developed in depth and in detail by the various speakers.
Finally, if I may, I would like to share with you a personal experience of beauty, which, when it is not only admired externally but also understood, that is, when we allow it to enter into us, can become the trigger, in my opinion, transversal and integrating, so that it opens us to the Gospel. Beauty can awaken faith, even in the culture of our time.
Entering into the proposed themes
It is evident that Cultural Goods entail a plus with respect to nature itself coming from the divine and perfect hands of the Creator, man is called to collaborate and with his intelligence, sensibility and creativity he perfects the work of creation and in this way while realizing himself, he proclaims his dignity by fulfilling one of the first mandates.
The old Latin axiom, always valid, “cultura súpera natura” has at the same time the sense of something already realized and at the same time of that which is yet to be realized, an illuminated reality that has yet to see the light.
Unless we agree with the reductionist principles of the so-called “ideological ecologism”, so loaded with a certain dramatic immobilism, we will understand the importance and necessity of human endeavor, which is the basis of culture in its fullest sense.
That human endeavor, creative and creative, finds in admiration and observation the necessary elements from which it arises and at the same time reaches its peak.
To give an example: I think that no one will have the slightest doubt that the Pieta in the Vatican Basilica is infinitely superior to that block of marble sculpture that Michelangelo went to choose personally in the cellars of the Apuan Alps, in the surroundings of Carrara.
From that block of 2 meters by 2 and a half meters, he brilliantly knew how to remove all the excess material and from it, he made the Pietà “emerge”.
The Pietà was not really “inside the block”, but rather it was in the heart, in the intelligence, in the genius, in the soul of Michelangelo, all that was the guide of his hands. As he himself said: “I only remove what is left over”.
The splendid block of marble sculpture is nature, the Pieta is culture.
Cultural assets, as we understand them, and which are depositaries of a certain social relevance, express and identify a people and its traditions, it is clear that when we refer to this we do so thinking of the entire broad spectrum of that which is recognized transversally, as tangible or tangible heritage and also of that which belongs to the broadest sphere, the so-called intangible heritage.
When we speak of Cultural Heritage, we do not reduce our reading to the magnificent content of museums, libraries, art galleries, painting or sculpture, literature, etc. Although all of these form an important and inescapable part of culture, they do not exhaust it, nor do they encompass the whole of the immense cultural heritage.
Cultural heritage has a much broader meaning than what UNESCO considers as such.
It is important to understand to what extent, ... they, as a whole, tell us and at the same time remind us who we are, what are our roots, but also our aesthetic tastes and interests, our lifestyle and ideals or those that illuminated the soul of the ancient inhabitants of the same habitat. We can affirm without fear that they express “the soul” of a people.
Most of you are committed to the care and preservation of this enormous heritage, and not infrequently you do it by struggling to awaken an interest that can overcome the apathy and immobility of certain strata.
Sometimes our society seems to be affected by the pathology of “self-lesionism”, that “cainist” attitude expressed in the lack of sensitivity with respect to the care of the whole heritage, which expresses the incomparable wealth of Spain as a whole, also weakens the tourist offer and to a certain extent compromises the future.
Pietà of the Vatican, Author: Michelangelo, 1498/9-1500, marble.
We have suffered and continue to suffer from self-harming attitudes that harm us all and compromise the future. Suffice it to think of the depreciations or the destruction of the heritage of 1936.
These Conferences are very important because they allow us to follow the path together, to open doors, to accompany each other, to enrich ourselves with the experiences of those who have already taken steps, to learn from mistakes, even those made with good will.
The world of tourism moves 1.3 billion people every year, 300 million of whom travel for religious reasons of various origins. This is telling us about enormous and complex realities, not easy to imagine and manage, but the only thing we cannot afford is to be absent, indifferent and disjointed.
Our country is the largest holiday and leisure destination with about 85 million people who choose us every year for those sacred days of rest, attracted by the sun, the good weather, the openness of the Spanish people, our culture, art, history, our faith and cultural heritage that today unites us and shows the richness of that faith, believed and lived in a unique and singular way, typical of Spain.
Those more than 84 and a half million tourists who arrive every year, leave in Spain the equivalent of the health and education budgets together, they also allow us to maintain the welfare state and give work to millions of Spaniards, and to other people who come here to seek a better life, but they also allow us to heal, educate, open possibilities, plan the future, while we offer them a material and immaterial wealth, typical of our people and our culture.
It is evident that the immense cultural patrimony of the Church is its property and that its custody and preservation is its responsibility, but since they are assets of the highest relevance and importance for the whole of society, and that emerged as an expression of that same society as a whole, they themselves express and identify the soul of our people, and therefore when it comes to preserving them, given their very high importance for the whole body of society, the burden of such preservation should not fall solely on the shoulders of the institutional Church, which in reality benefits and benefits the whole of society as a whole.
Not infrequently the State and other structures are very attentive and prompt to set standards and demand, but they do not show equal availability and promptness for the support, restoration and help in a management, which in itself should be at the service of the community. Not infrequently they love to “dress up in other people's clothes” and make great campaigns advertising the local culture with images and elements belonging to the cultural and religious heritage of the Church, but when it comes to integrating themselves in an integral project of care, promotion and safeguarding, they find it difficult to find resources and initiatives.
As an old popular saying goes: “Everyone takes orangeade from the orange tree, but nothing from the poor orange tree”.
All this makes the active, conscious and operative participation of the local community essential, not only for the above mentioned, but also for the construction of the local tourist project, with the sense of a true strategic plan with its own brand, and that allows not only the enhancement of the Heritage, in a coordinated way, but also the care of the environment, the respect towards the way of life of the population, its customs and its own culture.
If the inhabitants of a city feel invaded and at the mercy of decisions planned in distant desks, and that the massive and indiscriminate arrival of tourists or pilgrims seriously disturbs the serenity and peace of their daily lives, it is not strange that the so-called “tourism-phobia” is generated or, as unfortunately is also happening in Santiago, a certain “pilgrim-phobia”.
When they experience that they have been mere unwitting spectators of a process that generates social stress, that reduces them to produce and sell objects and services for mass demand, far from promoting a harmonious and integrating social development, it produces the opposite feeling to the cordial welcome, which is the central element in any valid and sustainable tourism project: the harmonious and fruitful encounter between peoples and people.
That is why it is important that all the actors or builders of society, with an overcoming spirit, putting aside differences and in the name of the Common Good, are capable of sitting down to elaborate this strategic tourist-cultural-social plan, with its own brand, which guarantees its operative viability and its durability, taking into account primarily the neighbors and not only the “profit”.
By builders of the society I understand that, starting from 2 great “motors” as the Church and the structures of the State, it is necessary that they are able to summon the living forces: Institutions, intermediate associations, groups of opinion, educators, tourist and cultural managers, prepared people of good will, etc. centered on a project of high voltage for the local culture and for the same population, that must be elaborated and managed from the own reality of the place. This can be a Sanctuary, ruins with archaeological value, a convent, a museum, or the total set of the own cultural goods.
Ex: The arrival or not of cruise ships that invade Venice every year, is decided far from Venice, more precisely in Mollorca. The local port authorities can only authorize or not the mooring, but the quantity and frequency is decided outside Venice. Today, there are hardly any Venetians left living in the lagoon, due to the unmanageable quality of daily life and the very high costs. Finally, Venice, after many years, is working on a comprehensive strategic plan.
The third theme is that of Evangelization, a reality that has been fulfilled and is still pending.
There are many ways of conceiving the necessary path to promote Evangelization in our time. And this, far from being a difficulty, should be welcomed as a gift and a grace, as long as it is done in a spirit of participative communion, it is the Spirit that blows where it wills...thank goodness. This should not worry us, but give us certainty and joy for the work of the Lord who continues to act. The world of tourism is also a propitious space for sowing the Gospel. As in the parable of the sower, the seed is scattered with full hands, trusting in the Lord, who makes it grow and bear fruit.
When we were talking about cultural heritage and tourism, everything seems more or less clear, but now we will make a new actor enter the scene, which apparently will dislocate the preceding well-organized pieces, but not really, evangelization is what articulates and gives meaning to the relationship between heritage and tourism project, which run the risk of being reduced to tour for tour and restorative conservationism, as a wonderful but truncated passion, if it only cares for the material health of a work, and the destination is only the showcase.
For example: A magnificent cathedral, where I can put an admission ticket, which beyond providing several utilities (such as restoration, support, providing technology and security, producing illustrative material, etc) and where the organizational machinery works like clockwork, it seems to have everything tied up and well tied up .... But when the question of evangelization enters the scene, a new chapter opens with many questions, since having a cultural property and organizing its management in a business way does not mean that this opens and articulates an evangelizing process, which is a necessary step... and if it is not taken, it simply “reduces” to a beautiful museum placed in a cultural environment, everything that was created and designed for worship, the adoration of God and evangelization.
It makes one laugh when they “musealize” cathedrals and then pompously call people to participate in “cultural visits”. I ask myself: Are we afraid to speak of the Christian signs and symbols present in the sacred space that explain, celebrate and make the faith present?
It is almost an offense to the “orthopraxis”, what was created for the worship and adoration of God is presented as an almost neutral cultural visit.
To assume this, it is inescapable to prepare people in an integral way, but I allow myself to include something more, that at least they belong in an active way to the faith that the monument celebrates. It is not enough that they be good and professionally competent guides, but that they also be true catechists, otherwise it would be better that they explain the Roman Colosseum or the monument to Garibaldi.
I hope not to be misinterpreted, or taken out of context or given an intentionality that I do not have, by what I will say: It would seem to me tremendously limiting that a Catholic guide, however prepared he may be, explain to me a synagogue or a mosque, its symbology, its mystery, “its mysticism”, its transmission of values and asceticism proper to its faith, the spirit of its prayer and hope; if this is not included, in the best of cases, it will hardly exceed the mere cultural or archaeological visit, as it also seems to me equally limiting and reduced to the merely technical, that the Transparent of the cathedral of Toledo be explained to me by someone who does not believe in the Eucharist.
Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem (Israel)
Sometimes, even with good intentions, things are said that “denaturalize” or “desacralize” the visited space. I will give 2 examples experienced in first person.
a. During a pilgrimage, at the Holy Sepulcher, a guide, visibly of another creed, said to a huge group of Koreans, pointing out, “there, in that place, Christians think or believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected”. The materiality of the words only affirms the truth, in that place the Christians believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected, but the form and the attitude do not allow to think that the desire was to affirm it, but rather to deny it or to put it in doubt, and this, precisely in the most sacred place for the Christian faith.
b. In a site of Romanesque Routes, a very qualified teacher explained with great technical expertise some churches of the Romanesque of Palencia. There she explained the neo-Platonic influence and other relevant elements, to conclude by affirming “all this is to affirm the central element of the Christian faith: the resurrection of the soul”. It would be opportune that when pretending to speak with mastery of the Christian faith, at least before reading the catechism.
Here I generalize...in order not to use directly the expression “to evangelize the world of tourism and culture” which sounds like something very big, ...to be a little more modest and realistic, we could propose it from some line below, that is to say starting from the necessary base which is: “to awaken the hunger and thirst for God, present in the heart of every man”... “cultural agents” will not be enough. It will not be enough “cultural agents” that limit themselves to explain artistically or culturally in an impeccable way that cathedral, it is possible to “read the technical data sheet” of a work or a building with great elegance and eloquence, without producing the 2 absolutely necessary realities for that step more, the plus:
to awaken astonishment, admiration and amazement, to unsettle passivity, to bring us out of the self-sequestering we inflict on ourselves on digital screens in order to raise our gaze, to open ourselves to new dimensions,
and at the same time to help the integral understanding of a work, from an integral reading, to open it to the eyes of the intelligence and the heart.
If I limit myself to explain the marbles, bronzes, authors, architects and artists, I would only have entered the materiality of the work or the building, I would not have gone beyond the threshold, I would only have mentioned the material support, destined to celebrate a Mystery, the important thing is the mystery believed and celebrated and which are the reason why those marbles, bronzes, stones and images are there, and for which those artists worked with their ingenuity, who did not do it motivated only by the mere aesthetic pleasure, but inspired by higher and better realities.
It is necessary to transcend, to enter (to see and touch with the senses) the soul of that work or that cathedral.
To provoke and awaken the aesthetic emotion, which is capable of transfiguring people and cultures, is the positive stupor of amazement, which opens the doors of the soul and places us before a road to travel: the “via pulchritudinis”.
The Platonic tradition suggests that beauty, truth and good are interchangeable, almost analogous words.
In the same way that the word “beautiful” in English means beautiful, but has the same root as “good”, in Greek the word kalhós (where good and beautiful intersect) has this double connotation. When Jesus affirms “I am the Good Shepherd” he is affirming that he is the “Good and beautiful Shepherd” in whom resides all the Beauty and Goodness of God. The same Hebrew word used in Genesis, when it says “and he saw that it was good”, is “tov”, which can also be translated as “beautiful”, “and he saw that it was good and he saw that it was beautiful.”
Aesthetics and ethics will always be linked, but also beauty will have a close relationship with wisdom, following Plato: “beauty is the splendor of truth”, that fullness of truth, the whole truth, to which the Holy Spirit sent from the Father will guide us.
It is clear that in the Christian faith the “splendor veritatis” is not an artistic work made by human hands and in which the infinite beauty of God can be intuited, the splendor of the truth is a Person: Jesus Christ, and to which all the artistic work of the Church tries to celebrate and explain: ingenuity and human hands that produce Good and Beauty, as a timid reflection of the One who is, in truth and fullness, and here we can place the meeting point, of interaction between the cultural Heritage, the tourist project and evangelization.
Finally, I will quote the great master Federico Fellini. He says something that I do not entirely agree with, I quote: “When something moves you...it needs no explanation, when something is indifferent to you...no explanation will move you”.
Why can't I share what Fellini says? ...because the shock is the first necessary step before the astonishment of beauty...but not the only one, nor the last one. The simple aesthetic “shock” cannot exhaust the experience in a single emotional movement. There is more, there is much more, especially when we speak of transcendent cultural heritage, we speak of things that lead us to God, that help us to find Him, that pave the way for us.
For this I would like to share with you a work by Sandro Botticelli that is in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence.
It is clear that it is not my desire to stigmatize the generous museum guides, but let's pretend that I am a museum guide who gives a lot of precious but only technical information, but in this case will not exceed the simple technical data sheet and you a group in the Galleria degli Uffizi.
“The Slander of Apelles”. Sandro Botticelli (1495)
I have chosen a painting that goes unnoticed to the general public and apparently non-religious, since it is placed among the great works of the master and that get all the attention.
The work was made in 1495, is tempera or tempera on wood and measures 0.61 x 0.91 cm, is a relatively small painting.
It is the last archaeological work of Botticelli, who was called Alessandro Botticelli di Mariano Filipei.
We see a great intensity of colors and natural light.
It is an allegorical scene, set against a classical architectural background, with allusions to mythology and the A.T. All this shows the author's interest in antiquity, which gives greater drama to the work.
It is called “The Calumny of Apelles”, and is inspired by the work of Luciano de Somósata entitled “About Calumny”, mentioned by Leon Battista Alberti.
In the central niche is King David, in the purest Donatello style, made 50 years earlier.
Other important characters for the Christian faith are also present, such as St. Paul and St. George.
King David, Paul of Tarsus and the Roman officer St. George, and other figures, at some point in their lives were “touched” by slander.
Some mythological scenes appear: Apollo and Daphne, Herakles and Lycas, all of them, in one way or another, also slandered.
There are 10 figures, and it is read from right to left.
The scene opens to the exterior, where appears a blue sky and a greenish sea, which marks the horizon line.
Uffizi Gallery. Florence. Italy
Did you like the explanation of the painting?
Actually, we did not explain or understand the work, we only illustrated it with technical, artistic and historical data.
I will tell you about it, based on Prof. Palomino's interpretation:
First, there is King Midas, who is there on his throne on a podium, because he is about to Judge, that is, to administer justice.
King Midas, after renouncing his desire to turn everything he touched into gold, was condemned to have donkey ears, and he is placed there, because what is based on slander can never be just, nor reach the truth, and at the same time he is a bad judge, because incapable of understanding and discernment, his donkey ears make him evident.
He is surrounded by two seductive female figures who lie on top of him to rub his donkey ears and whisper in his ear: they are suspicion and ignorance, the two pillars that support all slander.
King Midas represents those who, suspecting and ignoring, judge, and that is why his ears are those of a donkey, because he who suspects and ignores, will always be unable to reach the truth, nor justice, he lacks the sine qua non requirement for it: equanimity.
The king stretches his hand forward pointing to a figure covered with a kind of monastic habit, but which is torn...it represents hatred and envy, which hide behind apparently “healthy” clothes and excuses, but their torn habit indicates that their true intentions will soon be revealed. Hatred and envy defy the judge by stretching out his hand to the king to demand justice, while he touches one of the king's advisors: suspicion, and with his right hand he tightly binds the young and seductive protagonist: the Calumny.
The slander that gives its name to the painting is young...because the strength of all slander lies in telling the novelty, leaving the other astonished with the story...an old or known slander is something that lacks importance, the slander is seductive, since the one who tells it and spreads the novelty, makes the listener be seduced.
The work “the slander” “is embellished”, by hypocrisy and wickedness, that comb it, they adorn it by placing in its hair a white ribbon, of apparent purity. They are “embellishing” her, a slander that not well lined up like a salad, has little course.
The clothes of the young woman who represents the slander are similar to those used in the Marian iconography, because the one who becomes the bearer of the slander must appear pure and scandalized by what she transmits, but they will be only fictional clothes.
He carries in one hand a torch that has fire, but does not illuminate, like the calumny that has strength and energy, but does not bring light.
With his right hand he drags along the ground, holding by the hair, a naked young man with barely covered his shame and placing his hope on high, begs for mercy, for the truth to be revealed.
On the left, an old woman in heavy and dark clothes represents compunction, that is, the repentance of the slanderer, who turns his gaze back in search of the truth.
This pure and unclothed woman represents the truth, she is naked, she is only covered with her hair and one of her hands, she raises her right hand and her gaze, since only heaven can restore innocence and reestablish the truth to the slanderer.
It is noteworthy that all the characters in the painting are barefoot, indicating the cross risk of suffering from slander, from which no one is exempt.
Everything happens in a scene, bright and open, since slander most of the time spreads in the sunlight, it does not need to shelter in the darkness of the darkness.
The theme is taken from a historical fact and that is the accusation of envy that the painter Antófilos makes against his colleague the painter Apeles. He accuses him of being the leader of a revolt against Ptolemy IV, because of this he is imprisoned and only obtains his freedom when the true leader of the revolt surrenders and Apelles' innocence is revealed.
King Ptolemy rehabilitated him, and to do justice and eradicate the slander, condemns Anthophilos, Apelles' accuser, to spend the rest of his life as his slave.
Why did I choose an apparently non-religious painting in a museum and not a sacred image in a cathedral?
Precisely because of the development of the theme we have been dealing with, because the interpretation plays a determining role between the work and the person who admires it, in time and the message, even the abstract ones contain a message. And it is never a message without content, it is never neutral, and returning to the beginning of this fraternal reflection, Beauty is today, as yesterday, one of the privileged highways that lead us to God, to his search, to walk to meet him.
The titanic work of saving, caring for and preserving the cultural goods we have received would be truncated and impoverished if we limit ourselves to being “those who conserve and ensure for future generations” an artistic treasure of incalculable value and beauty, for if we do not succeed in having this treasure read in the key of faith, opening the “Porta fidei” that makes us meet Jesus, we will have done something very valuable in itself, but which will be of only half use.
The great Antoni Gaudi said that “the temple must inspire the feeling of divinity” and a beautiful work...also.
Without fear, we could say that a church can be reduced to the mere function of a museum and that at the same time a museum can become the “tent of encounter”, “when the visitor is helped and disturbed” so that he can open himself to the divine dimension or at least shake off his apathy.
When someone is disturbed, moved, moved and uplifted by beauty, they are having a spiritual experience from which they will never come out the same.
I understand all this as a place of more direct or broader proclamation, but proclamation of the Gospel.
If we do not unite culture, the tourism project and evangelization, if we do not put them to work together, we will hardly be able to make much progress.
Evangelization requires truly trained people who can put the marvelous cultural heritage, of which we are the depositaries, at the active service of the new evangelization, which finds an ideal public in tourism.
Author: Gustavo Riveiro D'Angelo
Dtor. of the Department of Tourism Pastoral. Spanish Episcopal Conference
Conference presented at the XL Jornadas Nacionales de Patrimonio Cultural de la Iglesia.
Spanish Episcopal Conference. Diocesan Museum of Barbastro, June 27, 2022.
The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts contained in this document and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of Tourism and Society Think Tank and do not commit the Organization, and should not be attributed to TSTT or its members.
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