Krajobraz sakralny a turystyka - studium przypadku Masywu Synaj

Sacred landscape and tourism - case study of Sinai Mountain

Summary: Religious landscape is a peculiar form of cultural landscape. This type of landscape develops in places which serve religious functions. Practices with religion-related character and foundations are considered among the oldest socio-cultural activities of man; religious landscape should therefore be regarded as one of the oldest types (if not the oldest one) of cultural landscape. Thus, its spread over the Earth followed the spread of the ecumene. The article is a thought on the evolution of the religious landscape of Mount Sinai (Moses' Mountain). The author presents the natural-cultural phenomenon of the place on the background of natural conditions of Sinai. She distinguishes characteristic stages of development of the religious landscape in the vicinity of Mount Sinai as a particular type of cultural landscape. She also points to the role of tourism (including religion-related tourism and pilgrimages) in the process of landscape transformation, and identifies threats relating to this process. The article was based on direct observations made by the author, interviews with tourists and pilgrims, as well as on research of the reference books and analyses of satellite images. The presented case study of Mount Sinai shows that mass tourism, mostly practiced by tourists who are unaware of the rank of the place and barely experience its genius loci, carries a large risk of the sacrum being overtaken by the profanum.

Peregrinus Cracoviensis, 2008, z. 19, s. 35-45.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

ISSN 1425-1922

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