Scallop stones

These very resilient casts of original scallop shells from Galicia, embedded in the ground, point to evidence of medieval building culture along the way. So far, over 350 of these scallop shell stones have been inserted or recorded in the project space. Collectively, they form a string of pearls - a poetic star trail - of architectural and artistic contemporary witnesses that may already have been present for the pilgrims of St. James, who in the Middle Ages were on their way in the cultural landscapes of the project space in the direction of Santiago de Compostela. Overland, these scallop stones also occasionally mark special visual axes in the landscape that have always provided points of reference for orientation in foreign lands. Again and again, the remaining medieval testimonies can be found a little bit away from today’s marked routes, therefore such medieval gems were also included in the project up to a distance of about 15 km from the marked route.

The individual positions are marked with a red dot on the interactive map. When you click on them, a small window will show you the GPS position, brief art-historical information about the respective object, and a hint about how many kilometers the medieval monument is located away from the official routes.

To the interactive map