ABSTRACT

The image of Spain as a tourist destination from an iconographic perspective, reflected on public photography, graphic guides, postcards, and cinema, has been pieced together and historically transformed according to the different institutional politics and the reaction to previous models. The image that Spain has adopted in the representations of popular culture tourism owes its configuration to an eminently historical buildup that had in its own "iconic" nature and visual and graphic history a constant example upon which settle. The chapter focuses on two types of mass media that have provided the specific image of Spain and Spanish consolidation: photography and cinema. It deduces a thematic axis that influences the actual touristic representations derived from the mass media; this deals with the tension and dichotomy between modernity and tradition in the image of Spain. The axis relates to the monumental and natural patrimony in the images connected to popular culture tourism in Spain.