Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The pilgrimage is one of humanity's most ancient phenomena and spans all religions. It consists of a circular movement of people from one place to another in a short period of time, and includes psychological, religious, sociological, and tourist dimensions, with sacred spaces at the core of the journey. Academic study of the phenomenon gained momentum in the 1970s with a series of studies composed by renowned sociologist Victor Turner. Turner examined the social dimension of the pilgrimage, noting that on such a journey social solidarity formed between pilgrims. Tourism to Jerusalem, in tourism's most basic sense, leaving one's place of permanent residence and traveling extensive distances to visit another place, had a distinct character throughout the city's long history. Tours to Jerusalem until the second half of the nineteenth century took the form of pilgrimages, filling a moral and spiritual role for visitors.