Carrying peace out into the world

Pilgrimage in the sense of a spiritual journey to places relevant to religious history seeks a holistic experience of peace, today as in the past. Be it through feeling the divine spark in one's own being or in harmony with nature. People can also find access to themselves through encounters with the unknown and other cultures. Orientation, exploration and discovery in a foreign place can change the flow of thoughts. Inner conflicts can calm down in self-distance. A different kind of encounter with people, cultures and places is made possible in the landscape that passes by in time with your steps. Mindful progress mobilizes mental strength, generates a thirst for knowledge and a pronounced openness to the world. Across time, pilgrimage is therefore seen as an opportunity to broaden consciousness by gaining new experiences and insights, which can serve as building blocks for individual participation in shaping a free and peaceful society.

The inner peace gained from the experience of being "away" and at the same time "on the way" can thus become an impulse to bring peace into the world on the outside. This process can unfold both in everyday life and on vacation, whether on foot, by bike or by other means of transport (for older people).

Valorization of a large regional network of paths

The title "Sternenweg/Chemin des étoiles" refers to the cosmic signposts used by pilgrims in the early days and the myth of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, which developed over centuries. In contemporary terms, the project sees itself as a process-oriented example of a careful valorization of the rediscovered paths of the pilgrims of St. James in parts of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lorraine and Alsace. The founding ideas of the European Union permeate the project as a vision pointing the way forward: walking the Way of the Stars as a pilgrim for peace in order to spread the ideas of tolerance, humanity, freedom, democracy and friendly encounters between cultures. In this way, the valorization ultimately aims to deepen and spread a humanistic world view of modern times in the mirror of the world view of the Middle Ages while on the road as a pilgrim in the project area.

In 1987, the Council of Europe declared this network of paths a European Cultural Route and invited the regions of Europe to rediscover the lost paths of the pilgrims of St. James in order to connect them with the origins of the "European idea" at a regional level. The idea and concept of the "Sternenweg" is therefore a model project for how such a mission can be inspired, tested and implemented in a large regional context in the heart of Europe.

The "Sternenweg/Chemin des étoiles" aims to make use of the sensitization of perception that can occur during pilgrimages in an exemplary manner. It is seen as one of the crossroads of Europe, where German and French culture meet. The Saarbrücken region, from which the European model project began in 2006, sees itself as one of the nodes of the various path axes that cross the project area like a star-shaped network.

From here, the Saarbrücken Regional Association supervises and manages the project with the support of many project partners along the way. The aim is to connect the pilgrimage of the present with the various regional facets of the cultural landscapes of the project area, their respective medieval monuments and aspects of cultural, social and ethical values as the basis for sustainable development in Europe.

Implementation with "small gestures"

The model project is experimenting with the inclusion of poetry. For the participants, this means thinking of the idea and process of being a pilgrim as a poem about peace and beauty, for example, and discovering the essential in the simple, often inconspicuous. The valorization therefore follows the principle of "small gestures". To this end, inconspicuous traces, symbols and signs of past cultures, such as star motifs on medieval monuments and their meaning, are repeatedly highlighted along the paths. The focus is on searching for traces and consciously discovering in order to touch deeply: the people, the landscape, the cultural heritage and the community. The aim of the content is to reduce art-historical and cultural landscape backgrounds as well as abstract definitions of values to essentials and make them understandable. In this way, connections can be recognized and own options for action can be inspired. This way of communicating content sometimes also involves artistic reflections such as music, poetry or visual art (see illustrated book).

The practical implementation takes place on several levels: for example, through the digitalization of the rediscovered regional paths in an interactive map in the large regional project area, the recording of the remaining evidence of medieval building culture along the way and their marking with signposts. This includes signposting the sites and involving a wide range of local project partners. In addition to the website and signposting, the central idea is communicated via inauguration events and the publication/distribution of subtly designed publications that convey the network of paths, the reference points and the central idea in two languages.

In addition, "Denkbilder" interpret historical representations of virtues/values in an artistic manner at various locations. In addition, cooperation partners and pilgrim guides are trained and guided meditative walks are offered.

The project thus dispenses with an elaborate infrastructure and grows organically and without time pressure with the available human and financial resources to become a networked community work across borders.

"Stone witnesses" - medieval building culture along the way

The medieval cultural monuments, which are strung like a string of pearls along the historical path axes in the project area, offer authentic and inspiring locations. On sixteen rediscovered path axes covering a total of around 1,600 km, over 350 medieval gems recorded in the project area now provide a rich pool of destinations.

With the support of local partners, the recorded medieval cultural monuments are gradually being marked with a stone scallop shell as a signpost and an information sign and presented to the public. The stone scallops are made by hand by young people as part of training measures and are all dated. The "decorated" medieval gems thus become destinations and offer the opportunity for a variety of individual pilgrimages within the project area, both locally and nationally. Along the routes from Hornbach Abbey to Saarbrücken/Sarreguemines, there are further waymarks (path ornaments made of field limestone, star motifs carved in stone from medieval monuments in the area) that are reminiscent of the sunken old paths (see hiking maps and Internet).

A testing ground for teaching content - values education on the move and on site

The actual field of experimentation of the project is the spectrum of perceptual behavior during pilgrimage hiking and its enrichment for people. Its model character is also anchored in this. The exciting question is to what extent an individual feeling of peace changes or develops when people understand their hike as a path of knowledge, become aware of different values of a humanistically oriented society, discover cultural heritage as spiritual places along the way and receive corresponding impulses in a poetic way.

Surveys carried out in the early days of the project indicated a personal development that occurs in people when they consciously decide to go on a pilgrimage along the paths of the pilgrims of St. James. Apparently, this type of journey stands for a pronounced interest in self-discovery and spiritual experience on the one hand and, on the other, an unconscious affinity for poetic and cultural impulses. In the course of the project, it became clear that if these impulses are made available in connection with cultural heritage and the development possibilities of a free, peace-building and sustainability-oriented society, new ways of thinking can emerge. These insights are continuously tested and explored in practice at a low threshold using the "small gestures" methodology mentioned above.

However, the "Sternenweg" is not a finished product, but rather an exploration in process in search of spaces of possibility in which the ideas of a good life and peaceful coexistence can unfold.

Project sponsor

The Regionalverband Saarbrücken manages the cross-border development of the project in a process-oriented manner. The signposts are created as part of qualification measures for jobseekers. Cooperation partners are the St. James Societies (Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Lorraine, Alsace), many counties, cities, municipalities, church and cultural tourism institutions along the routes of the project area as well as the Institute for European Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe.

In 2018/19, the project made a contribution to the European Year of Cultural Heritage. An illustrated book documents the European model project in a poetic way. The accompanying website conveys the central idea, cultural-historical background and inspiration for further reflection and offers tourist information on pilgrimages. An interactive map makes it possible to plan routes and locate the recorded medieval gems along the paths of the pilgrims in the project area.