An architectural pilgrimage: “Landscape of Faith”
Book-review: Tatiana Bilbao is the author of Landscape of Faith: Interventions Along the Mexican Pilgrimage Route (Lars Müller Publishers). The book features more than 200 photographs by Iwan Baan, showing the structures along the road and the pilgrims who use them. The pilgrimage pathway from Ameca to Talpa de Allende, which is renowned for a sighting of the Virgin, is 117 kilometers (nearly 73 miles) long. Nearly 3 million people make the trek every year. Bilbao and Dellekamp developed the master plan for a series of interventions and invited eight other design firms to participate. In the book’s introduction, Bilbao writes that most of what was built were “sculptural pieces that marked the end of a stage of the route or that sat atop a vantage point from which special panoramic views of the Sierra Madre could be enjoyed.”