PILGRIMAGE LANDSCAPE
The Pilgrimage Landscape project develops the idea of the Novohradské Mountains as a place where people, nature, and art meet. The project perceives the landscape not only as a territory, but also as a cultural and spiritual space—a place of memory, sharing, and care.
The project brings together local residents, active organizations, and associations with contemporary artists who, through their approaches, open up new perspectives on the perception of the landscape, its values, uniqueness, and character. The central theme of the project is pilgrimage. It is through pilgrimages that participating artists and creative collectives can strengthen the relationship between people and the landscape, but also initiate a change in thinking about nature conservation and broader environmental issues. Pilgrimage thus becomes an unwritten, non-institutional form of nature conservation – without prohibitions and rules, through relationships and personal experience.
The project actively involves local people in the creative process, promotes sustainable slow tourism, and sensitively raises awareness of the natural, cultural, spiritual, and symbolic values of the landscape. It thus lays the foundations for the identity of the Novohradské Mountains as a pilgrimage landscape, which will remain so even after 2028.
Pilgrimages, walking trails, and journeys through the landscape will also be the highlight of the project in 2028. Each artistic trace is a record that remains in the landscape: whether as a concrete object (a planted tree, an installation in the landscape), a recording (sound, scent, texts), or memories of activities from 2025-2027. The pilgrim passes through the landscape, where these artistic traces become his guides, inspiring him to his own discoveries, reflections, and different experiences.
The year 2028 will also include walks, hikes, and hiking trips through the Novohradské Mountains.
The specific form and content of the year 2028 will evolve during the project and directly follow on from previous activities in 2025-2027.
The project is being implemented by the Krajina Novohradska association.
In 2024, in cooperation with the Faculty of Science of the University of South Bohemia, the Biological Center of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, it created a Collection of Texts on the Values of the Novohradské Mountains - A Resilient yet Fragile Landscape (Soubor textů k hodnotám území - Novohradské hory: krajina odolná i křehká), in which it describes these values: Mountains full of water, Natural wealth, Human footprint, Pilgrimage landscape, Peaceful mountains.
The Pilgrimage landscape project is a tool for sensitively approaching these values, conveying them and experiencing them. A series of events and artist residencies will take place in the landscape between 2025 and 2027. In 2028, the project will culminate in a series of pilgrimages, walking tours and wanderings through the Novohradské Mountains. Traces of the previous artistic interventions will remain in the landscape: whether as a specific object (a planted tree, an installation in the landscape), a record (sound, scent, texts) or memories of the previous years' activities.
NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF PILGERLAND
Looking back on 2025: Pilgerland – Pilgrimage Landscape of the Novohradské Mountains
During 2025, we organized several meetings with associations, institutions, and individuals who are actively involved in cultivating life, places, and the landscape of the Novohradské Mountains and foothills. We met in Pohoří na Šumavě and Pohorská Ves – places of historical pilgrimage significance. The main goal was to present the Pilgerland project and invite all participants to collaborate.
CONTACT:
Lead partner: Krajina Novohradska, z.s.
Project manager: Lucie Marková, lucie.markova@krajinanovohradska.cz
