Way of St. James
The section in Świnoujście of the St. James’s Way is a part of the Pomeranian Way of St. James, and this is a small part of the El Camino de Santiago. The Way of St. James in Europe is a pilgrimage route more than a thousand years old, leading from all over the Europe to the site of the tomb of the apostle St. James the Elder, located in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in North-western Spain.
Being forgotten after the French Revolution, the Way is now revived after almost three decades. The revitalisation process was launched by the Council of Europe in 1987, during which the Way of St. James was recognized as significant for development and cultural heritage of this part of the world and declared the first European Cultural Route.
At the same time, the Council of Europe called on governments of the countries through which the historical route leads, to revitalize successively the St. James Way and to keep its ongoing maintenance in order to preserve the European heritage.
Within the project carried out by the Marshal Office of West Pomeranian Voivodeship, a distance of 630km of the Ways of St. James in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship was marked with a characteristic yellow scallop shell with blue background sign. Monumental cathedrals, numerous village churches, extraordinary nature and the Balitc coast with the Wolin National Park can be admired by hikers on the routes.
An interesting place on the trail is Szczecin with the Cathedral Basilica of St. James the Apostle, being the starting point for several St. James Routes leading through: Wolin, Wkrzańska Forest, Berlin and Frankfurt an der Oder. One section of the trail runs also through Świnoujście. This route is marked with the number 37, with a length of 20.5 km. It conntects Międzyzdroje with the village Kamminke, situated on the German side of the border.
Within the administrative boundaries of the city of Świnoujście, the route leads through Łunowo and Przytór (down the Zalewowa St.), Ognica, Warszów (along the Wrzosowa, Norweska, Białoruska, Barlickiego streets, and then to the "Warszów" ferry crossing), Usedom island (along the Wybrzeże Władysława IV, Armii Krajowej, Konstytucji 3 Maja, Kościuszki, Kołłątaja, Gdańska, Śląska, Szkolna, Markiewicza, Grunwaldzka, Krzywa streets, to the Świnoujście – Kamminke border crossing).
Along the way, there can be seen: remains of fortified structures of the World War II (among others, the Goeben Battery – a complex of artillery bunkers), historic neo-gothic church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, erected in 1895 in Przytór, as well as station churches of the Pomeranian Way of St. James, i.e. the Christ the King Church and Church of Blessed Michael Kozal.
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Date Added 03 May 2014