How many footsteps are too many?

The poster showcases the many different routes of the Way of St. James across Europe, all leading to Santiago de Compostela. The other map highlights the most popular routes, while a separate visualization shows the number of pilgrims starting from each departure point, with Sarria emerging as the busiest starting point and most frequently walked route.

Upon arriving in Santiago de Compostela, the massive number of pilgrims overwhelms the local population. The main visual emphasizes this contrast: in 2025, over half a million pilgrims arrived in the city, compared to just 101,000 local inhabitants. This striking difference illustrates the scale of the pilgrim boom and its impact on both the journey and the city.

This guestbook illustrates the number of pilgrims, who arrive in Santiago de Compostela each year, starting from the earliest available data of 2003. Each page represents 20.000 Pilgrim’s, so the thickness of the book varies depending on the number of pilgrim’s arriving in Santiago de Compostela. The numbers of Pilgrim’s is increasing each year, and reaching for the first time half a million pilgrims in 2025. Making it a Pilgrim Boom. As a second layer in this guestbook, the stamps shows how many female and male pilgrims arrived each year. Since more men were on the route, the coin has flipped and now more women are on the way to Santiago.

* We acknowledge that gender is not limited to two categories. ‘Female’ and ‘Male’ reflect the classifications used in the original dataset published on the official website of Officina del Peregrino, which collected data using only these two categories.

During the GOG, our poster and physicalisation were on display. The guestbook was placed on a pedestal alongside a candle to evoke a spiritual and reflective atmosphere. The poster was positioned next to the physicalisation.

Throughout the GOG, numerous people expressed interest in the project and engagement with the topic. We spoke with individuals who had walked the Camino, and they confirmed the high levels of crowding, highlighting the phenomenon of the pilgrim boom.