By Karina De Mattos.
Although Uruguay made the institutional separation between Church and State, with the approval of the Constitution of 1918, it has important festivals and monuments dedicated to different types of religious beliefs, which are attractive locally and abroad.
JUMP WITH GREAT POTENTIAL
Every year a World Congress of Religious Tourism is held, this year 2021 the city that received religious tourists was Pamplona in Spain. Uruguay has a very important percentage of centers and monuments of interest for this type of tourism. It also has high chances of being the next venue, since it was never held here and the organization is looking for this feature. In addition, the Ministry of Tourism is already promoting it, the mayor of Salto, Andrés Lima said at the launch of the Destination Termas in Terminal Tres Cruces that our department had the visit of one of the members of the organization. During her stay she was guided and accompanied in the process by the cultural anthropologist Patricia Martínez. CAMBIO spoke with her and commented on the details of the visits made in the department, highlighting the relevance of the department in this matter.
TRAVEL
Salto will run together with Paysandú, in principle they were going to do it separately, but later they realized that it is not convenient for them to compete, it is better to get together. “Salto and Paysandú would be the headquarters of the congress, apart from the distance between Salto and Paysandú is nothing. Besides, Paysandú does not have the hotel capacity in the city that Salto has ”. Last weekend, Salto Rosario Bianco, cultural manager, researcher and expert in heritage and religious tourism visited. She is the creator of The Night of the Temples in Montevideo. It took place in November and invites the public to learn about the different rites and cults ”.
SEVERAL ATTRACTIONS
Bianco “was happy with the things I showed him, we made two tours of the Central Cemetery, one in the format of the« Sensible Path »and another that I have developed and has been called« Together to Eternity – Immigrants and Death » . Then we went to the Cathedral, where there are works of great value, by José Luis Zorrilla de San Martín, sculptures by Edmundo Pratti. We also visit the San Roque parish located in the area of the Hippodrome on Avenida Trillo with a very important artistic and cultural value. She was fascinated, and assured that Salto is incredible and if we get together with Paysandú there is a 99 percent certainty that the religious tourism congress to be held in May will be held in Uruguay. She is going to vote and her vote is going to be specifically for Salto ”. During her visit, Bianco was received by the Bishop of Salto, Monsignor Arturo Fajardo, who made the facilities of the Cathedral and the Bishopric available.