frömde selczame ding in the traveler’s gaze The construction of intercultural spaces in Konrad Grünemberg’s late medieval account of his pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Abstract

In the second half of the 15th century, numerous Christian pilgrims set out on the arduous and dangerous journey to Jerusalem. The Mediterranean Sea that had to be crossed, specifically the crossing from Venice and Jaffa, is perceived in the pilgrims’ accounts as a space of danger to be overcome, but also as an intercultural space of encounter, and is constructed in narrative terms. This article analyses the construction of this intercultural space using the example of the pilgrimage account of Konrad Grünemberg, who travelled to Jerusalem in 1486. The analysis shows that the pilgrims, depending on their level of education and their respective socialisation, perceive and construct different intercultural spatial layers that differ in terms of their degree of abstraction.