{"id":3534,"date":"2026-09-23T10:47:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T10:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/?p=3534"},"modified":"2026-09-23T10:47:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T10:47:55","slug":"the-jacobean-council-what-it-is-who-makes-it-up-and-what-functions-it-has-on-the-camino-de-santiago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/blog\/the-jacobean-council-what-it-is-who-makes-it-up-and-what-functions-it-has-on-the-camino-de-santiago\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jacobean Council: what it is, who makes it up and what functions it has on the Camino de Santiago"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the Jacobean Council?<\/h2>\n\n

The Jacobean Council is the body for institutional cooperation between the Government of Spain and the autonomous communities that have Camino de Santiago routes in their territory. Its main function is to coordinate public actions related to the Jacobean pilgrimage. <\/p>\n\n

It is an administrative body, which means that its decisions have a direct impact on how public resources allocated to the Camino de Santiago are managed, on infrastructure planning and on promotional campaigns.<\/p>\n\n

This body was created to respond to the need arising from the fact that the Camino de Santiago crosses various autonomous communities, each with its own powers. Without a body to coordinate those actions, it would be very difficult to maintain a common strategy for a route that knows no borders. <\/p>\n\n

Composition of the Jacobean Council: who is part of it<\/h2>\n\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n

The Jacobean Council is a body of mixed composition: both the Government of Spain and the autonomous communities through whose territory an official Camino de Santiago route passes are represented in it. <\/p>\n\n

General State Administration:<\/h3>\n\n
    \n
  • Ministries with powers over the Camino<\/strong>: Culture, Tourism, Interior, Agriculture and Public Works, among others, according to the legislation in force at any given time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • How they are chosen<\/strong>: the representatives are designated directly by each ministry, normally senior officials with powers in the field.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n

    Autonomous communities:<\/h3>\n\n
      \n
    • Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, Navarre, La Rioja, Aragon, Castile and Le\u00f3n, Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura, the Valencian Community, the Region of Murcia, Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid, among others, depending on the officially recognised routes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • How they are chosen<\/strong>: Each autonomous community designates its representative, usually the councillor or director-general with powers over tourism, culture or heritage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n

      Other invited bodies and institutions (with a voice but no vote)<\/h3>\n\n
        \n
      • Spanish Federation of Associations of Friends of the Camino de Santiago<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Representatives of the Catholic Church linked to the Cathedral of Santiago.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • How they are chosen: They are guests, that is, they are not part of the Council’s structure. Their representatives are designated<\/strong> by each institution according to its own internal criteria. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n

        Presidency and secretariat:<\/h3>\n\n
          \n
        • Presidency<\/strong>: held by the minister with powers over tourism or culture. It is a political position, not elected by vote. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Technical secretariat<\/strong>: Responsible for managing calls, minutes and monitoring agreements. Its appointment corresponds to the Council itself or to the ministry holding the presidency. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n

          The meetings are not public, but their conclusions are published in the corresponding official gazettes.<\/p>\n\n

          Main functions of the Jacobean Council<\/h2>\n\n
          \"The<\/figure>\n\n

          The Council’s functions are very varied and range from administrative coordination to the international promotion of the Camino.<\/p>\n\n

            \n
          • Coordination between public administrations.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Promotion and dissemination of the Camino de Santiago.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Advice on regulations and heritage protection: Proposing measures to protect the historical, artistic and natural assets linked to the Camino.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Management of the Jacobean Holy Years: Planning and coordinating the actions carried out when 25 July falls on a<\/strong> Sunday.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Promotion of research and documentation.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Collaboration with other institutions<\/strong>: Maintaining relations with international organisations, such as the Council of Europe, which recognised the French Way as a European Cultural Itinerary in 1987.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n

            History and evolution of the Jacobean Council<\/h2>\n\n

            The Jacobean Council was created in the 1980s, coinciding with the resurgence of interest in the Camino de Santiago. Before its creation, each administration acted independently, which generated duplication, lack of coordination and conflicts between autonomous communities. <\/p>\n\n

            Its regulations are governed by a royal decree that established its nature, composition and functions. Since then, the Council has undergone various reforms to adapt to changes in the organisation of the State and to the new needs of the Camino. <\/p>\n\n

            Throughout history, the Jacobean Council has promoted milestones such as the declaration of the French Way as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993, the creation of the Pilgrim’s Office as a body dependent on the Church but coordinated with the administrations, and the implementation of security plans for the Holy Years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            What is the Jacobean Council? The Jacobean Council is the body for institutional cooperation between the Government of Spain and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sin-categorizar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3535,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions\/3535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}