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Stories in Stone

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This post was written by Sawyer Wood, BYU Humanities Center Intern and student fellow.   While studying in Northern Spain this summer, I visited the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, which stands in a city literally built around its religiosity. The cathedral was constructed on a sacred site believed to be the resting place of …

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Origin Story

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This post was written by Rex P. Nielson, BYU Humanities Center Director.   On July 25, 1139, in a placed called Ourique, roughly an hour north of modern-day Lisbon, Afonso Henriques and his armed forces faced a much larger army loyal to the Almoravid dynasty and the governor of Córdoba, Muhammad Az-Zubayr Ibn Umar. Though …