Editing Pilgrimage (section)

==Cultural pilgrimage==
[[File:Koizumi in Graceland 2006.jpg|thumb|Japanese Prime Minister [[Junichiro Koizumi]], like many fans of [[Elvis Presley]], visited [[Graceland]].]]
A modern phenomenon is the cultural pilgrimage which, while involving a personal journey, is secular in nature. Destinations for such pilgrims can include historic sites of national or cultural importance, and can be defined as places "of cultural significance: an artist's home, the location of a pivotal event or an iconic destination".<ref name=star>{{cite news |url= http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/travel/11279306.html |first= Chris |last= Welsch |work= [[Star Tribune]] |title= Travelers define such a pilgrimage in many different ways |date= January 3, 2007 |access-date= 2008-03-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080608212513/http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/travel/11279306.html |archive-date= June 8, 2008 }}</ref> An example might be a devotee of [[the Beatles]] visiting [[Liverpool]] in England. Destinations for cultural pilgrims include [[Auschwitz concentration camp]], [[Gettysburg Battlefield]] or the [[Ernest Hemingway House]].<ref name=star/> Cultural pilgrims may also travel on religious pilgrimage routes, such as the [[Way of St. James]], with the perspective of making it a historic or architectural tour rather than – or as well as – a religious experience.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.circaterras.com/Tours-Heritage-Culture-Spain/Santiago-Compostela.htm |title= Cultural Pilgrimage to Compostela |website= Circa Tours |date= February 17, 2008 |access-date= 2008-03-11}}</ref>

Under communist regimes, devout secular pilgrims visited locations such as the [[Mausoleum of Lenin]], the [[Mausoleum of Mao Zedong]] and the [[Karl Marx House|Birthplace of Karl Marx]]. Such visits were sometimes state-sponsored. Sites such as these continue to attract visitors. The distinction between religious, cultural or political pilgrimage and tourism is not necessarily always clear or rigid. Pilgrimage could also refer symbolically to journeys, largely on foot, to places where the concerned person(s) expect(s) to find spiritual and/or personal salvation.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}