Mafra and Saramago: Strategies of mediation between a potential World Heritage Site and a Nobel Prize winner’s literary masterpiece

Abstract

The growth of cultural and heritage tourism in the last decades, while offering attractive opportunities of territorial promotion and development, poses significant challenges in terms of destination management. This is especially true when the uniqueness of Word Heritage Sites is considered, given UNESCO’s fundamental aim of preserving the still visible traces of mankind’s manifold history. The added layers provided by literary texts as discourses shaping the expectations of visitors, however, should not be disregarded in this process, given the possibilities offered to counter or expand simplified views of places and identities. Integrated in a research project dedicated to the investigation of existing fractures in the promotion and experience of cultural destinations, a study was conducted in Mafra, Portugal, considering both the potential of the Royal Complex (former Franciscan Monastery, Basilica, National Palace and Hunting Grounds) for future integration in the World Heritage Site list and the importance of the novel Baltasar and Blimunda, by Nobel Prize winner José Saramago, for the development of tourism in the region. A major fracture was detected between the literary text and the discursive reality of the heritage site, affecting fundamental aspects related to its promotion and experience. However, the contrasting stance provided by the novel was also seen as offering prospects for a richer and more profound understanding of the destination. Mediation strategies capable of allowing an adequate promotion and experience of the site are therefore proposed, namely taking into consideration the opportunities offered by new digital technologies.