Visions of Jesus Christ and pilgrimage to Rocamadour and Saint James, Saint Peter Codex
2016 will mark the 700th anniversary of the death of one of Europe's best cultural and philosophical exponents, Ramon Llull. This commemoration, which will be known as the Year of Llull, aims at revealing more about his life in all its aspects and to acknowledge the fact that he is seen around the world as being the most distinguished figure in Catalan culture of all time.
The announcement of the Year of Llull was approved by the government in March 2014 and includes conferences, exhibitions, concerts and editorial, academic and educational projects to better understand how original his thinking was as well as the quality of his literature. Llull's work, which was mainly written in Catalan and Latin, has been edited, translated and studied in the world's most prestigious cultural centres and influenced great thinkers from the 14th right up to the present day.
The Year of Llull will also be commemorated by the Bishopric of Palma, the city where he was born in the year 1232.
Born to a noble family, following a mystical experience, he began a new life dedicated to serving God. This had three goals: preaching to unbelievers until he was martyred; writing a book which criticised the errors of the ways of these unbelievers and creating monastery schools where Arabic and other eastern languages were taught in order to instruct missionaries. Amongst his most notable works are the Llibre de contemplació en Déu (Book in Contemplation of God), Art abreujada de trobar veritat (the Abbreviated Art of Finding Truth), and Llibre de les bèsties (Book of the Beasts) as well as many others.
