Sanctuary is an ancient right. Historically, the law enjoyed a long effective life—when it was abolished during the Reformation it had lasted over a thousand years. Once a fugitive had claimed sanctuary, it was a crime to lay hands on them.
In this groundbreaking book on the sanctuary, Marina Warner uncovers the principles that underpin this tradition in myth and history. The quest takes her to explore the concept of hospitality, the cult of relics, popular shrines and festivals, the imagination of place, and travelling tales.
The book asks some important questions. What is sanctuary now for refugees, forced migrants, and arrivants? What form would a working version of sanctuary take today? How might its memory help develop a counterweight to displacement and loss, build home and foster belonging? Could stories, which have always faced the worst experiences of humanity, also act as a salve, a route to somewhere new and a site of mutual interaction and understanding?
This is a book about sanctuary: what it means for people in desperate situations today, what displacement and flight have meant for people throughout history, and how ideals of home and coexistence are represented in literature and myth. Sanctuary is born of Warner’s work with the project “Stories in Transit” which organises workshops in the UK and in Palermo, bringing together young refugees with artists, writers and musicians to invent or reimagine and perform stories.
