How do monuments structure encounters between present viewers and past events? How do they emplace narratives and assert that they truthfully mark a correspondence between story and space? Twelfth-century patrons and masons were confronted with these questions in the aftermath of the First Crusade, when the topography of the “Holy Land” was refashioned to accord with medieval Christian imaginations of the sacred past. This presentation analyzes medieval strategies and motivations for moving the biblical site of Emmaus to a new location and monument. By manipulating natural features, restructuring preexisting architecture, and constructing a new church, builders created a stage for the fulfillment of pilgrims’ desires.

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