The aim of this panel is to present modern studies related to traveling, especially to religious tourism, as seen from the perspective of pilgrims. Just as the forms of religious and spiritual activity change, the concept of a pilgrimage can be defined in different ways. Often this term is used to describe an exceptional travel to dedicated places of cultural and religious heritage, also without the presence of religious motivation. In this sense, a good example might be e.g. Camino de Santiago or the Holy Land. Sometimes a pilgrimage can be a travel to places related to famous people or cultural icons, like Memphis. We invite all researchers to submit talks and participate in the panel for studying the narrations of modern pilgrims, travel literature about places important (not only) for various religious traditions, as well as different aspects of experience learnt by pilgrims or religious tourists, analyses of their memories and travel reports, and finally cultural tourism that can be considered as religious pilgrimages.Chair: Barbara Wezgowiec (Jagiellonian University in Krakow)Speakers:Helen Hardacre (Harvard University), Japanese Wartime PilgrimageAbdul Rahim Afaki (University of Karachi), Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia. A Cathedral, A Museum, A MosqueAindrila Chakraborty (University at Albany, SUNY), Western Secular Pilgrims, Meaning-Making and Making Meaning in PondicherryMaria Grazia Cantoni (University of Birmingham), Mountain Ascent: A Form of Contemporary PilgrimageNoor Zehra Zaidi (University of Maryland), Longing and Belonging In Karbala: Pilgrimage and Politics of Ziyarāt In Post-Invasion IraqBarbara Wezgowiec (Jagiellonian University in Krakow), The Writer and The Pilgrimage. The Theme of A Pilgrim (Not Only) In The Works of Andrzej StasiukPawel Plichta (Jagiellonian University in Krakow), Pilgrims of The Camino de Santiago In The Jubilee Year