Intérpretes culturales del siglo XIX: los "guías de turismo” no reconocidos

Before the first regulations of the profession of tourist guide in Europe in the late nineteenth century, the tourists of Romanticism were attracted by countries like Italy, Spain, Turkey and Egypt (contemplation of antiquity, orientalism and exoticism), fuelled by travel literature and thanks to improvements in infrastructures (the arrival of the train). As a result of the large increase in tourists in these countries, we intend to analyze the different groups of interpreters of cultural heritage, our object of study, who were the predecessors of today’s tourist guides. The research has been developed through a critical review of travel literature, studying concepts that define and refer to popular interpreters in conjunction with the selection of some sources that provde their existence. The ultimate aim is to show that popular interpreters were indeed a kind of mediator between the envioronment, territory, local culture, traditions and tourists. Their work was fundamental for the “in situ” interpretation of material and immaterial heritage. In addition, we will review two important and popular cultural interpreters, Chorro e Jumo and Cornelio.