Santiago de Compostela, capital of the Spanish province of La Coruña, is home to the Holy Apostolic and Metropolitan Church Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. The temple was a major stop on the Camino de Santiago, a religious route that linked the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of Europe in the Middle Ages because it was believed to contain the tomb of the Apostle St. James. This was a turning point for the medieval Hispanic kingdoms to join the cultural revolutions of their time, and it remains a major pilgrimage site to this day. If July 25th, St. James' Day, falls on a Sunday, then that year is considered a "Holy Year" or "Jubilee Year" in Compostela, per a privilege granted in 1122 by Pope Callistus II and confirmed by Pope Alexander III in his bull Regis aeterni in 1179.

The historic city of Santiago de Compostela, centered on the cathedral, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 and designated an Asset of Cultural Interest in 1896.

The extension of the Camino de Santiago in Spain to "Caminos de Santiago de Compostela: Camino francés y Caminos del Norte de España" was approved by Unesco in 2015, making it one of the properties comprising the Camino de Santiago.