Sants Metges chapel
   

Small chapel dedicated to Sant Cosme and Sant Damià. Situated on the heart of the old village, was recently reconstructed by private initiative of Josep Austrich.

 

NORTH
  Sant Pere del Bosc chapel (1694)
   

X Century chapel.
Inhabited by benedictines until 1694 (torched by the French).
Hermitage rebuilt in 1789 (Baroque style).
Golden Age 1860 (adquired and restored by Nicolau Font i Maig).


Located 5 km. from the centre of town, it was formerly by the fishermen's union. It dates back to the X century and has a small chapel called the Mare de Déu de Gràcia (Our Lady of Grace) chapel. The buyer, an Americano (local who came back from America after he made his fortune) named Nicolau Font i Maig, had this chapel built and extensive restoration and refurbishment done, among which the Cross and the Angel are noteworthy. A marble statue of Nicolau Font i Maig from 1911 was placed in front of the Sanctuary in his honour.

The original hermitage was called Sant Pere Salou. It is said that Benedictine monks inhabited the monastery until it was set afire by French invaders in 1694. The monks then joined the comunity of Sant Pere de Galligans and the parish church where it is still venerated by the faithful. In 1789 the hermitage was rebuilt in Baroque style, the previous style had been Gothic. But the golden age of Sant Pere did not begin until 1860 when the chapel and the land were purchased by Nicolau Font i Maig, known as "Count of Jaruco". La Verge de Gràcia was, and still is, the most lordly estate in Lloret.

Mr. Font i Maig could hear mass throught a lattice overlooking the high altar without getting out of bed. The mortal remains of the family rest in marble tombs in the chapel's crypt. The May First festivities commemorating the existence of the hermitage since the year 1703 had a very traditional and popular flavour. The hermitage is located far away from the village and the locals would get ready the night before for their trip to Nostra Senyora de Gràcia, with the intention of spending the whole day there. After high mass there would be a procession to the Cross where a priest would adress to the faithful in the middle of the forest. Following this, the Choir of the Daughters of Maria would sing the Hym to the Cross by Mossen Cinto Verdaguer with music by the Mestre Candi, and the village people would sing the tune Sacred cross, beloved cross of our hearts.

 

NORTH
  Nostra Senyora de Les Alegries hermitage (1079)
   

This was the first parish church of the town of Lloret from its consecration in the year 1079 until the year 1522. Located 2.5 Km. from the centre of town, it has a Romanesque bell tower and frescoes by Calandria.

In Lloret, legend sais that the sea covered the entire plain up to the place called Les Alegries (The Joy). The land on wich the temple was built and for the correspondig cementery some thirty steps away, thence the name La Sagrera by wich the neigbourhood was known, was donated by Sicarda, the lady of Lloret Castle and municipality, widow of the nobleman Humbert de Ses Agudes. On 8th January 1079, Senyora Sicarda attended the consecration of the church performed by bishop Berenguer Vifred along with her children, one of whom, Bernat Humbert, would be the next bishop of the diocese (1093-1111), killed in an expedition to Palestine.

Is is on record that the hermitage was also formely known as Nostra Senyora de Palos or Palou. Perhaps this was due to a poor interpretation of Nostra Senyora de l'Alou, refering to the common land (alou) donated by Senyora Sicarda. When the new parish of Sant Romà was built by the sea, the former small, rural church became known as the "old church" or the "old Madonna". It later bacame the hermitage of the Mare de Déu de Les Alegries (Our Lady of Joy).

The hermitage has Romanesque construction features, although modern reforms following the Civil War disfigured it, especially the bell tower to which a floor of arcades was added and finished off with imitation Lombard arches of concrete and an inappropiate roof of varnished coloured tiles.

 

  Sant Quirze hermitage (before XI century)
   

Located 200 metres from the cementery and 1 kilometer from the town center this is a pre-XI century structure. There's no unit of style. It contains engravings by Adrià Gual, fragments of roman ceramics, a Constantine coin and diverse sepulchres have been found in the vicinity of this hermitage. it is the oldest hermitage in Lloret, so old that some believe it dates back to the victory of a Roman and Christian general named Quirze. Others believe that the small church was built in Charlemagne's time under the protection of the three wise men. in the X century it was destroyed by the Arabs and re-built by a wealthy, religious owner named Quirze.

We know nothing specific about the origins of the hermitage, except that it already existed in the year 1079 since, during the consecretion of the old Sant Romà parish that same year, mention is made indicating its sorroundings "Et sic vadit per Ecclesiam Sti. Chirici".

It is possible that parish life in Lloret centred around Sant Quirze to the consecration. It is written that the 16th of June is the Saint's Day and so for a time gathering were held at the hermitage.

The findings around this hermitage may prove the existence of a primitive paleo-Christian church and adjoining necropolis, burned down by the Genoese in the XIV century.

From an observation of the work as it appears today one can deduce that the hermitage has two distinguishable parts, ar least at floor level: that pertaining to the former medieval hermitage and which is now occupied by the two sacristies and the high altar, and that which today serves as a nave for the faithful and is located on a lower level. The latter would be the result of an XVIII century extension of the first part wich uncovered the original entrance (now walled in) in the southward facing façade (south-west, to be exact) with a voussoir door, a window on eitherside, one in its original location -also walled in- an another, perhaps added at a later date, at a higher level. At the bottom of this façade and also on the others in this old part -the walls of wich are often made of material dating from Roman times- clay was still being used to join the stones.

The original medieval hermitage is about 4.5 metres wide by 10 long. The eighteenth century extension converted the sanctuary floor into a square-shaped area measuring approximately 10.5 metres along the side. The Sant Quize hermitaga is this the oldest in Lloret. In fact, reference was made to it on 8 January 1079 on the occasion of the consecration of Sant Romà (today Les Alegries Hermitage), stating "A meridiei parte similiter termitaur in parrochiae Sti. Ioannis in valle marina et sic vadit per ecclesiam Sti. Chirici".

 

WEST
  Santa Cristina hermitage (1376)
   

Located 3,5 km from the centre of Lloret. The earliest reference to it dates back to 1376. The current temple, built at the end of the XVIII century, is neo-classical with an extraordinary marble altar made in Italy and an interesting collection of votive offerings and miniature ships.

Under the "centennial pine tree" during the Festa Major (Festival of Santa Cristina, on the 24h of July), all the fishermen hold their lunch of brotherhood where the typical dish estofat is served.

Santa Cristina has its own personality. The work was paid for by the residents of Lloret, some contributing significant sums, while the fishing employers contributed a large part of their profits. Even those whose poverty prevented them from contributing to the work with money collaborated by helping with the work on holidays. The meeting point for all these locals was the Church Square; from there they would walk to Santa Cristina de Vall -Arnau where they would hear mass in the old hermitage which stood inside the confines of the hermitage under construction, since it was not permitted that the old hermitage be destroyed until the new one had been built. Greco-Roman is the predominant architectural style.

The most important aspect from an artistic point of view is the high altar of different coloured marble. The altarpiece is a large painting by an unknown author of the Tuscani school depicting the death of Saint Christine, shot with an arrow before governor Julianus. The nave and sacristy contain a collection of ex voto offerings of miniature ships offered up to the Saint by mariners. The most famous of these are the Sebastià Gumà, awarded a silver medal on the island of Cuba, a 62-cannon ship, and a small delicately crafted ship in ivory, all from the XVIII century. Over the centuries, the devotion to Santa Cristina also moved residents to acquire there of the Saint's most important relics; the skull, a rib and a femur. The rib and thigbone were lost after the Uprising of 1936. The skull and a small bone have been preserved, the latter being paraded in a maritime procession during the Santa Cristina festivities each year.

 

  Parish Church (1509-1522)
   

Gothic style, from transition to Renaissance. Built between 1509 and 1522. It contains altarpieces with Catalan paintings from the XVI century by Pere Serafí known as "Lo Grec" (The Greek), and Jaume Fontanet. The inside of the nave is finely proportioned and the presbytery and vault structures are very suitable for being painted and coverting this church into a jewel of modern art. The builders were Bartolomé Ruffi, senior and junior,and Pere Capvern, master builder and stonecutter from Girona. The work cost 3.000 Catalan pounds. Nine tables from the XVI century were salvaged from the 1936 Civil War fire, undoubtedly painted by Pere Capvern with the collaboration of Jaume Fontanet. According to experts, they represents "Stages in the life of Sant Romà the Monk".

In the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, from the year 1916, and in the baptistry there are seven large paintings which were found in a loft of the bell tower where they had gone unnoticed for a long time. They represents scenes from the Passion of Christ. In some of these paintings Venetian influences are noticeable. It is not known who the author was or when they were painted although it could possibly have been at the end of the 1600s. As for modern art there is a stone image of the Madonna of Loreto and a wood carving of Crist, among others, both by the sculptor Monjo.

A slab on the façade remembers the names of rev. Bonaventura Leal Andreu and Martí Catalús Blanch, Lloret residents killed during the Spanish Cicil War. The parish celebrates the festival of Sant Antoni Abad on 17 January with the popular blessing f horses, the Holy Friday procession and the Corpus Festival. The church was created in Catalan gothic style and was equipped with fortifying elements ( a drawbridge, for example) and most certainly had only one nave at the beginning. The information on various altars and altarpieces indicates that other rooms, especially the side chapels, were built afterwards during the rest of the XVI and XVII centuries. In 1541, the reredos behind the high altar was commissioned by the council of the University of Lloret from the painters Pere Serafí "Lo Grec" and Jaume Fontanet and cost some 1300 pounds which were paid off in October 1559.

 

 

 

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