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Sants Metges chapel |
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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.
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NORTH
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Sant Pere del Bosc chapel (1694) |
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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.
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NORTH
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Nostra Senyora de Les Alegries hermitage (1079) |
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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.
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Sant Quirze hermitage (before XI century) |
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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".
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WEST
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Santa Cristina hermitage (1376) |
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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.
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Parish Church (1509-1522) |
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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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