The chapel of Santa Barbara is a small building located on the royal road to Ordino, just at the entrance of the village. Santa Barbara, protector of the military and miners, symbolizes the active life. The floor plan of the church is rectangular, with a small nave covered with wooden gable trusses supported by a toral arch in the center of the nave.
It is the parish church of Ordino, initially built in medieval times and remodeled in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Inside it preserves a Romanesque carving from the late eleventh and early twelfth century of the Virgin of Remedy, polychrome wood, which with its 44 cm is the smallest of the Principality. Open to the public. * 360º https://www.google.com/maps?q&layer=c&z=17&sll=42.556866,1.532851&cid=6204175819484033747&panoid=kclw9QXK-gAAAAQfCUBFNQ&cbp=13,356.21721526921368,,0,0&ved=0CAwQ2wU&sa=X&ei=5B7zU4_8Lsbo8APJjYGYBg&gl=US&hl=es
The church of Santa Coloma is one of the oldest in Andorra. Of pre-Romanesque origin, it was built between the 8th and 9th centuries with a rectangular nave and a quadrangular apse. Its present appearance is due to the reforms that were made in the twelfth century, when the Lombard bell tower was added with a circular floor plan and four floors high, unique in the Principality and one of the few found in the Pyrenees. Likewise, the whole of the chevet of the church was decorated with a cycle of fresco mural paintings that have traditionally been attributed to the Master of Santa Coloma, although they are not the work of the same hand. This circumstance occurs in a large part of the Romanesque murals of Andorra and the Pyrenees, the work of workshops of nomadic painters who had received the same training. This has led experts to speak of schools such as the one that concerns us, that of the Master of Santa Coloma.
It is known for its Romanesque paintings. It is a building of small dimensions that follows the architectural scheme typical of Andorran Romanesque churches: rectangular nave with wooden roof and semicircular apse. It has a belfry with a double opening and a portico probably added in modern times. Inside, the apse is covered with a quarter-sphere vault and the original altar and part of the Romanesque decoration (12th-13th century) are preserved. The liturgical furnishings include a processional thorn cross, located in the Pal Romanesque Art Interpretation Center, and a 15th century altarpiece dedicated to the patron saint of the church, the first bishop of Toulouse, with the anagrams of Christ and the Virgin.
It is a stately building from the end of the 16th century. From 1702 it became the seat of one of the oldest and most continuous parliaments in Europe, the General Council, created in 1419. It is open to the public with a service of guided tours in several languages. A historical building: At the entrance door, a shield bears the date of 1580, the year of its construction on a rock that dominated the entire valley of the Valira river. Currently, the structure is the same as that of the 16th century, but the building has undergone some modifications, the most important being that of 1962. The gardens, a walk through time: In front of the building, where the cliff of the Roc del Valle used to be, a square built in the project of the new parliamentary building, in 2011, opens, which allows a clear view of the old house and offers a splendid view over the valleys. On the façade, the sides and the back of the building there are dates and sculptures that commemorate significant moments in Andorra.
Built in the XII century and with extensions in the XVII and XVIII centuries, it preserves the mural paintings made by the Maestro de la Cortinada (end of the XII century). In the Baroque period the church was enlarged, the orientation of the nave was changed and the new high altar was decorated with a 17th century polychrome wooden altarpiece dedicated to the patron saint of the church. The side chapels also show baroque altarpieces dedicated to the Virgin, San Antonio Abad and the Virgin of the Rosary. The wrought iron railings, the 17th century wooden furniture and the carillon or the confessional are other important elements of the church. 360º https://www.google.com/maps?q&layer=c&z=17&sll=42.576663,1.517776&cid=17465761713349019893&panoid=QvR2y_6I1TIAAAQfCNdNHQ&cbp=13,346.63743522688452,,0,0&ved=0CAwQ2wU&sa=X&ei=i7LPU-SHG8ae8QPO8oGYBw&gl=US&hl=es
The Romanesque church of San Vicenç d'Enclar is, together with the church of Santa Coloma, one of the oldest in the Principality. Both are located in the parish of Andorra la Vella, in the nucleus of Santa Coloma. This primitive church was part of the fortified complex of Enclar, from the Visigothic period. The ground plan of the church of San Vicenç is rectangular and the apse is square. It has a bell tower attached to the south wall of the nave, with a circular floor plan, crowned with a floor of large windows and a second floor with seven small windows with an ultra-passed arch. It was probably built during the 9th century: its typology corresponds to the usual types of Catalan and Languedoc architecture of the 10th century and earlier.
Privileged location at 1635 meters above sea level and difficult to access. The current building dates from the early 20th century, although there are references that indicate that the Canòlich site already existed in medieval times (1176). Likewise, the Manual Digest de les Valls Neutras de Andorra (1745 - Compilation of the history, government and uses and customs of Andorra, work of the illustrious episcopal veguer, doctor in law and Andorran lawyer, Antoni Fiter i Rossell), cites "Na. Sra. de Canòlich" as one of the three main sanctuaries of the valleys of Andorra, together with Meritxell (Canillo) and San Antoni de la Grella (La Massana). Everything suggests that the current sanctuary of Canòlich was built on the foundations of an old Romanesque building, since the image of the Virgin dates from the 12th century. This Romanesque carving was crowned by the Vatican in 1999 and is currently in the parish church of San Julià and San Germà, in the village of Sant Julià de Lòria. The sanctuary preserves a baroque altarpiece from the 18th century and ceramic murals by the artist Sergi Mas. Every year, on the last Saturday in May, this sanctuary celebrates the well-known "Canòlich meeting": it is undoubtedly the largest religious event, which brings together numerous visitors year after year.
The building of the Church of Sant Joan de Caselles is dated between the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Its construction has the characteristic architectural scheme of the Romanesque churches of the Principality of Andorra. It has a rectangular nave covered with wood, semicircular apse and a bell tower in Lombard style. The building also houses two porches, which are believed to have been built between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Inside the church of Sant Joan de Caselles you can see traces of a 12th century Romanesque stucco majesty surrounded by a pictorial mural scene depicting the crucifixion with Longinus, accompanied by the sun and the moon. Behind the altar is a 16th century altarpiece of great artistic quality reflecting Italian and Germanic Renaissance influences, in which scenes from the life and martyrdom of St. John, author of the Apocalypse and patron saint of the church, are depicted.
The Basilica Sanctuary of Meritxell is the most important religious temple in Andorra. But in addition to its spiritual importance, this place of worship in the Canillo parish offers other reasons for your visit, mainly from an artistic and landscape point of view. This religious complex in Andorra is a place full of symbolism for the inhabitants of the Principality. In fact, it houses the image of the Virgin of Meritxell, patron saint of the country. It is a polychrome carving reminiscent of the original Romanesque one, destroyed in the fire of 1972. In addition, the Basilica Sanctuary of Meritxell houses other carvings of Andorran saints, patrons of the rest of the country's parishes. This importance has earned the temple the title of Minor Basilica, granted by Pope Francis in 2014, thus becoming the only place of worship with this distinction in the Principality. Since then, Meritxell has been part of the so-called Marian Route, which runs through four other important sanctuaries in Spain and France: El Pilar, Montserrat, Torreciudad and Lourdes. For this reason, this temple has also become a pole of attraction for visitors moved by faith and spirituality.
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