Ermita de la Salut del Papiol, Romanesque hermitage church in El Papiol, Spain.
Ermita de la Salut del Papiol is a single-nave church about 20.5 m long, 3.5 m wide and 4.8 m high, built of rough rubble stone with dressed quoins. The nave is covered by a barrel vault on transverse arches; the east end has a central apse with two smaller flanking apses, each with a double-splayed window. A bell gable stands on the west facade, and the south portal is framed by two buttresses.
The name Madrona is documented from 1013 and its parish from 1017. In 1060 Bishop Guislabert of Barcelona enfeoffed the parish to Guisla, widow of Mir Geribert. In 1315 the parish moved to the village by El Papiol castle, leaving the temple as a hermitage dedicated to Saint Peter; by 1757 it was dedicated to the Mare de Déu de la Salut. It was restored in 1911 and 1982.
Two annual pilgrimages reach the church: residents of El Papiol walk up on the second Sunday of September, and those of Valldoreix on 12 October. The medieval-style figure of the Virgin and Child inside is a 1977 carving by the local sculptor Antoni Agraz i Buil, and the altar dates from 1972.
The hermitage is located in the Collserola mountains, which means reaching it requires a hike along natural mountain paths. The journey takes you through wooded terrain with elevation changes.
The church was originally dedicated to Saint Eulalia; a 1656 pastoral visit found the vault near collapse and ordered repairs within six months. By 1757 it was dedicated to the Mare de Déu de la Salut, and the medieval cemetery beside the walls was removed to stop damp. In the 19th century, with no hermits left, the image of the Virgin was stolen.
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