Costa del Sol Towns

Ermita de Nuestra

 

La Ermita de Nuestra Senora de los Remedios in Cartama (Province of Malaga, Spain) is an excellent example of social and religious links that began the moment after the Christian conquest (1485), in which legends are made of the discovery of the Virgin Mary during the 1579 epidemic and now reaches a devotion that remains alive and has strong impact on the region, as highlighted the pilgrimage and the flow of parishioners throughout the year.

The site of the Hermitage, at the summit of a hill called the Hill of the Virgin, makes reference to the cultural landscape and its interior, particularly in the dressing room tower, where there is an outstanding specimen of the Andalusian Baroque that has been associated with individuals such as Our Lady of Victory of Malaga and the Virgen de los Remedios de Antequera.

Description

After a long journey through a steep and winding path on rugged terrain, we came to the Hermitage of Our Lady of the Remedies, which is decorated with the simplicity and character of its popular image.

The first area of congregation and rest after the climb is an irregularly shaped atrium, which is accessed via three steps and a ramp, then through a cast-iron grate. On the north side of the atrium provides an overlook with wide panoramic view of the town of Cartama and the Guadalhorce valley.

Through a side gate is open land with semicircular arches. Covered by a roof is the only access into a home with a half-point arch between pillars that support an entablature engraved with a picture of Mary.

The focal point of the church-tower is the dressing room, attached to the head, which houses a tiny size of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios on a silver shrine. In the dressing room is a hexagonal floor, whose corners are highlighted by pillars that are bent and almost hidden by bunches of flowers, acanthus, and fruits, while the pillars between panels are chaired by a revered golden boot with long, fleshy intercrossing acanthus leaves, which seem to arise from horns and roll themselves on open cascades at the base.

The Hermitage has a single nave covered by a half-barrel vault and decorated with gold central medallion, which is supported on Doric pilasters capitals and hanging shields. There are cartouches with golden litter and invocations to the name of Mary along the walls of the nave.

The stairs have central star boxes with decorative moldings on the inside. The star closest to the presbytery has a little angel holding a laurel wreath and an ostrich egg.

The hemispherical dome that covers the square rests on the presbytery pendentives that appear in the paintings of the four Evangelists framed with golden ornaments. The intrados of the vault is divided into eight segments by narrow strips with rosette leaves. Among the bands are triangular-shaped moldings with gilded acanthus decoration. On the walls hang some paintings surrounded by acanthus backgrounds, with emblem of Mary.

On the right side of the sanctuary, facing the altar, is a door to the house of the sacristy Santero, and up the stairs is the dressing room.

On the vault is a heavy cover decorated in a radial distribution that converges on the medallion hex key. Although construction of the building probably dates back to the 16th century, it was in the final years of the 17th century or early 18th century when the construction of the dressing room and redecoration of the interior reached the full features Baroque currently holds.