Description

Romanesque church built in the 12th century, possibly on top of the 10th century primitive church. The side chapels and the bell tower are later constructions.

The building has a single nave, topped by a semicircular apse and covered by a pointed profile vault.

The apse ends in a frieze of gear teeth resting on corbels sculpted with birds and human heads.

The bell tower is a very strong 14th-century tower with a three-storey pyramidal roof, also made of stone. The entrance door, now located to the south, was moved to the bell tower around 1886 and faces west. With the restoration that took place in the 1920s, the door returned to its original place and a massif protruding from the wall was added, with an upper frieze with sawtooths, which matches that of the ‘apse, which was possibly not in the primitive construction.

The altar of Santa Cecília de Bolvir had a Romanesque wooden front with tempera paint and stucco reliefs and colradura. Dating from the first quarter of the 13th century, the front is dedicated to the life of Saint Cecilia and her husband Saint Valerian and represented different episodes of their lives such as the trip to Rome, the baptism of Valerian, the white marriage of both and the martyrdom and beheading of the saint. The front was moved in 1923 to the National Art Museum of Catalonia.

Virtual tour

Descriptive audio of the church

Listen to the phrase to know what the church of Santa Cecília de Bolvir is like.

Legends

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