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Home to vivid 16th-century frescoes, the Ermita de San Jorge is on the brink of being saved from centuries of decay
A mysterious, dilapidated and exquisitely painted Spanish chapel into which knights on horseback may have ridden centuries ago to receive a wet and most unusual blessing could be on the verge of salvation after a decades-long campaign by local heritage groups.
No one knows much about the crumbling and semi-subterranean Ermita de San Jorge, which sits in a hollow 7 miles (12km) from the city of Cáceres in Extremadura, south-west Spain. Local experts believe it may have been built in the 14th century close to the defensive line erected to guard against possible Muslim incursions after the Christian reconquest, while the only definitively recorded date in its first centuries comes courtesy of Juan de Ribera who decorated the inside of the chapel with vivid biblical frescoes in 1565.
Painfully obvious, however, is the centuries of neglect and water damage that have eroded both the chapel’s structure and its paintings, prompting its inclusion, 16 years ago, on a red list of threatened heritage compiled by the non-profit Hispania Nostra.
In November, the Extremaduran regional government finally intervened and began emergency works to shore up the site. It has already spent about €50,000 (£41,500) and has promised a fruther €385,000 will go on protecting the chapel and its artwork.
“What we’ve done so far is stabilise the site so that there’s no further structural damage and so that we can preserve the frescoes,” said Victoria Bazaga, the regional minister for culture, tourism, young people and sport.
“We don’t want to lose something as emblematic and historic – or which is as dear to the collective memory – as the Ermita de San Jorge.”
News of the 11th-hour rescue has delighted and surprised those calling for action for years.
“I’m pleased that the regional government is acting, but I’m annoyed that so much has crumbled away in the meantime,” said Alonso Corrales Gaitán, a local researcher and historian who first visited the chapel in the early 1980s and has been urging its preservation ever since.
“I’ve seen paintings there that have now disappeared, and I’ve taken photos of things that are no longer there,” he added. “Over the years, I’ve seen how shepherds and other people would go and shelter from storms in the chapel. They’d scratch out the eyes of all the 16th frescoes – including those of Jesus, the Virgin and the apostles – supposedly because they felt they were being watched, and it gave them the creeps.”
One of the great mysteries and peculiarities of the chapel is the pool set into its floor, which is submerged by rainwater and a nearby stream for much of the year.
“A theory that comes up in the studies into the chapel and its uses is that when it was full of water, a knight on his steed would ride in and, being at the same height as the priest who would have been standing in the choir, would have been blessed as he stood in holy waters,” said Salvador Vaquero of the environmental and heritage protection group Natura 2000.
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“That’s a pretty unusual ritual and a way of giving a blessing that underlines just how special this building is and how necessary its conservation is.”
For José Julio García Arranz, who teaches history of art at the University of Extremadura, the chapel’s artworks are as important as its structure and uses. Its frescoes, he added, offer a glimpse into the world of the man who painted them.
“Juan de Ribera is the only mural painter of that time whose work and biographical details we know a bit about,” he said. “The murals are a very good reflection of the mentality of the local population back then: although they’re essentially characterised by their religious dimension, you can also glimpse some traces of humanist modernity – as in the naked putti in the vaulted ceiling – and in some of the other decorative details, which speak to us of an Italian influence and of a certain ‘modern’ appearance.”
Corrales Gaitán, who admits he had all but given up hope that the chapel could be saved – “it seemed like mission impossible” – gives short shrift to local rumours that the site may also hold treasure.
“Look, I’ve been going there since 1980, and the only thing of value I’ve found there is the building itself and its wonderful paintings,” he said. The true treasure of the Ermita de San Jorge, he added, lies in its sacred beauty and stillness.
“Whatever time of year you go, winter or spring or summer, the silence you find there – inside the chapel and outside it – brings a kind of peace. You breathe peace. Then imagine being in there with the smell of incense and surrounded by all those holy paintings. It must have been a little paradise of peace and tranquillity. Imagine being there for a day or two while you waited for your comrades and headed off to battle or on some other adventure.”
Locals win fight to save mysterious, medieval Spanish chapel from oblivion
