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The Calvary


Vilanova d'Alcolea

The Ermita del Calvario in Vilanova dates back to 1809, has 14 shrines around it and holds paintings by Oliet. The Calvary was constructed between the 17th and 18th centuries on the order of Franciscans, who chose the most suitable place for its construction and also decided the location of the stations.


The Calvary reproduces of the Way of the Cross in Jerusalem. At the foot of the slope is the first station, a cut-stone shrine that holds a ceramic painting depicting the sentencing of Jesus. As you ascend through the stepped plots you go past eleven stations. At the very top is the terrace upon which the main church is built. Above the church’s main altar is the crucifixion of the Holy Christ. This is the twelfth station. Outside, to the right, there are two more stations. These complete the Way of the Cross.
Inside the chapel standing in four arcades are the walls that act as backing for the slim, blue-tiled dome that crowns the chapel.
The central chapel of the church is majestic, with a façade of Tuscan pilasters that are topped with a triangular-shaped ledge. The interior walls are decorated with paintings by Joaquim Oliet Cruella, a painter from Morella who lived from 1775 to 1849. The pendentives on the return wall hold paintings of the four Evangelists. On the side walls are various patriarchs, prophets, Adam and Eve, Saint Joseph and a Trinity with the Glory of Christ, and the Triumph of the Cross at the back of the presbytery. The church is often visited by the residents of Vilanova, who go to worship in bad times and give thanks in happier times.


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