Maià de Montcal and Beuda are both good examples of La Garrotxa’s valuable cultural heritage and their wonderful Romanesque churches are the perfect excuse to visit this part of La Garrotxa.
Maià de Montcal and Beuda are both good examples of La Garrotxa’s valuable cultural heritage and their wonderful Romanesque churches are the perfect excuse to visit this part of La Garrotxa, close to the border with the neighbouring comarca of the Alt Empordà. This route takes you to nine different churches, all dating from in the 9th-12th centuries.
The route begins in Beuda at Sant Pere de Lligordà, a12th-century church with a south-facing main door, a rectangular nave and a semi-circular apse. We continue on to Santa Maria de Palera, another 12th-century church with a semi-circular east-facing apse whose a nave is covered by a barrel-roof reinforced by two transversal arches. It was once home to a Gothic carved alabaster Mother of God, which today is to be found in the Girona Art Museum.
The next point of interest is Sant Sepulcre de Palera, a fascinating 11th-century Romanesque church that was consecrated in 1085. It has a central nave covered by a barrel-roof and aisles covered by half-barrel roofs, all supported by rectangular pillars and leading on to their corresponding apses.
Another attraction of this route is the 12th-century church of Sant Feliu de Beuda, well known for its valuable 12th-century font decorated with basrelief figures and blind arches. From here we continue to Santa Maria de Segueró, an 11-th century Romanesque church with a single nave and a polychrome image of the Virgin Mary (14th century) carved in alabaster. At this point we enter into the municipality of Maià de Montcal with its church of Sant Vicenç, dating
from 978. It boasts a rectangular nave and a circular east-facing apse and singular ironwork on the church door. Next, the route takes us to Santa Magdalena de Maià (13th century), the former church of the old priory of Santa Maria de Jonqueres (13th century), located at the eastern limit of la Garrotxa on the top the hill of Santa Magdalena. It has a barrel roof and an apse with a quarter barrel roof.
We finish the route at the church of Sant Martí (12th century) in the hamlet of Dosquers, which boasts a single nave with a barrel roof and a semi-circular apse. Not far away stands the chapel of Saint Prim and Saint Felicià, along with a generous natural spring that, according to legend, provided water for those carrying the remains of the saints to the monastery of Saint Pere in Besalú.
