Ermita de Betlem
Ermita de Betlem ( Castilian Ermita de Belén ) is a hermitage on the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca . It served as a monastery , inhabited only by a few monks who belonged to the religious community of the hermits of San Pablo San Antonio . Due to their age, the monks moved to the hermitage Santíssima Trinitat near Valldemossa in autumn 2010 , and there were no successors. The Ermita de Betlem is to be used for cultural purposes in the future.
Location and description
The Ermita de Betlem is located in the municipality of Artà , about nine kilometers northwest of the city of Artà. The buildings of the Ermita are about 280 meters above sea level in the Massís d'Artà (" Massif of Artà"), part of the eastern mountain range of Mallorca, the Serres de Llevant .
The Ermita de Betlem was founded on July 29, 1805 on the ruins of the Binialgorfa estate and named after the city of Bethlehem . Until then, there was an old watchtower and an oil mill on the property, which was donated by the then owner Jaume Morei . The construction of the Ermita turned out to be quite difficult, as the building material brought from Sóller by sea had to be carried on donkeys from the Badia d'Alcúdia ("Bay of Alcúdia ") up to the mountains. The first residents were monks from Sant Honorat de Randa and La Trinitat de Valldemossa .
The neoclassical monastery chapel on a cross-shaped floor plan is freely accessible and can be visited. The main altar is made of marble, the sculptures are by Adrià Ferrà. In addition to the frescoes in the dome by Francesc Parietti, painted tiles in the vestibule and a collection of paintings by Manuel Bayeu, the brother-in-law of Francisco de Goya , a figure of Christ can be seen, which the monks at the consecration of the Ermita in 1806 by Cardinal Antonio Despuig (1745-1813) was given. It previously belonged to the Capuchin Order in Palma . The dark wooden crucifix stands in a side altar on the right. The statue of the “Christ of Agony” is venerated by the people of Artà and is the destination of a pilgrimage every May 1st.
An approximately 150 meter long avenue of cypress trees leads to the entrance area of the chapel through the gardens of the monastery that surround the Ermita buildings. Next to and behind the monastery gardens, several trails lead to a lookout point (mirador) with a view over the Badia d'Alcúdia . From the gate at the entrance to the hermitage at the southeast end of the cypress avenue, a path leads east. At a distance of about 300 meters you can reach the Sa Font or Font de s'Ermita spring, which stands under tall trees . It gives water all year round and was used to irrigate several small terraced fields that were used to supply the hermitage. Next to the spring there is a Marian shrine in honor of the miracle of Lourdes , a so-called Lourdes grotto .
- Views of the monastery chapel
Entrance to the chapel
Virgin Mary statue
Frescoes in the dome
Christ figure
Access
The Ermita de Betlem can be reached via a narrow road from Artà, the nine-kilometer MA-3333. Lets the estate Son Morei (also Son Morell Vell ) on the right and overcomes in serpentine mountain pass Puig de sa Font Crutia at an altitude of about 380 meters. Behind Son Morei , a path branches off to the right that leads to the highest peak of the Serres de Llevant , the 561 meter high Puig Morei (also Puig d'en Morell or Talaia Freda ).
A second way to reach the Ermita de Betlem in the mountains is to take the hiking trail from the Betlem urbanization to the Badia d'Alcúdia , a district of Colonia de Sant Pere . The approximately five kilometer long path, starting on the road not far from the sea, overcomes a height difference of over 250 meters to the Ermita. The Font de s'Ermita spring with the Marian shrine in an artificial grotto is located on the hiking trail near the parking lot at the entrance to the hermitage .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ermita de Betlem (Hermitage of Betlem). Retrieved December 1, 2010 .
- ↑ a b c Tomàs Vibot: Chapels and holy places in Mallorca . El Gall Editor, Pollença 2010, ISBN 978-84-92574-69-8 , Betlem Hermitage, p. 90/91 .
- ↑ a b Bartomeu Amengual Gomila: Mallorca's coasts from the air . 6th edition. Editorial GeoPlaneta, Barcelona 2000, ISBN 84-08-01821-3 , Ca los Camps - Ermita de Betlem, p. 104 (Spanish: Aeroguía del Litoral de Mallorca . Translated by Gabriele Grauwinkel and Susanne Pospiech).
Web links
- Ermita de Betlem (arta-web.com / German) ( Memento from March 19, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 39 ° 44 ′ 13.8 ″ N , 3 ° 18 ′ 40.5 ″ E