Ermita de Sant Grau

Ermita de Sant Grau, side view

The Ermita de Sant Grau ( Hermitage of St. Gerhard ) is a listed Sanctuary near Tossa de Mar .

The Ermita de Sant Grau is 360 meters high in the mountains of the Costa Brava , the Massís de l'Ardenya . It can be reached via the narrow, winding provincial road GI-6821 between Llagostera and the panoramic road between Tossa and Sant Feliu de Guíxols (GI-682) (at Salionç). The Ermita is located just before the top of the pass on the coast side and offers a wide view of the rocky coastal mountains to the sea.

The church was first mentioned in a document in 1452. It is consecrated to St. Gerhard (Catalan: Sant Grau ) . According to tradition, the local saint Gerbert d'Aurillac settled here, the founder of the Benedictine abbey of Aurillac , which was destroyed by the Huguenots and who temporarily worked in Catalonia in the 9th century .

The current church is a neo-Gothic building from 1882. It is in a very poor structural condition. The complex consists of an entrance building and two side buildings that form a cloister . These parts of the building housed living spaces that are no longer usable today. The entrance building and cloister form an inner courtyard, the top of which is the actual church.

Every year on October 13th, the Romería de Sant Grau , a pilgrimage from Tossa de Mar to the Ermita de Sant Grau, takes place. Today it has the character of a folk festival. After the mass, a cobla (the Sardana band) plays the Sardana , the traditional round dance. The local families grill on the grounds in front of the church.

In the 1980s the construction of an urbanization (tourist settlement) with hotels and holiday homes was planned in Sant Grau. However, this project failed due to a lack of demand. Remnants of the plant are preserved as ruins. Today four houses form the Sankt Grau settlement.

The panoramic hiking trail Passejada fins al Puig de Cadiretes leads from Sant Grau to a prehistoric menhir and on to the summit of the mountain Puig de les Cadiretes . Another way leads to the also listed chapel Capella de la Mare de Déu de la Gràcia towards Tossa.

On the left in front of the church there is a crossroad (the Creu de terme de Sant Grau d'Ardenya ). The cross, originally from the 15th century, was damaged in the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and restored in 1940. It is also a listed building.

In the side building on the left of the entrance there is a café; There is a historic bicycle above the entrance. Obviously, racing cyclists who are on the scenic coastal road GI-682 use the detour to the Ermita for additional meters and a break in the café.