Santa Helena de Rodes

Església de Santa Helena de Rodes

The church of Santa Helena de Rodes ( Saint Helena of Rodes ), also known under the name of Santa Creu de Rodes , is a Romanesque church located at 539 meters in the Cap de Creus Nature Park . The building, protected as a Catalan monument, is located near the Sant Pere de Rodes monastery in the municipality of El Port de la Selva in the Comarca Alt Empordà in northeastern Spain . The Paradolmen de la Pallera is also nearby.

history

The first written mention of the church of Santa Helena de Rodes comes from the year 974 and is in a bull of Pope Benedict VI. to the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes. The connection between the medieval parish of Santa Creu and the Benedictine monastery remained intact for many centuries.

architecture

The earliest church building was designed with a single nave and contains stylistic elements from Opus spicatum . By the middle of the tenth century, a trapezoidal apse was built on the three-story bell tower , which had a barrel vault; two apses on the north and south walls were added later. Two aisles were added in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the late Middle Ages the historic settlement of Santa Creu de Rodes was abandoned and in the eighteenth century the last residents left the former parish. As a result, the church fell into ruin. Various restoration work began in 1995 and was partially completed. In 1997 the Església de Santa Helena de Rodes was listed as a historical monument.

The Paradolmen de la Pallera is located near the monastery.