Chapel of Our Lady of Miracles
Setting
Rural, isolated, situated at the top of a medium height hill on the western side of the village, on the steep slopping down to the river Zêzere, at the top of three flights of big stairs which follows the northern hillside.
Description
Longitudinal ground plan composed of the articulated volumes of the nave, chancel, extended on the Southwest towards the sacristy and bell tower attached on the northern side, volumes arranged on the horizontal; exterior covering of differentiated gable-roof (nave and chancel) roof of three slopes (sacristy) and the dome (spire pinnacle of the bell tower). Main facade facing Northwest, bounded by stonework ribs, surmounted by an angular gable-end, opened by a door of straight lintel flanked by two windows with gratings and crowned by a straight big window.
Bell tower attached on the Northeast, of two storeys, torn by bell towers with the shape of a raised arch, surmounted by spire pinnacles of quadrangular base bounded by four pinnacles in the vertices. Southwest facade shaped in straight gable-end opened by a door of lintel with the shape of a raised arch; the projection of the facade is the chancel, bounded by stonework ribs and opened by a straight door on Northwest and a window on Southwest. Southeast facade, blind, shaped in angular gable-end, extended with the shape of a straight gable-end at the level of the sacristy. Northeast facade shaped in straight gable-end composed of body of the chancel opened by a small window and by an outstanding body and of greater height of the nave to which the bell tower is attached in projection. Interior of the chapel: single nave paved with floor-tiles and covering with wooden ceiling arranged in three planes on beams; skirting board with wall-tiles of white and blue pattern. Full triumphal arch leading to the chancel of overlay and covering similar to that of the nave, with high altar surmounted by curved pediment, crowned by pinnacles and a cross pointing to the centre, hanged on plain shaft columns which flank a niche with the statue of Madonna and Child. Lighting is done through a big window and windows of the main facade and windows of the chancel.
Initial Function:
for religious cult and devotion
Present-day Function:
for religious cult and devotion
Ownership:
Private property: Catholic Church
Period of Construction:
15th / 19th Centuries