Capilla de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios

The Chapel of Our Lady of Remedies, also known as Chapel of Remedies, is a sixteenth-century sanctuary located in the centre of Ourense. Partially destroyed by fire in 2010, the chapel, located next to the Roman bridge of the city, was declared a national historic-artistic monument by Decree of the Head of State on 6 April 1961 and, subsequently, an Asset of Cultural Interest.

It has been granted several privileges by numerous popes, and every 8 September a popular pilgrimage in honour of the Virgen de los Remedios takes place in front of the chapel, preceded by a novena that begins on 30 August and by the Procession of Light on 7 September.

The temple, in Renaissance style, has a gabled roof, a pediment, a single-span belfry with a semicircular arch, a rose window decorated with a quadrilobular and a 16th century polychrome stone image of the Virgen de los Remedios presiding over the façade, which bears the coats of arms of Francisco Méndez and his wife María González. Above the main door there is an inscription with the date of the original construction and the date on which the chapel was renovated.

The surrounding land, currently the site of the Os Remedios pavilion, was formerly used as a fairground and market, as well as being the site of travelling circuses and bullfights. It also housed the first power station in Ourense from 1895 to 1930, founded by the lawyer and industrialist Francisco Conde Balbís, although the installations of the power station were not dismantled until the middle of the twentieth century.

Inside, it has a rectangular floor plan and three naves with a star-shaped vault in the main chapel. Before the fire, the sanctuary had a wooden roof and a series of cylindrical classicist columns which were saved from the flames as they were made of stone. In the temple were kept, among others, the titular image of the chapel as well as three altarpieces and the tomb made in white marble by Francisco Méndez Montoto, dated in the 16th century with a praying statue of the deceased from the 19th century over the sepulchre, The statue, made partly in polished granite and partly in irregular granite, was once vandalised when it was decapitated during the time the chapel was in ruins after the fire. 13 12

The image of the Virgen de los Remedios consisted of a 19th century dress carving located in a neo-Gothic altarpiece equipped with several light bulbs located along the structure and in the arch under which the image was venerated. Two 17th century altarpieces were also preserved in the temple,3 which contained a crucifix on the right (carried by the founder's grandson on Holy Thursday 1609) and a carving of Our Lady of Sorrows on the left, as well as six votive offerings; three of them consisted of polychrome panels combining pictorial and narrative art, the other three being narrative only. The first depicted the miracle of Emilio Muruais, a law student who saved his life through the intercession of the Virgin of Los Remedios after falling into the river Miño from the Roman bridge at Christmas 1842, being rescued by fishermen after having remained in the water for forty-five minutes; The second recounted the miraculous cure in 1843 of Ramona Nóvoa, who, having been abandoned by the doctors, was saved by the Virgin at her father's request; the third showed the cure of another woman in the 19th century, María Rodríguez, considered to be mad, who was depicted praying on her knees before the Virgin on a cloud. 14 The last three only had the narration of the miraculous event: the first, dated 1843, related the salvation of a child on whose belly the wheel of an oxcart carrying forty arrobas of pine trees had passed, the Virgin de los Remedios interceding at the request of the child's father and a doctor subsequently certifying that the child had not suffered any injury; The second, also dated 1843, narrated the miraculous cure of a young girl from Velle at the request of her parents, who offered the Virgin of the Remedies to take to her sanctuary the shroud and wax destined for the corpse of their daughter if she recovered; finally, the third recounted the salvation of José Menéndez, a victim of a stroke who had been given the last rites in May 1842.

Currently, the temple has a new wooden ceiling in the shape of a semicircular arch and two images in front of the presbytery and on both sides of it: a carving of Our Lady of Sorrows on the left and a statue of the Christ of Mercy on the right, both without altarpiece, as well as an image of the Virgin of Remedies presiding over the main chapel. Likewise, on the gospel wall there is a large photograph of Saint John the twenty-third, while on the epistle wall there is a photograph of Saint John Paul II.

Article obtained from Wikipedia article Wikipedia in his version of 19/08/2022, by various authors under the license Licencia de Documentación Libre GNU.