Intriguing remains of a forgotten church

Deep in the hills of Pallars Jussà, Spain, a centuries-old church stands unmistakably, though rarely visited. Sant Miquel d'Abella de la Conca, dedicated to the archangel Saint Michael, is nothing more than a scattering of Romanesque stones, barely peeking out from the vegetation. But these few remains reveal an intriguing past, one that hints at the existence of a medieval settlement hidden in the woods. The church, which is not an isolated chapel but part of a larger settlement, was located south-east of Abella village, on a hill near Cal Vila farmhouse.

Its ruins are on the north-west side of the hill, hidden by the vegetation at the beginning of a slope. Only a few stones remain from the church, only enough to reveal the shape of a Romanesque apse. However, the exact shape of the apse, though possibly square, is not definitive according to the preserved fillets. The church of Sant Miquel was recorded in the Catalan Cultural Heritage catalogue as Conjunt medieval de Sant Miquel. While the exact date of its construction is unknown, records suggest that it was a church from the medieval era. Its dedication was to the archangel Saint Michael.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons