The medieval church that vanished - and is only now being found

A hidden church in the Spanish Pyrenees disappears from records and maps, then slowly reappears. The mystery of its absence, and why it is suddenly present again, is what remains.

Sant Cristòfol Vell de Peramea was a medieval church-style building in the village of Peramea, in the old municipality of the same name, and current municipality of Baix Pallars, in the Pallars Sobirà comarca, according to the available records. It was located about 200 meters south of the village of Peramea, where the Font de Sant Cristòfol is now. The most important remnant is a sarcophagus that is 2.03 meters long and 0.44 meters wide, with the widest part corresponding to the shoulders. The rest of the picas from the font are also medieval, but they can be either ossaries or oil vessels. Around the font, other remains of what would have been a disappeared cemetery have been found, as well as other construction elements of the lost church, which may have been a parochial building or a monastic cell. However, there is no record of the church after the 13th century.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata

Written by Nik Frost

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