Sant Quirc de Durro is an isolated chapel located in the village of Durro, in the valley of Vall de Boí in the province of Lleida, Spain. As one of the best-known places of Roman art in the valley, it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage site since November 2000 alongside eight other Catalan Romanesque churches.
The chapel is situated at an altitude of 1498m, offering a large panorama framed by the massifs of Comaloforno and Besiberri. A path nearby allows visitors to reach the small lake of Durro at a height of 2250m. The building is dedicated to Saint Cyr of Tarse and his mother, Saint Julietta, both of whom were martyred in 304 and whose feast day is celebrated on June 16.
Architecturally, the chapel features a unique nave with a barrel vault ending in a semi-circular apse vaulted in a semi-dome. The masonry work is visible around the tower of the nave. The building has three specific openings: a narrow window arrowslit in the centre of the apse, an oculus above the apse to illuminate the nave, and another arrowslit on the east façade.
In the interior, the chapel once housed the antependium representing the martyrdom of Saint Cyr of Tarse and Saint Julietta. This major work of Catalan Romanesque painting was acquired in 1923 and is now exposed in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. Visitors can still view the chapel's distinctive masonry and vaulting today.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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