Heritage · Castellar de la Muela
Hermitage of the Virgen de la Carrasca: Romanesque in Sierra de Caldereros
The hermitage of the Virgen de la Carrasca, in Castellar de la Muela, is a 12th-century Romanesque chapel situated on a high plateau beside the Sierra de Caldereros near the Molina-Monreal road. Consisting of a single nave with a semicircular apse, it was built of reddish stone slabs and has changed little. It never served as a parish church.
This place across time
Which eras you can read here
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- Municipality
- Castellar de la Muela
- Province
- Guadalajara
- Altitude
- 1,216 m
- Romanesque
- 12th century
- Reddish stone
- Sierra de Caldereros
Standing alone on the plateau
In the municipality of Castellar de la Muela, on an open plain at the base of the Sierra de Caldereros, stands a small Romanesque chapel of reddish sandstone. It dates from the early era of the Señorío de Molina in the 12th century, and never served as a parish church: no permanent village ever surrounded it, neither in medieval times nor later.
Architectural features
It features a single rectangular nave, a modest bell-gable, and an east-facing semicircular apse. Its exterior has remained largely unaltered across centuries, retaining the austere harmony of rural Romanesque built with reddish stone slabs quarried from the adjacent mountains. The corbels and portal capitals display simple carved plant motifs, and several ashlar blocks still bear distinct stonemasons’ marks.
Nearby
A few kilometres away rises the castle of Zafra, another medieval guardian of the mountain range.
Location
● Reference point · ● Villages · ● Places
Location diagram. Detailed map with tracks and names loads on zoom.
Reference villages: Castellar de la Muela · Chera · Morenilla · Hombrados.
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