The Virgin of Torreciudad is a Romanic wood
sculpture (XI century) from a series of black Virgins sitting
with the child in arms and facing forward. It has been exhibited
in a hermitage on the edge of a drop-off next to the Cinca river
forever. Our lady of Los Angeles is who people come here worship.
It has a strong influence over the people in the neighboring villages,
The Ribagorza, and Somontano who religiously organize pilgrimages
and hikes to visit it.
In 1904, two-year-old Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer
was carried here by his mother on a pilgrimage: He had suffered
a serious illness, so his parents brought him here to ask the
Virgen of Torreciudad for a cure. In appreciation he was taken
from Barbastro to Torreciudad on horse-back.
View from the entrance
View of the reservoire
From the 60´s Escrivá
de Balaguer decided to build a new sanctuary in appreciation the
the Virgen. Inaugurated on 7 July, 1975, it was built by the Opus
Dei numerary architect Heliodoro Dols between 1970 and 1975 just
a few yards from the hermitage. It has a very personal style and
creates a variety of shapes and forms with the most basic building
block: the brick! Alabastar is found in abundance, especially in
windows and corners. Both these materials are traditional in this
region. The Sanctuary has two stories: Upstairs the main building
with its elevated choire, and downstairs a crypt, and four chapels
and confessionals. The chapels are dedicated to the Virgins of Pilar,
Loreto, Guadalupe and Sacred Heart. The building is framed by a
huge square closed-off by arches designed to hold a few thousand
people.
Bird´s
eye view of the región
Night postcard
Joan Mayné sculpted the
altar piece in alabastar. It shows different scenes of the Virgen
Mary. It features the Romanic carving mentioned earlier restored
to its original beauty. In 1994, an image of the founder was added.
In the Santisimo Chapel we find a bronze Christ sculpted by the
Italian artist Pasquale Sciancalepore.
The organ has over 4,000 pipes and is venue to the Organ Music Festival
in August.
Nowadays it is one of the biggest tourist attractions to the area,
and it receives thousands of visits during celebrations, especially
between April and October. Since 1980 it has become part of the
Marian pilgrimage between Zaragoza and Lourdes. The village of El
Grado is at the foot of the Sanctuary and has benefited enormously
from its proximity.
An old inn and a hermitage have also been restored and are open
to the public. A hydro-electric station uses the reservoire water
where the river bed used to be, adding to the natural beauty of
the area.
The fiesta of the Virgen de Torreciudad is the first Sunday after
August 15.
