Église de Dorres et la Vierge noire de Belloc

Dorres

Above Dorres, on a shelf of the Carlit that overlooks the whole of the Cerdagne, French and Spanish, a 13th-century chapel with a single nave and an apse with a half-dome bears the name of Bell-Lloc, the "fair place". There was venerated there a Virgin in majesty that tradition says was found in a nearby cave by a shepherd: carried to the village, she is said to have returned three times to her cave, until a sanctuary was built for her on the spot — the standard tale of the found Virgins, which is met with from Vassivière to Montserrat. The inhabitants of Puigcerdà, of Ur and of Villeneuve-des-Escaldes used to climb up to pray to her. The statue, today brought down into the parish church of Saint-Jean, is one of the most striking in the Roussillon: Mary is seated on a plain board, dressed in a tunic and a veil, her face elongated, her right hand held out in a gesture of welcome out of all proportion, and the Child, on her left knee, blesses with enormous fingers — the chisel, says Sophie Cassagnes-Brouquet, of a village sculptor. She belongs to the great family of Catalan majesties which, around the Morenita of Montserrat, people the valleys of the Pyrenees, from Font-Romeu to Corneilla-de-Conflent. A stone on the path to the chapel is held to keep the imprint of the Virgin's foot, and the cave of the discovery still shelters walkers.

Wikipédia — Dorres ↗

Getting there : Dorres is some ten kilometres west of Font-Romeu and 5 km north of Ur, by the D 618 then the D 10. The church of Saint-Jean, in the centre of the village, holds the Virgin and baroque retables; enquire at the town hall if it is closed. The chapel of Belloc is reached from the village by a loop waymarked in yellow, two hours there and back, 340 m of ascent; mass at the chapel on the Sunday nearest to St John's day.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound