Ermitage Notre-Dame de Font-Romeu

Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via

The name of the place says it all: "font romeu", the pilgrim's spring. Tradition, as recorded by the parish priest in the 18th century, has it that a bull kept straying from the herd to go to a spring in the woods, scrape furiously at the ground and let out extraordinary bellows; the intrigued herdsman found in the spring a statue of the Virgin and Child. The story belongs to a documented historical context: the Marian statues scattered across the lands of the monastery of Saint-Martin, founded in 1001 by the Count of Cerdagne, were hidden in the early 12th century during armed incursions from the county of Foix. The parish of Odeillo raised a chapel on the spot of the discovery, mentioned as early as 1324, replaced by a larger building in 1525 and then by the present sanctuary in 1685. The Catalan sculptor Josep Sunyer installed a major altarpiece there between 1704 and 1707, and then in 1712 the camaril, a small gilded and polychrome chamber opening behind the altar, where the Virgin is venerated at close quarters: it is one of the most remarkable Baroque ensembles in the Pyrenees. The Virgin of Font-Romeu was solemnly crowned in August 1926 and remains one of the great pilgrimages of Cerdagne, where the statue travels over the course of the year between the hermitage and the church of Odeillo. The spring where she is said to have been found still flows near the chapel, and pilgrims continue to draw water from it.

Les Pyrénées-Orientales — L'ermitage de Font-Romeu ↗

Getting there : About a kilometre north of the centre of Font-Romeu, on the road to Mont-Louis / Bolquère (D618), on the edge of the forest; car park on site, free access to the surroundings and the calvary. The interior, and notably the camaril, is open only in summer: guided tours in July–August, enquire at the tourist office.

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

Ambient sound