Our heritage
of our past and a part of our present.
The stones here speak, because they are a part
of our past and a part of our present.
Xàbia
Jardinet de Loreto
El Jardinet de Loreto is located in the square called Plaça del Mestre Tosquer Vicent de Gràcia. It was formerly the site of a chapel dedicated to La Mare de Déu de Loreto, one of the religious buildings located inside the walls of Xàbia.
On the 1st of December 1556, according to the notes collected by G. Cruanyes in the parish archive, work began on the "house and chapel of La Mare de Déu de Loreto in the courtyard that Lluís Sapena donated in June of last year to the Jurors of this town". Almost from the same period are the first documented references to La Porta de La Mar, located next to the hermitage, a gate that had to be reformed in 1639 due to the threat of pirate attacks.
There is no known image of the chapel of Loreto, only a few short descriptions that are not very informative and some reports about the funerary use of the building that housed the tombs of the sailors.
As time went by, from the end of the 17th century onwards, what was known as El Raval de La Mar was formed outside the walls. During the second half of the 18th century, this new neighbourhood had some 47 hearths, which, applying a coefficient of four per family unit, meant there were around 188 people. Most of these citizens were engaged in trades related to the sea and fishing, and their chapel was the hermitage of Loreto which housed the tombs where they were buried.
The last reference to this building reports that it was demolished on the 12th of August 1881. The demolition of the chapel created a plot of land that, a short time later, became the first public garden. Here, in 1923, Vicent de Gràcia built a fountain using a robust stone from an oil mill mechanism, on which he placed an image of La Mare de Déu de Loreto in memory of the temple that had previously stood there since the 16th century. (1)
(1) Descobrir Xàbia. Plaça del Mestre Tosquer Vicent de Gràcia. Xàbia’s department of tourism. https://va.xabia.org/ver/7413/Pla%C3a-del-mestre-tosquer-Vicent-de-Gr%C3cia.html
Xàbia
Our heritage
Useful information...
With the funding of:
