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
Santuari de la Mare de Déu dels Àngels
The Sanctuary of La Mare de Déu dels Àngels and La Casa d'Espiritualitat are located in the area known as La Plana or Les Planes, the eastern foothills of Montgó in the northeast part of the municipality of Xàbia, less than a kilometre from Cape Sant Antoni.
Its origins date back to the foundation of the first Hieronymite monastery in the Kingdom of Valencia, established in 1374 by the initiative of Friar Jaime Juan Ibáñez and a group of monks, on lands granted by Alfonso of Aragon. However, the community was destroyed by pirate corsairs in 1388, and the monks were taken captive. Although they were released shortly after, they did not return here and settled in Cotalba (La Safor).
Thus, the ancient monastery of La Plana was abandoned and forgotten until several centuries later when a canvas representing La Mare de Déu dels Àngels [the Virgin of the Angels] was found hidden inside a tree.
This discovery encouraged some religious individuals to build a hermitage dedicated to this devotion on the ruins of the convent, in order to venerate the recovered painting. Between 1962 and 1964, the sanctuary and the convent were restored in a controversial intervention that destroyed many original elements. In 1994, they were remodelled and expanded again in order to recover them as the so-called Casa Diocesana d'Espiritualitat [Diocesan House of Spirituality], which is currently in operation and administered by a community of Sisters of Les Filles de Santa Maria del Cor de Jesús.
The sanctuary is part of the set of buildings in the complex of La Casa d'Espiritualitat, whose lands are surrounded by a wall. Access is through a small porch door, above which rises the bell gable with a bell. The chapel is a rectangular construction with high walls reinforced by numerous buttresses and covered with a gable roof. The chapel's interior features a barrel vault and pointed arches, tall windows, and stained glass in the apse. Among these, in a place of honour in the sanctuary, is the beautifully framed painting of Mare de Déu dels Àngels.
Nearby routes
Xàbia
Our heritage
Useful information...
With the funding of:
