ENGLISH
PARISH CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA INTRODUCTION Building began on the Church of Santa Maria de Roses on 29th June,1792, the day of St. Peter, on land donated by Pere and Caterina Badia. The rector was Jaume Dilmer, who initiated one of the most important projects for Roses since its establishment, outside the walls in the 1660s, after the Catalan Revolt (the Guerra dels Segadors). The expulsion of the people of Roses from the old village in 1640 by the military authorities created a situation full of tension. Every time the residents had to go to the parish, they had to enter military premises, to the displeasure of the military. The ravages of the war on the old Romanesque church and the headaches of getting in and out of the stronghold meant that, in order to carry on with parish life, there was no other option but to build a new church. What’s more, in 1794 the military banned any further burials in the old cemetery and began to exhume the mortal remains and re-inter them next to the Church under construction.
Ajuntament de Roses Worship at the new Church, unfinished at the time, began on 2nd October, 1796. The first phase, the so-called ‘old work’, was not completed until 1853, due to the economic difficulties the village experienced due to the continuing political and military changes existing from the end of the 18th century, first with the wars with France and, later, with the Carlists. The second phase, or the ‘new work’, designed by the architect Martí Sureda Deulovol, was carried out between 1853 and 1864, building the naves of the upper floor and the nineteenth-century monumental façade, made of large ashlars and inspired by the Porta de Mar of the Citadel. However, the Church was not yet completed, since the two graceful bell-towers that were planned had not been built.
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During the Civil War the altars and paintings, in addition to other silverware and items of worship, were destroyed. Between 1936 and 1939 the building was given over to a market and to a collective carpentry workshop. An air raid shelter was also built next to the north wall of the church. Later, the church was remodelled, between 1957 and 1960, by the architect Juli Rosa Cirilo.
CULTURAL HERITAGE OF ROSES
In 1974, Father Joan Riu began a series of reforms that would end in 1995 with a remodelling of the whole church and the dedication of a new altar. This final phase was led by the architects Mar Pèlach Pàniker and Joan Josep Albors Cardesa. FOLLOW US: VISIT ROSES
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CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA DE ROSES. 18th century