Local tradition has it that it was erected in thanksgiving for the victory over the Moors in the 17th century in the valley known from then on as Matamoros by the Castilian troops led by Captain Garcilaso, who, being a native of Granada, consecrated it to his patron saint, the Virgen de las Angustias, although certain architectural features of the building show its origin in the late Middle Ages, a period in which the cult of the iconographic model of the Pietà, the Virgin with her dead Son in her arms, was at its height in popular religiosity.
The hermitage is a single-nave building with a façade that leads to an entrance porch, a two-bay body and a square chancel. The façade consists of two sections. The lower one has three raised semicircular arches supported by stone columns topped by a small capital, which begin the porch. The upper body is made up of four decorative pilasters, with a niche in the central space where a wrought-iron cross is currently located. Between the two sides there are two balconies that provide light and ventilation to the choir, located above the porch. The façade is crowned by a belfry with a bell tower. The side of the porch is open, on one side and as a balcony.
A second section with ribbed vaults, with two crossing arches supported by four capitals with capitals and two straight ribs forming a cross, which support the main arches and the enclosure walls, all of which are joined by a central keystone.
In this section and on its left side in 1656, the sacristy was built, according to an inscription above the door, at the expense of Francisco Díaz del Hierro. Beneficiary and Vicar of the Parish.
The plaque still exists today, but the sacristy has been demolished.
In the second half of the 18th century, the third section or chancel was built with a square floor plan and closed by a dome on pendentives, with a skylight in the arches adjacent to the altarpiece, through which light is given to the room.
On the floor of the chapel, Mayor, the tombstones of the burials of prominent benefactors could be seen until 1961, when they possibly remained under the floor.
The current altarpiece dates from 1956, donated by the steward of the time, whose memorial tablet remains in the presbytery on the Gospel side. It is presided over by the Virgin Mary, accompanied by Saint John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene kneeling, interesting sculptures all dating from the first third of the 16th century.
The main chapel is separated from the rest of the nave by a modern grille, which in 1961 replaced the original Gothic style one.
The façade is of great beauty, consisting of two sections. In the lower section there are semicircular arches supported by marble columns, and in the upper section there are balconies flanked by pilasters, between which there is a niche surrounded by dynamically designed mixtilinear mouldings, all the result of the reforms carried out in the Baroque period, crowned by a gabled roof and a slender belfry.
The image of Nuestra Señora de las Angustias was restored around 1911 in Seville by the sculptor Juan Luis Guerrero” and by Castillo Lastruccí after the events of 1936, in which two silver crowns were lost, one of them gilded, a large black mantle embroidered in gold and a small wooden cross in the Gothic style.
The main altarpiece dates from 1956, with the Virgin Mary presiding, accompanied by Saint John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene kneeling, interesting sculptures all dating from the first third of the 16th century, combining the pathos of late Gothic sculpture with the naturalism brought by the beginning of the Renaissance.
The image of Our Lady of Sorrows was restored around 1911 in Seville by the sculptor Juan Luis Guerrero” and by Castillo Lastruccí after the events of 1936, in which two silver crowns were lost, one of them gilded, a large black mantle embroidered in gold and a small wooden cross in the Gothic style.
It was erected in memory of the victory obtained against the “Moors”, 200 metres from the town, in the so-called Matamoros valley. Its construction consists of three sections and an entrance. The first section was built in the 18th century, and there is a tombstone inscribed with the date 1656. Inside, the image of Our Lady of Sorrows, patron saint of the town, is kept and venerated. The original image was destroyed during the Civil War and was later replaced by the current one, the work of the sculptor Castillo Lastrucci. Middle Gothic. Rebuilt in the 18th century.
For more information you can visit the website of the Hermandad de Ntra. Sra. de las Angustias (Brotherhood of Our Lady of Sorrows), at https://angustiasdealanis.com/
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