Mare de Déu de Núria

Vall de Núria · Queralbs (Girona)

In a valley of the Pyrenees that is only reached in zipper or on foot, the Vall de Núria keeps one of the highest Marian shrines in Europe, a goal of pilgrimage from the Middle Ages.

Origin and history

The first historical news of the place is a grant of indulgences from Pope Alexander III in 1162 for those who went up there to celebrate. The present Neorromic-style sanctuary was erected in the early 20th century: the church was blessed in 1911, and modern access to the valley was consolidated with the zipper, opened in 1931. The image was canonically crowned in 1965.

The tradition attributes the origin of devotion to Saint Gil, who in the eighth century would have carved an image and hidden it together with a cross, a bell and a pot; according to the story, in 1079, some shepherds found the objects in a cave, beginning the cult. It is one of the highest Marian shrines in the world, with a devotion deeply linked to the pilgrimage to the valley.