Publications

Part III Spain

"Holy caves and sanctuary caves of middle and modern ages in the Mediterranean. The eastern side of the Iberian Peninsula." By Virginia Gonzalez:

Virginia Gonzalez analyses the holy caves and sanctuary caves of the Middle and Modern Ages in the eastern side of the Iberian Peninsula. It presents the Christian and Islamic holy caves and demonstrates the fact that the phenomenon of the holy caves is universal, as well as most of the rituals practiced in these areas, although they are promoted by different social, economic and, obviously, religious motivations.

1. Caves as sacred places: conceptual aspects, origin and evolution of cult in cave.
   
   In the interior area of the East Central Iberian Peninsula there are many underground cavities named holy caves, in Spanish Cuevas Santas or Santas Cuevas. They are located in a precise geographical zone, mostly in a rural environment, and their creation as holy areas took place in a certain temporal space, related to very specific historical and religious processes, such as the Islamic presence in the Iberian Peninsula, the Christian reconquest of this territory and Marian worship.
   
   
   
   [Cueva Dones, Iberian Sanctuary Cave, Millares, Valencia]
   
   
   [Mural in the Church of John the Baptist by the River Jordan, representing the birth of Christ in a cave]
   
   
   [Access to the Holy Cave of Enguera]


2. Holy caves and sanctuary caves in the eastern side of the Iberian Peninsula: caves of Islamic origin, caves of Christian tradition.
   
   In the eastern Iberian Peninsula, there are around twenty sacred caves and sanctuary caves from the Middle and Modern Ages. The caves of Islamic origin with Mudejar and Moorish tradition such as The Cave of Jualentejas: Fuentes de Ayodar, Castille: eighth to ninth centuries, the Cave of Alimaymon: Olocau, Valencia ninth: to fifteenth centuries and the Cave of the Moma: Pavias, Castellon: eleventh to sixteenth centuries. The caves of Christian tradition such as The Holy Cave of Enguera, Valencia: eleventh, twelfth and seventeenth centuries, the Holy Cave of Altura, Castellón: sixteenth to twenty-first centuries and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of La Balma: Zorita del Maestrazgo, Castellón: fourteenth to twenty first century.
   
   
   
   [Map with the locations of the studied caves]
   
   
   [The Monastery-Charterhouse of Valldecrist]
   
   
   [The Monastery of San Juan de la Peña, Huesca, Spain]


3. Cult and religiosity in holy caves and sanctuary caves: healing and fertility rites, votive offerings and pilgrimage.
   
   Holy caves or sanctuary caves have originally been places to visit in order to ask for a favor or health, as well as places to show gratitude for favors. Curative rites or prayers performed in the holy caves or sanctuary caves always entail the performance of a donation or votive offerings. The donation is a voluntary gift given to God in exchange for a favor. The most important expressions of popular and collective fervor linked to holy caves are pilgrimages and processions.
   
   
   
   [The Holy Cave of Altura today]
   
   
   [The Virgin Chapel inside the Holy Cave of Altura]
   
   
   [Calvary representations. Engraving in the Holy Cave of Enguera]


4. Cultural routes: the eastern side of the Iberian Peninsula, the Mediterranean area.
   
   Three cultural routes proposed here enhance the main patrimonial and religious values related to holy caves or sanctuary caves:
   Route 1: From Morella to the Sanctuary of La Balma.
   Route 2: Segorbe, the Monastery of Valldecrist and the Sanctuary of the Holy Cave of Altura.
   Route 3. From the Castle-Convent of Montesa to the Holy Cave of Enguera.
   
   
   
   [General view of Morella]
   
   
   [The Castle-Convent of Montesa]
   
   
   [The Virgin with votive offerings in Panaghia Spiliani, Samos, Grece]