Santuario de la Fuensanta. Villel
How to get there: At the entrance to Villel, and just after crossing the bridge, coming from Teruel, take the turning on the right, following this road, you will reach your destination.
Description: Built in masonry in the late Gothic style, 16th century, which can be seen in the ribs of the nave. One of the walls takes advantage of the rock of the mountain, where the miraculous spring used to flow.
The Santa Capilla or camarín de la Virgen (18th century) is covered with an octagonal dome, opposite the entrance door and the choir loft. The main doorway was opened to the south, with a large semicircular arch bearing the insignia of the Order, the Sanjuanista or Maltese Cross. The bell tower is also built in masonry and the chancel has a frieze of arches and eaves in the Mudejar style.
A whole complex was created to receive the pilgrims, a building for votive offerings, stables for the animals, cookers, etc. With a capacity for 200 people, including an inn.
This building was connected to the sanctuary by a high, covered passageway, supported in the middle by two large segmental arches of different sizes that rest directly on both side buildings.
The priory house was built on the road to Villel, some 200 metres away, and its ruins can now be seen in a bend in the road.
The golden century for the Sanctuary was the 17th century, the influx of pilgrims was such that every Sunday and feast day there was a great deal of traffic, and they brought many offerings, some of great value.
During the civil war, the church was sacked and destroyed, leaving it without a roof; the image of the Virgin disappeared. It was repaired in the 1940s.
Certainly the site of the sanctuary, which has not been abandoned, and the religious phenomena of pilgrimages and pilgrimages, as well as being part of the idiosyncrasy of the people, are intimately linked to the collective memory by which a region, a region or a people have their ancestral, religious and magical places, to which they always return.