Logbook · 6 places

Virgin of Revilla

Baltanás, El Cerrato, Palencia

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

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Virgin of Revilla

Curiosity · Baltanás, El Cerrato, Palencia

The hermitage of Nuestra Señora de Revilla holds a Marian carving that local tradition regards as the oldest depiction of a nativity scene preserved in Spain, and which remains the object of a romería in the town. It is a sculpture from the late 13th century, around 1293 according to the historian Francisco José Gómez, which, together with an image of Saint Joseph, evokes the Flight into Egypt and is the patroness of Baltanás; it was created barely seventy years after the first nativity scene depicted by Saint Francis of Assisi at Greccio, in 1223. The carving was stolen from the hermitage on 9 September 1981 by the art thief Erik the Belgian; sold to an antiques dealer and then to a French art dealer, it was eventually seized by police. In the year 2000 it was exhibited in Madrid at the show Oro, incienso y mirra, dedicated to the Spanish nativity scene.

Photo: Germán López Bravo (Public domain)

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