Church of Santa Helena de Rodes

The urban structure of Santa Creu de Rodes corresponds to a closed town, that is to say, a town where the rear facades of the houses functioned as walls and where it could only be accessed through the fortified portals.

Its nerve center was the church square, around which the houses are located. Separated by the streets that lead there. These are large buildings (between 70 and 100 m²), with a ground floor, one floor, and roofed with tiles, which often had a patio, vegetable garden or corral.

Santa Creu de Rodes was born and grew in the shadow of the monastery of Sant Pere and was a prosperous place where fairs and markets were held, where hoteliers, tailors, bakers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, tavern keepers or notaries, among others, offered their services to everyone who arrived, especially to the many pilgrims who went to the monastery.

de l'Eglise

Santa Cruz de Rodes

The town and the church of Santa Creu de Rodes are located on a small plateau at 540 m above sea level. The temple was built in the 10th century using an old watchtower, which became a bell tower. From the 12th century, the construction of the town houses and also the entrance portals began in the cemetery that surrounded the parish church. All paths leading to the monastery of Sant Pere passed through these portals.

Santa Creu de Rodes experienced its heyday between the 13th and 14th centuries, when some houses were enlarged and remodeled and neighborhoods were built outside the walls. During the fifteenth century a period of decline and gradual abandonment of the population began. The church lost its parish status in the 16th century and became the hermitage of Santa Helena, maintaining its cult until the end of the 19th century.

The village benefited from pilgrimages to the monastery and had around 300 inhabitants at its peak. A small suburb has developed on either side of the entrance gates. The living quarters were very small.