Hermitage of El Rocío
The Hermitage of El Rocío (Spanish: Ermita del Rocío or Ermita de El Rocío) is a hermitage at El Rocío in the countryside of Almonte, Province of Huelva, Andalusia, Spain. The hermitage is home to the Virgin of El Rocío (Spanish: Virgen del Rocío), a small, much-venerated carved wood statue, and is the destination of an annual procession/pilgrimage on the second day of the Pentecost, known as the Romería de El Rocío, connected to the veneration of the Virgin of El Rocío; in recent years the Romería has brought together roughly a million pilgrims each year.
| Hermitage of El Rocío | |
|---|---|
Ermita de El Rocío | |
| Alternative names | Ermita de la Virgen del Rocío Hermitage of the Virgin of El Rocío |
| General information | |
| Type | Hermitage |
| Town or city | Almonte (Province of Huelva) |
| Country | Spain |
| Construction started | 1964 |
| Completed | 1980 |
| Inaugurated | 1969 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Antonio Delgado y Roig and Alberto Balbontín de Orta |
| References | |
| El Nuevo Santuario de la Virgen del Rocío, hermandadrociosevilla.com, retrieved 2010-04-14, for the dates of construction. | |
Although there has been a hermitage on this site for centuries, the present hermitage building was designed by architects Antonio Delgado y Roig and Alberto Balbontín de Orta, designed in 1961 and built in stages over the next two decades.