Crucifixion Chapel

This chapel, of hexagonal plan, was built in the 19th century, but the figure is older, because it still maintains the twelve images of the 18th century representing Calvário mountain hill, with its popular flavor and the sincere naivety that characterizes them.

On the upper level, on the outside of the chapel, we find the stripe: “ERAT AUTEM HORA TERTIA ET CRUCIFIXERUNT EUM”, translated as “it was Tuesday when they crucified Him”. It should be noted that the time of Tuesday, according to the Jerusalem Bible, is at 9 o’clock in the morning, or more generally, the time between nine o’clock in the morning and half day.

The density of the figure, inserted in the reform spirit, motivates us to live intensely the “dramatic staging” of the of Christ’s death, where iconology lends itself to the catechesis sirvice, through a dense and metaphorical message.

On one of the stones of an inner wall of the chapel is the inscription:

«Justice sent by Pontius Pilate to Jesus of Nazareth as an evildoer, and a mutineer of the people, » while another inscription on a moving panel explains the true meaning of the twelve sculptures of this chapel: «When the Bom Jesus arrived at Calvary with the heavy cross on his shoulders, the executioners took off his tunic that was glued to his body and proceeded to crucifixion. Here the Lord is seen lying on the tree, with his right hand nailed

and the left receiving the hammer. A tormentor stretches his left foot with a rope while the other stretches out his hand to a stud that the boy of nails presents to him. The soldiers are hard and cruel in contrast to the indescribable pain of the Virgin Mother who is at the head of Jesus, supported by Maria Salomé. On the left side, Maria Cléofas and the Apostle S.João, with their hands on their foreheads, weep bitterly. Behind, fallen on a mound, Maria Madalena horrified and desolate».