It was precisely the day of the patron saint of Andorra, or rather on the night of September 8 to 9, 1972, when the most revered temple in the small country of the Pyrenees was consumed by flames. The old sanctuary where the image of the Virgin of Meritxell was venerated since the 17th century was reduced to ashes. Barely any of its walls remained standing, but everything was useless and, of course, neither the medieval image of the Virgin nor the rest of the artistic and liturgical heritage of the temple was spared from the fire.
The commotion in the principality was enormous. Almost immediately it was thought about rebuilding the temple located on the outskirts of the center of Canillo, one of the seven parishes that make up Andorra. But faced with the option of rebuilding a church in the image and likeness of the historic one, it was decided to undertake a work with the aesthetics of the last quarter of the 20th century. That was the argument for commissioning the project to one of the most promising architects of the time: the Catalan Ricardo Bofill.
By then Ricardo Bofill Levi and his architecture workshop, in which engineers and urban planners but also sociologists, designers and artists from different disciplines participated, had already shown their innovative and eclectic spirit. They drew from the most varied sources and styles, both from the past and the present, but always with the aim of creating different works that adapted to the place and context where they were going to be built. And with that same spirit they undertook the Andorran project.
The result can be seen in the current basilica of Our Lady of Meritxell. In a place surrounded by mountains and the green of the forest stands a large temple made of slate stone and wood. Materials typical of local construction traditions. Just like the typical architecture of Romanesque hermitages, it inspires the thick walls, the semicircular arches and a high bell tower visible from the distance that identify the sanctuary.
But obviously all these historical elements are transformed with Bofill's postmodernist architecture. For example, the usual wall paintings of medieval temples disappear. Only an intense white color is used, never better said, snowy, which contrasts even more with the dark, almost black tone of the slate.
As for the arches, they do not have to support a vault or a roof. Sometimes they are large white arches whose only roof is the blue of the sky, so that natural light floods the sacred precinct, in contrast to the Romanesque darkness. A light that reaches not only the unique cloister between mountains. It also enters through the windows into the chapel of the basilica, where today a replica of the ancient sculpture of the virgin stands, placed in the center to dominate, despite its small size, an almost minimalist atmosphere.
In short, it is a revision of tradition to house the most established cult of the principality. At the time it was a tremendously daring bet since the worship of the Virgin of Meritxell dates back to the country's medieval origins. But it is obvious that it turned out well and affection for the new construction has not stopped growing while veneration of the image endures as a hallmark. Something that is evident in the exhibition Meritxell Memoria, which is displayed in the recreation of the old sanctuary, located on one side of the complex.
It is not the only exhibition that visitors see. Up to 1,300 Bibles translated into almost as many languages are also kept here. The largest exhibition of Bibles shown in public. And there is also room for a miniature walk through the Romanesque hermitages of Andorra, all of them replicated in the form of a scale model. And the beginnings of Meritxell would be contemporary with temples such as Santa Coloma in Andorra la Vella or Sant Joan de Caselles located in Canillo that now star in the Romanesque hiking routes.
But nothing remains of those humble beginnings except the legends. Today the temple of Meritxell is not only for devout locals. It has become a destination on the Marian route that runs on both sides of the Pyrenees. A pilgrimage for faith, history and art through five temples: the Pilar of Zaragoza, the sanctuary of Torreciudad in the province of Huesca, the abbey of Montserrat in Catalonia, the sanctuary of Lourdes in the south of France and, Of course, the minor basilica of Meritxell, an ecclesiastical rank that the old sanctuary has enjoyed since 2014.
