Ermita de Sant Domènec de Xaló

The Ermita de Sant Domènec stands in the Pla de la Séquia, between the Tossalet hill and the Xaló river. An ermita is a small chapel, usually on the edge of a village or out in the countryside.

It was built between 1691 and 1697 by the village’s Confraternity of the Rosary, with money raised locally, and opened on 2 February 1699. It is dedicated to Saint Dominic, the great promoter of praying the rosary. In 1760 he became Xaló’s patron saint, and for about thirty years after that the hermitage doubled as the village school.

The building has had good times and long spells of neglect. It was restored in 1978, paid for by Georgette Bosch and the people of Xaló. A tile in the porch records it, dated 4 August, the feast of Sant Domènec. It is now protected as a local heritage monument.

The feast of Sant Domènec on 4 August is a local holiday in Xaló, right in the middle of the summer fiestas.