San Juan de Ruesta Chapel

Within a series of interventions along the French part of the pilgrims’ route to Santiago de Compostela, features this hermitage refurbishment

Facing the Leyre mountains amid elms and oaks, this hermitage is known for having once harbored a major collection of Romanesque paintings. Deprived of its old purpose and paintings, the building was abandoned in 2001 and fell into ruin. Sebastián Arquitectos undertook the project of restoring its original massing and giving pilgrims a new shaded spot to stop for a rest.

The new roof is set on the old one with a composition of horizontal lines that give continuity to the bond of the original masonries and putlog holes. The plane of the intervention is slightly set back from the line of the preexisting wall. On the outside, stones salvaged from demolished parts of the hermitage are positioned in an orderly pattern that invites visitors to enter the old chapel.