The fervent wish of the local inhabitants of Bocairent in the 16th century was to erect a chapel on the northern hillside facing the town. The legend goes that several angels sent by God disguised as travellers proclaimed that this was the best site to found a place of worship for the revered image of the crucified Christ. However, before this proclamation was made, the local inhabitants had witnessed over the same hillside the appearance of three lights that represented the three crosses on Mount Calvary.
Once you arrive at the chapel you will be able to marvel at the view from on high taking in the valley and the town below where the Parish Church stands out with its belltower.
The Holy Christ Chapel comprises three buildings, the oldest of which is the church, followed by the hostelry, and finally the house built for the priest responsible for celebrating masses and looking after the precinct.
Several fiestas are held throughout the year in the chapel, the first of which coincides with the last day of the Moors and Christians festivities. After having breakfast in the confines of the precinct, the final act of the fiesta known as the ‘divestment of the Moor’ is performed, whereby the protagonist undergoes a ceremonial conversion to Christianity. The second festivity is celebrated during the month of May as a commemoration to one of the important moments in history, when the cross was brought down to the town marking the end of the cholera epidemic in 1885. On 10th August, the day of Saint Lawrence, the first mass held in the chapel is remembered. Later, on the third Sunday in the month of September, the appearance of the ‘Three Lights’ that inspired the building of the chapel, is commemorated with a thanksgiving festivity.
You can visit the inside of the church, the hostelry with its well and stables, the priest’s house. On the belltower wall you can also try to find the replica of a fragment of a boundary cross that was once encrusted amongst the stones at the entrance to the chapel.
