Architech: Martorell
Supervised by: Camilo Oliveras
Furnished by: A.Gaudi
Sculpture: Llimona y Vallmitjana
Year of construction: 1878-1881
Style: Neo-Gothic
The chapel was constructed as part of the Sobrellano ensemble. It is a good example of how Modernism evolved from Classicism.
The architect who build this cathedral in miniature, that recalls the devotion of the man who funded it, the second Marquis of Comillas, Don Claudio López Bru, was inspired by English Perpendicular Gothic.
It houses the mausoleums of the first marquis, his brother Claudio López y López and Doña Benita Diaz de Quijano (1881). It is considered to be one of the most significant examples of Modernist Catalan architecture in Cantabria. The sculptures of “La Plegaria” and ” La Resignación” evoke Rodin and their themes are related to the light and the atmosphere that derive from them. The three were sculpted by the Catalan and modernist artists Jose LLimona y Barbany and Agapito Vallmitjana.
Within the chapel stands out the presbytery, which was magnificently decorated with an altar and a bronze polished table bearing the symbols of the Gospel, the Agnus Dei and the Sacred Heart. Gaudí also designed some of the furnishings, which were mainly inspired by the Gothic but with some modernist nuances.
The chapel-mausoleum was inaugurated in 1881, during the royal visit of Alfonso XII.
