Church of Sant Serni de Besora

Around 1651, the old Church of Sant Serni de Besora, existing in records from at least the tenth century, was in a very bad state and it was decided to build a new one with a central nave covered by a barrel vault and a choir covered by a rib vault. It maintained the basic sixteenth-century combination of stone—for the ribs, mouldings and pilasters—and whitewashed pargeted masonry for the other faces. On either side of the nave, two side chapels house four of the six altarpieces conserved in the church, all made between the sixteenth and late seventeenth centuries. There is also a fine processional cross, which is probably fifteenth century.

The high altar (dedicated to Saint Saturninus)

The high altar, made in the seventeen eighties, was sculpted by Joan Balius of Solsona and polychromed and gold-leafed by Joan Andreu, from Sant Llorenç de Morunys, who showed much skill in his working of the vestments. In the central niche, at the top of the shrine, built like a miniature edifice with Solomonic columns, is the church’s patron saint, Saturninus (Sadurní, in Catalan). He is flanked by SS John the Baptist and Paul, in the lower section, and the patron saints of farmers Abdon and Sennen, in the upper section, on the right and left of the Immaculate Conception, respectively.
Along with the high altar, noteworthy for the impeccable craftsmanship with which they were made, are the altarpieces dedicated to Christ the Lord (1732), in the arcosolium in the north wall, by an unknown artist, and another in classic style dedicated to Saint Teresa, made by Segimon Pujol i Santaló in 1795.