Church of Sant Andreu de Clarà

On top of a hill in the foothills of a mountain chain separating the Cardener River from the Segre, the Church of Sant Andreu de Clarà dates back to medieval times, but its current appearance is the result of alterations made in the eighteenth century. The original nave, covered by a pointed barrel vault, was flanked by side chapels and probably ran westwards, where the choir was built.

These alterations gave the church new altars and revitalised worship. On either side of the apse were the altars of Saint Francis, on the epistle side, and the Sacred Heart, on the gospel side, both with eighteenth-century altarpieces in neoclassical style, with polychrome imitating coloured marble and jasper. In the south side chapel is the altar of Our Lady of Sorrows, which has a fine frontal made from polychrome tiles.

The high altar (dedicated to Saint Andrew)

The church’s high altar still has the reredos made in 1662 by sculptor Feliu Vidal and painter and gold-leafer Josep Bordons. It is in the same classical style typical of late sixteenth-century Catalan, covered in a variety of decorative elements. It has two sections (main and upper) which rise above a pedestal with doors showing images in relief of saints Peter and Paul. In the middle, at the top of the altar steps, is an aumbry-tabernacle, above which is a figure of the church’s patron, Saint Andrew. Both this carving and those of Saint Joseph and Saint Isidore are twentieth-century, while the two in the side niches are from the seventeenth century, most likely taken from another reredos in place of the originals, which have been lost. Only the sculpture of Saint James appears to have survived from the original group; along with the two reliefs on the predella, showing the story of the calling of the apostles Peter and Andrew and a charming representation of a miracle of Saint James that we cannot decipher.