The Chapel Inside a Volcano

Santa Margarida is a freato-magmatic volcano located in the Spanish county of Garrotxa, in Catalonia. Some 11,500 years ago, the earth’s crust burst opened and out poured millions of tons of magma, that accumulated in a conical hill more than six hundred meters tall. At the top of this hill a wide circular crater was formed, whose floor today is carpeted with thick grass and shrubs while the flanks of the volcano are covered in evergreen holm oak and mixed deciduous forest. Amidst this, and smack in the middle of the crater today, stands a Romanesque church.

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Photo credit: Carquinyol/Wikimedia

Aerial view of Santa Margarida volcano. The building of the hermitage sits inside the crater.

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Photo credit: Santi Nunez Fulcara/Shutterstock

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A Ruptly drone flew over the extinct volcano of Santa Margarida in Olot, 110 kilometres (69 miles) north of Barcelona, revealing a Romanesque hermitage built inside its 2 kilometre (1.2 miles) perimeter.