Dolmen Chapel of the Lord on the Mount (Penedono) (**)-Cults intertwine in Terras do Demo
January 21, 2011 by Castile
Categories: Municipalities , District-Viseu , artistic styles , More , and Penedono Sernancelhe , Prehistory (Neolithic) , All articles
When I came to the Dolmen Chapel of the Mount of the Lord the day was cold, gray and drizzling. The desconsolação dominated the wilderness. It was the second time in the necropolis of Nossa Senhora do Monte, inhospitable place, removed from the human chain, already belong to the Terras do Demo, and that is a unique space in Lusitania remarkable.
The sepulcrário consists of six monuments of high scientific value, but what brings this reviewer is only symbolic and aesthetic value of the Dolmen Chapel of Our Lady of Mount ... and also an intimate moment.
The Dolmen Chapel of the Mount of the Lord has a polygonal chamber and a long corridor leading to the height of which is decreasing towards the east-west. The placement of a granite pillar in the middle of the corridor and near the entrance to the chamber and the small size of the mainstay of the entry hall, show that the intention was to make it difficult to enter this monument. Perhaps the camera could only be elected or close some of the dead, watching the rising sun, waiting for his reappearance.
Deposit of votive character of the Dolmen Chapel of Our Lord on the Mount
Of great importance for the study of the megaliths in Portugal, here was exhumed a votive deposit of a collective nature, consisting of a ceramic container and a receptacle box as probable offerings. In rituals unrolled bonfires were lit in the hall whose charred remains, allow the dating of the last moment from the tomb of use between 3260 BC and 2940 BC The tomb has been built, used and sealed in a time interval of 300 years.
The tomb was the target of a breach in the Bronze Age. The effectiveness of structures placed in the hallway prevented the access of offenders through the lobby. They then chose to remove part of the foothills of the north side of the corridor, using space as a grave and placed where about four dozen ceramic vessels.
Many centuries later this space continued to be sacred, with the building of a chapel of indeterminate age (fifteenth century?) To emphasize the sense that the mystical and religious monument ever had. It is one of the rare cases of dolmens in Portugal Christianized and no doubt one of the most remarkable pair of Anta Alcobertas (Rio Maior) (**).
The ecclesiastical decision that led to this reuse must have stemmed from the desire to Christianize a pagan religious site, possibly still have some importance in the worship of local beliefs.
Previously described in the article on Anta Arcainha of the Pebble Beira (*), one possible meaning for their existence
Avulsamente can still say that the camera's tapir is the chapel of the temple, that the corridor is strangely behind the temple, the floor of the church against a strange rectangular sink, I discover two pentagrams on the rocks broken down, that little more 20 meters away from another insightful anta rare type of college, that this is finally a truly enigmatic ... unforgettable!
Personal Note - The first and only time I was with her in a tapir in the Fiais Tiles (Carregal Sal), found much favor in everything, and disappeared, with some scare us, suddenly appeared in a hole of the Soul say that he had returned from the dead. The first time I came to the Dolmen of Senhora do Monte, it was all very recent and cried like I never did in life, seeking their signs; these stones found nothing, but I'm too due to its improvement. It was my last attempt to bring a divine mist. Chapel of Our Lady of Mount worship was finally abandoned in 1914 the year of his birth.
Bibliography-Carvalho, MS, and Peter Gomes FCL Louis (1995) - The megalithic necropolis of Nossa Senhora do Monte (Penedono, Ontario), Prehistoric Studies Journal 3. Center for Studies prehistoric Border High, p. 243-248
Other tapirs 4 chapels in Portugal:
- Anta-chapel of Alcobertas (Rio Maior) (**)
-Anta-chapel of Pavia (Mora) (*)
-Anta-chapel of St. Brissos (Montemor-o-Novo) (*)
-Anta-chapel of San Fausto da Lapa (Torrão-Alcacer do Sal)
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