The Parish Church of Sant Esteve, a Cultural Site of National Interest located in Olot’s Plaça del Rector Ferrer, boasts a rich history that dates back to 846. Over the centuries, the church has undergone several reforms and has been reconstructed on the same site five times, with the interior getting larger and larger each time.
The church is just as (or perhaps even more so) important for its history as for the treasures is houses inside, and it has also been designated as a Cultural Site of National Interest, with one its most outstanding assets being the altarpiece of Our Lady of the Rosary, a polychrome wood carving dated between 1704 and 1707 and created by Pau Costa.
Nowadays, Olot’s Church of Sant Esteve is considered one of the most important places of worship in the Girona province, thanks to its vastness and diversity of architectural styles, which include Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Neoclassical elements.
The Parish Church of Sant Esteve houses a treasury of great cultural significance, located within the former Capella de la Immaculada. This Rococo-style chapel boasts an extraordinary dome painted by the renowned 18th-century artist Manuel Tramulles.
The treasury houses vast number of artworks, including one of the most important collections of precious goldwork and silverwork in the diocese of Girona, as well as Gothic paintings, Baroque sculptures, a 13th-century Jewish headstone and a famous El Greco painting, Christ Embracing the Cross.
You can also admire a wide array of sculptures, reliefs and other artworks such as the Holy Christ statue by Ramon Amadeu i Grau, the polychrome carving representing Angels with Veronica, and a cast-iron and gilt altar rail, all from the 19th century.
For all these reasons, Olot’s Sant Esteve Church is an exceptionable and must-see place for lovers of art and the history of our region.
Visit the Trincheria House Museum, one of the most important ancestral homes in Olot, located at no. 29, Carrer de Sant Esteve. The house-museum is quintessential of how a well-off family lived in the first half of the 18th-century.
The Cloister of the former Carmen Convent in Olot, located at no. 3, Carrer Padre Antoni Soler, is a formation of impressive Renaissance galleries that is of the most unique and symmetrical in the whole of Catalonia.
The Malagrida neighbourhood (L’Eixample Malagrida in Catalan) is the most emblematic urban treasure in Olot. Built between 1916 and 1925, it is an example of the Noucentista “garden city” movement that took hold in the early 20th century.