L’Ermità de Meritxell Play Returns to Andorran Stage for Sanctuary Anniversary

L’Ermità de Meritxell stages its second Andorran production on 26 September at 8pm in Canillo’s Sala Perecaus, marking the 50th anniversary of the Santuari de Nostra Senyora de Meritxell’s construction.

Directed and adapted by playwright Mercè Canals at the request of mossèn Ramon, the drama by monk Ambrós Caralt revives a script retrieved last year. Students from the Escola de Teatre Entreacte take the main roles, with Anna Mangot designing the costumes. Canals has retained the 19th-century Andorran dialect while adding contemporary elements to heighten the family tensions at the story’s core: the heir’s choice to become Meritxell’s hermit, upending his family’s plans.

This full staging follows a single prior performance in the Principat and a staged reading commissioned by mossèn Ramon amid initial funding constraints. The production forms part of anniversary events to safeguard Andorra’s cultural traditions, including the historical role of hermits who guarded the original site. Past hermits’ names once appeared on the sanctuary’s roof, underscoring their significance to the nation’s spiritual heritage, as mossèn Ramon described the position.

The Andorran government and Comú de Canillo each contribute €7,500, totalling €15,000 in support. Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Mònica Bonell and Canillo councillor Sílvia Mandicó have emphasised institutional backing for projects that recover and promote local patrimony. Bonell highlighted the play’s fit within broader anniversary activities.