Sightseeing

Sant Mateu Church, a place that brings people together

Sant Mateu Church gathers the parishioners of an area famous for its wines

In the 18th century, Bishop Abad y Lasierra began building churches at points across the island chosen so that parishioners would have to travel as little as possible and popular devotion would be revived. Sant Mateu lay in an area of little strategic interest, military or commercial: its rugged mountains gave it natural protection from anyone arriving by sea, and the distance to the main towns was, for the time, a drawback for its people.

Yet Sant Mateu had an asset that still endures: its valleys are very fertile land. Today they are mostly given over to wine, and their estates are scattered all across the area.

That is why the church of Sant Mateu was built on a small hill, at the heart of this community.

An icon in Sant Mateu

Sant Mateu Church stands right by the road, on the way from Sant Miquel to Santa Inés. It has the typical whitewashed façade, surprisingly slender for the area. The interior doesn’t go unnoticed either: the chapel of Our Lady of Montserrat and the Roser chapel deserve a look.

Like any self-respecting Ibizan church, it has a porch to shelter the faithful on days of bad weather. This 19th-century porch had great social importance: just like the wells, and with the houses so far apart from one another, it was for a long time a place for meeting and courting.

All in all, Sant Mateu Church is an architectural ensemble well worth a visit.