The Gateway to Hell as described in The Devil’s Prayer
Perched high on a steep granite outcrop, outside the small town of Granja de Moreruela, some thirty-five kilometres north of Zamora, Spain, lay the ancient convent of SantaTherese. Isolated and inaccessible, its steep incline covered with a dense forest.
Enormous granite steps have been hewn into the hill, leading through crumbling stone porticos to the convent chapel at its peak.
Every so often, beside the sharply inclining steps, is a small platform, carved with a small candlelit grotto. There are fourteen platforms in all, for each of the fourteen Stations of the Cross.
Candlelit grottos
The chapel built over the Gateway to Hell is inspired by the chapel at Houska Castle in the Czech Republic. This desolate convent was not built as a residence, and consequently had no kitchen, nor access to water. It had no occupants at its time of completion. With no trade routes nearby, it was not built to shelter weary traders or travellers. According to folklore, the granite outcrop, on which the convent stands, is cored though the centre by a bottomless pit. From this pit once emerged a creature that was half-man and half-beast—a centaur. It was said that black-winged creatures would fly around the centaur as it roamed the surrounding forest. The convent chapel was built of solid rock over the top of the hole, not as a place of worship, but to seal the bottomless pit, which was thought to be the ‘Gateway to Hell’.
The Chapel built over the Gateway to Hell
The ancient room was empty, dimly lit by two sconces and a small candle chandelier. It had no statues, and painted on the walls of the ancient chapel were murals, now old and faded, depicting a vile monster, witches, and black bat-winged creatures with contorted human faces and a mural of the archangel Gabriel pinning the fallen angel Lucifer. There were images of
There were also murals of Saint Christopher holding Jesus. The chapel altar, illuminated by the gentle light falling through a window behind it, had no cross.
Ancient murals of the Archangel Gabriel pinning down Lucifer
Close up of mural of witches above in the recesses
