Ermita de la Virgen del Mar, Santander

The hermitage of the Virgen del Mar is a building located on the island of the Virgen del Mar, in San Román de la Llanilla, municipality of Santander. It is dedicated to the patron saint of Santander, the Virgin of the Sea. Its location by the sea has meant its partial demolition during storms on several occasions. Perhaps its greatest destruction was at the end of the 17th century.

It is known that the Santander-born José Calderón, who is known to have worked on it in 1684, rebuilt the main chapel, and that Francisco Sainz de Coterillo received a salary in 1693, probably for the construction of the last section of the nave. The original chapel dates from 1400. There was probably an even earlier chapel, as there is evidence that the image of the Virgin of the Sea existed as early as 1315.

The hermitage consists of a single nave, divided into three sections covered by vaults plus the chancel, whose geometry is that of an irregular half hexagon. In addition to the chapel, which is accessed from the nave, it has another body, added in 1696. In 1712 the main altarpiece was contracted, in which Juan de Herrera Coterillo, Juan de la Puente Agüero and Fray Pedro Martínez de Cardeña took part in one way or another.