The Treasures Of San Millán De La Cogolla

The Treasures of San Millán de la Cogolla

The importance of the cultural and the religious monastic community that reached throughout the Middle Ages is difficult to gauge. However, it was of such magnitude that many pilgrims were attracted to it and departed from their pilgrimage along the Way of St. Jacques de Compostela to join it.

The monasteries of Suso and Yuso in San Millan de la Congolla have left behind a beautiful architectural ensemble. Both are listed as World Heritage sites and are of great historical interest because they contain the oldest texts ever written in Castilian. The monastery in Suso was built early in the sixth century and enlarged several times until the eleventh century.

You can observe the different styles in its construction over the centuries, passing the imprint Visigothic and Mozarabic style which was novel at the time. Inside this monastery, we observe, in addition to a beautiful cloister, the carved stone tombs of the seven Infantes de Lara next to the one of their tutor.

Also located here are the tombs of the queens from Navarre. This church, erected in Mozarabic style sometime in the late tenth century, retains some vestiges of the ancient monastery such as a Visigoth sculpture of a saint in a niche and a necropolis consisting of a bundle of stone tombs that belonged to the hermit’s community.

The latest expansion of the church dates from the eleventh century and can be observed in some Romanesque elements, such as a sculpture of San Millán (twelfth century) and a representative piece of alabaster carved into a mystic figure along with several other followers or pilgrims.

Located near the bottom of a valley, this monastery dates from the eleventh century. It was remodeled several times in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

A Baroque sculpture of San Millán adorns the top of the gate of the building. The church, which was built from 1504 to 1540, contains a medieval altarpiece (twelfth century), a Plateresque chair and a Greco-Roman-style choir. The Rococo sacristy is one of the jewels of Yuso.

This beautiful piece, built in the eighteenth century, presents a collection of interesting art, including in particular several paintings of Juan Rizzi and the casket of relics of San Millán (eleventh century). It is decorated with tiles made ​​of ivory, gold and even precious stones. The cabinet of San Felices (eleventh century) was decorated with ivory carved out in bas-relief.

Other monastic discoveries include, in the Salón de los Reyes, both the cloister and the old Library, whose finds include some 300 documents of the medieval period. You can also admire the collection of codices and the Glosas Emilian, a manuscript dating from the eleventh century which is the first written and scripted evidence of the Castilian and Basque languages ever found.