Monastery of Santa María de la Vid

The monastery of Santa María de la Vid is today conserved in a magnificent monastic architectural site, and has a library which serves as a museum containing numerous treasures of sacred art and numismatics.

Very little survives of the early Romanesque church (1152-1159). The building that can be seen today is the result of successive extension and renovation projects undertaken since 1516 through to the 18th century. The church (16th century), the work of Sebastián de Oria, Pedro de Rasines and Juan de Vallejo, houses treasures such as the Gothic carved figure (13th century) of the saint to whom the monastery is dedicated, the altarpiece by Antonio de Elejalde (16th century), the Baroque choir stalls, Gothic grilles and Baroque side altarpieces. It has two cloisters –both dating from the 16th century and reformed in the 18th century– with elegant galleries, arches and vaults. Other highlights of the site include the library which is home to over 60,000 books, 22 incunabula, documents and handwritten parchments on science, literature and history, and even an edition of the Koran on parchment bearing the date 1134.