MONUMENTS OF THE CAMINO IN NAVARRE

Originally located at the Ibañeta Pass, the purpose of this hospital was always to offer assistance and shelter to pilgrims who had just completed the harsh passage of the Pyrenees. However, due to the adverse weather in winter, it was decided to move it to its current location, where the Royal Collegiate Church was founded. This is how and why one of the first Gothic temples on the Iberian Peninsula was built here in the 13th century, following the model of Notre-Dame of Paris.

The main promoter was Sancho VII the Strong, king of Navarre, who participated in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa and ordered to be buried in the collegiate church. He was unusually high for his time, and so his body rests in a 2.30 m long sepulchre. This architectural complex consists of the collegiate church, plus a cloister, the chapter house, the canons' quarters, a museum, a medieval hostel (called “Itzandegia”), the chapels of Santiago and Sancti Spiritus, the mill and the current hostel.

The La Rabia bridge allowed pilgrims to cross the river Arga in Zubiri, and the Magdalena bridge serves the same purpose, but this time in Pamplona. After crossing the bridge, pilgrims approach the city’s imposing defensive walls with their bastions, moats and cannon posts, all designed and built between the 16th and 18th centuries. The Gate of France with its elegant coats of arms and a drawbridge that is still in operation welcome pilgrims into the capital of Navarre.

This fortified ring closes with a pentagonal citadel dating from 1571, designed by the Italian engineer Giacomo Palearo, in imitation of the citadels of Turin and Antwerp, safe for the fact that none of the other two remains today, so the citadel of Pamplona is the oldest in the world. Nowadays it is also the city’s “green lung”, a park where one can enjoy the greenery and the grass and the many tree species, practice some sports, walk, meet with friends or visit a contemporary art exhibition in one its historic pavilions.

Inside the parish church of San Cernin, and almost identical in size to the Gothic temple, is the chapel dedicated to the Virgen del Camino (“Our Lady of the Way”), protector of pilgrims. The carving is from the 12th century, but it stands surrounded by a spectacular Baroque altarpiece full of statues and gilding of great artistic quality.
This chapel - dedicated to the city’s patron saint, is at the beginning of Calle Mayor, and on the other end of the street we find the chapel of the patron saint of Navarre: Saint Firmin, another must-see for pilgrims on their passage through Pamplona.

Dating back from the 12th century, it was declared a National Monument in 1889 and is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture. Its motley façade, the work of Master Leodegarius and Master of San Juan de la Peña, depicts scenes from the Final Judgment and many hidden messages regarding the Camino.

Ordered to be built in the 11th century by Queen Doña Mayor, wife of Sancho III the Great, it is one of the great engineering works on the Camino. The town is named both after the queen and the bridge.

Puente la Reina is the typical example of a Camino town. The town’s plan is based on three parallel streets cut across by narrow streets known as “belenas”, all of it surrounded by walls and towers. The main axis is the Calle Mayor, through which the Jacobean route runs and it will come as no surprise to find there a church dedicated to Saint James. The doorway of the church and the wood carving of Santiago “Beltza” (“black” in Basque – because of the dark colour of the statue) kept inside are noteworthy. The façade and inside of the Church of the Crucifix is also worth the visit.

Monumental complex of medieval, Renaissance and Baroque buildings, with two cloisters and a large 12th-century church. It was the first pilgrim hospital in Navarre.

Austere yet harmonious 12th-century Romanesque church with a peculiar octagonal plan and a vault with an eight-pointed star design, inspired by the Mosque of Córdoba.