Church of Santa María
The origins of the Church of Santa María date back to the early 11th century. In 1015, Sancho the Great donated a dwelling to the monastery of Leire; in 1024, during the Reconquest, the monks turned it into the monastery of San Andrés, and by 1034 it was already recorded as the Church of Santa María.
The oldest walls point to the existence of an earlier proto-Gothic building, probably from the 13th century and possibly with three naves, which grew and changed over the following centuries. In the 15th century, the Gothic doorway on the Abbey side was added and, in 1567, the stonemasons Juan de Orendáin and Antón de Anoeta carried out a major remodelling that gave the church its current spatial layout, with a Latin-cross plan, a broad nave and a straight, deep chancel.
The neoclassical appearance of the elevations and vaults is the result of 18th-century reforms. The architect Ignacio Asensio, a disciple of Ventura Rodríguez, gave the interior great monumentality through the barrel vault, the elliptical dome over the crossing, the giant order of pilasters and the side chapels. The Renaissance carving of the Virgin of Las Arcas is also noteworthy.
