Basilica of San Isidoro, León

Interesting facts

The Royal Pantheon is so richly painted that it is often nicknamed the Sistine Chapel of Romanesque art.

Eleven kings and twelve queens of León were buried in the Pantheon, along with ten royal children, nine counts and other nobles.

Among the Pantheon murals is an agricultural calendar showing the twelve months, each paired with its seasonal farm task.

In 2014 two Spanish researchers claimed the Chalice of Doña Urraca was the Holy Grail, drawing such crowds that it was moved to its own room.

Historians rejected the Grail theory, noting that roughly 200 cups and chalices across Europe compete for the same title.

The ivory crucifix that Ferdinand I and Sancha gave the church around 1063 is the earliest known Spanish crucifix showing the body of Christ.

That ivory crucifix, about 52 centimetres tall, has jet inlaid for Christ's eyes and a small figure of Adam at its foot; it is now kept in Madrid.

The basilica's library preserves around 300 medieval works, including a Mozarabic Bible copied in 960.

High on the façade, Saint Isidore appears on horseback in the guise of a warrior saint fighting the Moors.

Tradition holds that the first church was raised over the ruins of a Roman temple dedicated to Mercury.

Why it is worth it

Beneath the Basilica of San Isidoro in León lies one of the best-preserved painted interiors of the Romanesque age. The Royal Pantheon, a low vaulted chamber at the west end of the church where the kings and queens of León were buried, is covered from vault to vault with 12th-century murals: scenes from the Gospels drawn in dark outlines on a pale ground and filled in with ochres, yellows, reds and greys, alongside scenes of everyday rural life of the time. Its columns are crowned by original carved capitals with plant motifs and narrative scenes.

The site lies against the old Roman wall of León, built for the Seventh Legion, and a church stood here by the mid-10th century. After the city was devastated by al-Mansur's raids in 988, Alfonso V rebuilt it in humble rammed earth and brick. His daughter Sancha and her husband Ferdinand I replaced it with a stone church and royal burial place, and in 1063 consecrated it to Saint Isidore of Seville, whose remains they had brought north from Muslim-ruled Seville by agreement with its ruler. Their daughter Urraca enlarged the church and commissioned the Pantheon paintings and many treasures, among them the jewelled onyx chalice known as the Chalice of Doña Urraca. The enlarged basilica, completed under the architect Petrus Deustamben with its high barrel-vaulted nave, was consecrated in 1149.

Two Romanesque portals face south: the Puerta del Cordero, whose tympanum shows the sacrifice of Isaac, and the later Puerta del Perdón, attributed to Master Esteban, who also worked on the cathedrals of Pamplona and Santiago de Compostela. Pilgrims on the Way of St James entered by this door to receive indulgences. Later centuries added a late Gothic main chapel begun in 1513 and a Renaissance library by Juan de Badajoz the Younger. In 1188 the Cortes of León met here, an assembly that UNESCO has recognised as an early example of the European parliamentary system. León itself, once the capital of a medieval kingdom, grew from a Roman legionary camp, and parts of that Roman wall still survive along the north-west side of the basilica.

Getting there

The basilica is in the historic centre of León, which is served by a railway station. The nearest airport is León Airport (LEN), about 7 km away.

From the encyclopaedia

St. Isidore's Basilica is a Catholic church in the city of León, Castile and León, Spain, located on the site of an ancient Roman temple. Its Christian roots can be traced back to the early 10th century when a monastery for Saint John the Baptist was erected on the grounds.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Basilica of San Isidoro, León

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia