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Cathedral of Roda de Isábena

Isábena, La Ribagorza, Huesca

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Cathedral of Roda de Isábena

Monument · Isábena, La Ribagorza, Huesca

The cathedral of Roda de Isábena, the only Romanesque cathedral in Aragon, stands in the smallest town in Spain with a cathedral see and was consecrated in 1067. Its origin goes back to an early cathedral consecrated in 956 by Bishop Odisendo under the patronage of the Count of Ribagorza, destroyed in 1006 by Abd al-Malik and rebuilt in Lombard Romanesque style under Sancho III the Great, with later contributions from Navarrese masters. Beneath the church is preserved the crypt of San Ramón, with three naves and a semicircular head, which holds the bishop's Romanesque tomb with reliefs of the childhood of Jesus. Its cloister, from the mid-12th century, arranged around a central cistern, brings together 191 funerary inscriptions, the largest such group in Europe. It was declared a Monumento Nacional (National Monument, a former Spanish heritage-protection category).

Photo: José Antonio Bielsa Arbiol (Public domain)

What to see and do in Isábena