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Collegiate church of Santa María de Arbas

Villamanín, La Montaña de Luna, León

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Collegiate church of Santa María de Arbas

Monument · Villamanín, La Montaña de Luna, León

Collegiate church of Santa María de Arbas

The collegiate church of Santa María is located in Arbas del Puerto, in the municipality of Villamanín, on the southern slope of the Pajares pass, just one kilometre from the Alto de Pajares. It originated as a hospital for pilgrims on the road to Oviedo, whose founding is attributed to the León count Fruela Díaz and his wife Estefanía Sánchez. The abbey was subject to disentailment in 1866, and the hospital-hostel eventually disappeared, leaving only the church as a parish; since 1968 it has depended on the collegiate church of San Isidoro de León. A late Romanesque temple of sandstone ashlar built in 1216 under Alfonso IX on a foundation dating to around 1116, it is the only standing building of the former abbey; it was declared a historic-artistic monument on 3 June 1931.

Photo: Mpescador (CC BY-SA 3.0 es)

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