Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in Olmos de Ojeda

What to see and do in Olmos de Ojeda (La Ojeda, Palencia): 6 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Curiosities · 2 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Olmos de Ojeda

Santa Eufemia de Cozuelos 700 m
Church of San Juan Bautista de Moarves 2.4 km

Towns near Olmos de Ojeda

Spain › Castile and León › Palencia › La Ojeda › Olmos de Ojeda

What to see and do in Olmos de Ojeda

Olmos de Ojeda
Village
Olmos de Ojeda is a municipality of about 165 inhabitants in the Palencia area of Boedo-Ojeda, spread across eight villages including Moarves, Amayuelas and Vega de Bur, which joined it in 1971. Until the 1916 reform of municipal names it was called Olmos de Ojeda or Santa Eufemia, after the monastery of which today only the church of Santa Eufemia de Cozuelos survives. In its town centre a noble house is preserved with the family coat of arms and a 1758 inscription that reads: "all that the world loves ends in the grave, love not the good that ends nor fear the ill that does not last," a clear reference to carpe diem.
Church of San Juan Bautista de Moarves
Monument
In the hamlet of Moarves de Ojeda, which today does not reach twenty households, stands one of the most celebrated Romanesque churches in the province, with a monumental doorway, historiated capitals and a baptismal font.
Frieze of the Pantocrator of Moarves
Curiosity
Above the doorway runs a sculpted frieze presided over by a Pantocrator in a mandorla surrounded by apostles, and the capitals display Samson tearing apart the lion, warriors and dancers accompanied by musicians.
Santa Eufemia de Cozuelos
Monument
A church with a single nave and three semicircular apses, with a 12th-century Romanesque chancel and transept and a nave of already proto-Gothic Cistercian design; it includes narrow vaulted service passages, an almost unique rarity. It is the only standing remnant of the monastery of the same name, founded by Alfonso VIII in 1186 and given to the Comendadoras of Santiago, who abandoned it in 1502; it served as a burial place for important figures, among them Sancha Alfonso de León, sister of Ferdinand III, who died in 1270. A Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1931, it today belongs to the Díaz Bustamante family, who run it as Finca Santa Eufemia for cultural and tourist events.
Founding of the monastery of Santa Eufemia
Historical milestone
In 1186 Alfonso VIII exchanged this place with the diocese of Burgos for San Pedro de Cervatos and handed it over to the commanders of the Order of Santiago; the order abandoned it in 1502 and it passed into private hands.
Tomb of Sancha Alfonso de León
Historical milestone
Among the noble ladies buried in Santa Eufemia de Cozuelos is Sancha Alfonso of León, sister of King Fernando III, who died in 1270 when the monastery was the first female commandery of the Order of Santiago.