Logbook · 4 places

What to see and do in Wamba

What to see and do in Wamba (Montes Torozos, Valladolid): 4 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

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

Towns near Wamba

What to see in Castrodeza 4.8 km · 2 places
What to see in Ciguñuela 6.4 km · 3 places
What to see in Peñaflor de Hornija 6.7 km · 3 places
What to see in Villanubla 7.2 km · 4 places
What to see in Robladillo 7.6 km · 2 places
What to see in Villán de Tordesillas 9.3 km · 3 places
What to see in Torrelobatón 9.5 km · 7 places
What to see in San Pelayo 9.7 km · 2 places

Spain › Castile and León › Valladolid › Montes Torozos › Wamba

What to see and do in Wamba

Wamba
Village
Wamba is the only town in Spain whose name begins with W, taken from the Visigothic king Wamba, elected there in the year 672 after the death of Recceswinth, who had at the site, then called Gérticos, a country residence. At the beginning of the 10th century it was the seat of a Mozarabic monastery dedicated to Santa María. In 1140 the infanta Sancha Raimúndez donated it to the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, giving rise to the Encomienda de Wamba, active until 1836. In 1521, during the Revolt of the Comuneros, Wamba was occupied by Castilian troops before the battle of Villalar. Its nearly 290 inhabitants today watch over the Mozarabic church of Santa María and its famous ossuary, with skeletal remains from the 13th to the 18th centuries from the monastic cemetery and the pilgrims' hospital.
Church of Santa María de Wamba
Monument
Catholic church of Wamba (Montes Torozos), cruciform in plan with three naves and the chapels of Doña Urraca and the Osario, the latter decorated with human skulls and bones. Its oldest core, from the Mozarabic period, is attributed to Frunimio, a former bishop of León who around 928 refounded here a monastery dedicated to Santa María; the community disappears from the records between the 10th and 12th centuries, until in 1140 the infanta Sancha Raimúndez, sister of Alfonso VII, donated it to the Order of St John of Jerusalem, which undertook the late-Romanesque rebuilding of the 12th century. Its horseshoe arches, inherited from an earlier Visigothic monastery, make it one of the most singular churches in Castile. It was declared a historic-artistic monument in 1931.
The ossuary of Wamba
Curiosity
In a vaulted chamber attached to the cloister of the church of Santa María de Wamba, thousands of bones and skulls are piled up to the ceiling, deposited between the 13th and 18th centuries, when the town was the seat of the hospitaller commandery of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. It is thought to hold between 1,000 and 3,000 identifiable individuals, after a partial clearing carried out in the mid-20th century, making it one of the largest visitable ossuaries in Spain. Above the bones can be read the epitaph, noted down by visitors since the 19th century: As you see yourself, I once saw myself. As you see me, you will see yourself. It all ends here. Think on it and you shall not sin.
The election of King Wamba
Historical milestone
In the year 672 Wamba was elected king of the Visigoths, successor of Recceswinth, and tradition places that act in this locality, which has borne his name ever since. It is one of the few villages in Spain that owes its place name to a Visigothic monarch.