Logbook · 10 places

What to see and do in Yesa

What to see and do in Yesa (Sangüesa, Navarra): 10 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 4 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

When to go to Yesa: festival calendar

August: Fiestas de Santa María de Yesa (último miércoles a domingo de agosto)

How far each place is from the centre of Yesa

La Porta Speciosa de Leyre 2.6 km
Embalse de Yesa 2.7 km

Towns near Yesa

What to see in Javier 3.9 km · 6 places
What to see in Liédena 5.5 km · 5 places
What to see in Undués de Lerda 7.2 km · 3 places
What to see in Romanzado/Erromantzatua 7.2 km · 2 places
What to see in Sangüesa/Zangoza 8 km · 21 places
What to see in Lumbier 9.3 km · 4 places
What to see in Urraul Bajo 12 km · 1 place
What to see in Navascués/Nabaskoze 12 km · 2 places

Spain › Chartered Community of Navarre › Sangüesa › Yesa

What to see and do in Yesa

Yesa
Village
A municipality located at the foot of the Sierra de Leyre, in the Navarra Media Oriental. Its residents bear the traditional nicknames "rabosos" and "pecheros," the latter referring to the tax that formerly had to be paid to cross from Navarrese lands into the Crown of Aragón.
Monasterio de San Salvador de Leyre
Monument
One of the oldest monasteries in northern Spain, already mentioned in 848 by the Cordoban priest Eulogio de Córdoba. A refuge for the civil and religious authorities of Pamplona during the attack of Almanzor, from 920 until 1023, it was an episcopal see, royal fortress, and pantheon of the first kings of Pamplona. It passed from the Benedictine to the Cistercian order in 1239, and the new monastery was built between 1562 and 1640. After the disentailment (desamortización) it lay abandoned for 118 years, until Benedictine monks of the Congregation of Solesmes returned in 1954; it regained the rank of abbey in 1965.
La cripta del siglo XI de Leyre
Monument
The apse and crypt of the monastery of Leyre, consecrated in 1057, are the oldest surviving Romanesque construction in Navarre. The crypt, despite its name, is neither underground nor was it intended for burials: it was built to level the terrain and has four equal naves covered by a barrel vault over large capitals with very sober geometric and animal decoration, typical of early Romanesque.
La Porta Speciosa de Leyre
Monument
A 12th-century Romanesque portico with a circular tympanum depicting the Savior, the Virgin, San Pedro, San Juan, and other evangelists, and four archivolts decorated with plant, animal, and fantastical motifs. Its capitals and the upper frieze, with scenes of the martyrdom of the saints Nunilo and Alodia, are attributed to the workshop of Master Esteban, who also worked on the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
El panteón de los reyes de Pamplona en Leyre
Historical milestone
The monastery of Leyre holds the remains of the first kings of the kingdom of Pamplona, among them Íñigo Arista, García Íñiguez, Fortún Garcés, and Sancho Garcés I, found in 1613 in hidden coffers when the south wall of the church was torn down. Desecrated during the 1836 disentailment, they were collected by the parish priest and the mayor of Yesa in 1863 and definitively returned to Leyre on 8 July 1915, in a ceremony presided over by Juan Vázquez de Mella, who declared that the monastery was "more than El Escorial." Since 1982 they have rested against the north wall of the church, behind a wrought-iron grille.
La leyenda de San Virila
Curiosity
According to legend, Abbot Virila of Leyre, documented at the monastery in 928, became so absorbed listening to a nightingale's song by a nearby spring that three centuries passed; he thus came to understand eternity when he returned and did not recognize a single monk. The spring, about a 30-minute walk from the monastery, can be visited today.
Embalse de Yesa
Nature
A reservoir on the Aragón river occupying territory in both Navarre and Aragón, with a capacity of 470 cubic hectometers that makes it the fourth-largest reservoir by capacity in the Ebro basin. Located 2 km from the village of Yesa, it is a venue for water sports, fishing, and paragliding and hang gliding.
Puente de los Roncaleses
Monument
The remains of a 12th-century stone bridge over the Aragón river, which reuses ashlar blocks of Roman origin at the base of some of its abutments.
Fiestas de Santa María de Yesa
Activity
The patron saint festival of Yesa in honor of Santa María, celebrated from the last Wednesday through the following Sunday of August.
El beato Faustino Villanueva, hijo de Yesa
Curiosity
The priest Faustino Villanueva Villanueva (1931-1980), a native of Yesa, was murdered by paramilitary gunmen in his parish of Joyabaj, Guatemala; he was beatified along with seven indigenous Guatemalan catechists on 23 April 2021.