HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE SANCTUARY OF CODÉS
The Sanctuary is at the foot of the mountain range of the same name, and the devotion of the residents of the valley who come there on pilgrimage to visit their Virgin and patron saint is joined by the arrival of many hikers attracted by the beauty of its mountains. The fact is that this secluded church always has guests. The temple that we now see began to be built in the 16th century after the demolition of an old hermitage that kept the image of the Virgin. The inn dates back to the 19th century. XVII and the baroque tower would be added in the 18th century, thus completing a set of sober architecture in a natural environment of singular beauty.
THE LEGEND
In the year 575 Leovigildo attacked the town of Monte Cantabria, near Logroño, and its inhabitants, to avoid the looting, hid the image of the Virgin in the Sierra de Codés. Seven hundred years later, in 1275, a shepherd found her in a cave among thorns, thus beginning the construction of a hermitage for her custody and the devotion of the valley. Then came the extension of time and the founding of the Brotherhood in 1901, which energized the activity of the Sanctuary.
JOHN WOLF
He was a bandit who in 1523 devastated the lands of Codés. Legend has it that he robbed and imprisoned a man from the valley. In his cell, his hands were tied, he prayed to the Virgin of Codés, who freed him during his sleep. Juan Lobo was finally caught and executed, and this fact is celebrated every year in Torralba del Río at the Juan Lobo Festival. (XNUMXth century).
