It is located in the impressive Sierra de Leyre and on the Yesa reservoir. Construction began in the XNUMXth century in the Romanesque style, to be completed at the end of the XNUMXth century with the Gothic nave of the church. The first kings of Navarre are buried in it.
It was built in the XNUMXth century, when the Romanesque style was still an incipient technique of imposing walls. Before there was a pre-Romanesque church that was destroyed after the reforms carried out to build a new monumental church.
You enter and everything is walls, barrel vaults and pillars with rough capitals. But it is the simplicity of the first Romanesque in its purest form. Above is the Romanesque church and it seems that the function of the crypt was to save the unevenness of the READ MORE steep slopes of the sierra. SAN VIRILA TUNNEL Its name comes from the statue that presides over it at the end of the corridor, but in its beginnings it was a passageway under the church that communicated the old cloister with the orchards. The monks went through it to earn their bread with the sweat on their brow.
The medieval monastery was organized around a Romanesque cloister of which nothing remains. Now it is made up of the guesthouse and is presided over by a solitary flying buttress that was designed to distribute the loads of the Gothic vault of the church.
Or precious door. Built in the XNUMXth century, different artists worked on it, but it is undoubtedly in the work of Maestro Esteban, with his desperate animals and his women messing their hair, where we must fix our attention (and admiration).
Locked behind a fence lie the remains of the first Navarrese kings. His life was hazardous and his death had no rest. After the conquest of Navarra, the bones were hidden in the church walls to be recovered in 1613 and exposed again.
It is a good place to compare styles: the last Gothic of the wide vault with its 14 m arches and the first Romanesque with wide walls and half-barrel vaults. To pass from one temple to the other is to cross from the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth century: five hundred years of technical progress.
Saint Virila was an abbot who fell into ecstasy for 100 years listening to the song of a nightingale. Almost an eternity. Through a narrow path with beautiful views we enter the mountains to the source where the miracle happened.
- The monastery hours are: from March 1 to August 31: from 10:15 am to 19:00 pm; from September 1 to October 31: from 10:15 am to 19:00 pm; from November 1 to February 28: from 10:30 a.m. to 18:00 p.m.: Easter: from 10:15 a.m. to 19:00 p.m. More information in www.monasteriodeleyre.com
- The price of the ticket is € 3,2 for general and € 1,7 for reduced.
- Next to the monastery there is a large green and recreation area
- In the monastery there is a good quality restaurant.
- The path that leads us to fountain of San Virila It has 2 km round trip and beautiful views of the monastery and the Yesa reservoir. The other option, with steep slopes, is to climb to the top of the mountain to the Castellar Cross.
OUR SHOP
In the store you will find all kinds of souvenirs. You can also collect your ticket and hire the Monastery Guided Visits Service. It offers you the possibility of taking a tour through the history of Navarra, reflected in this monumental complex that holds many of the secrets of the Old Kingdom. Visitor Service: 948 884150.
LEYRE HOSTEL
The two-star “Hospedería de Leyre” Hotel was built in 1979, restoring one of the parts of the monumental complex. It has 32 recently renovated rooms: 16 double rooms, 12 single rooms, 1 triple room and 3 quadruple rooms, with central heating, full bathroom, WIFI.
LEYRE RESTAURANT
The dining room, with a capacity of 120 seats, occupies a spacious and bright space decorated in a rustic style. In which there is no shortage of vegetables from the Navarran garden, fish from the Cantabrian ports and organic sturgeon and caviar made in the nearby Yesa fish farm. Menu of the day, children's menus, business meals ...
7 km - Round trip
MONASTERY OF LEYRE
6,5 km - Circular
LUMBIER
