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Monastery of Suso
The very name San Millán —Emilianus, the hermit
who lived between caves and prayer for 40 years—
evokes an intimate, earthly spirituality closely linked
to nature and human labour. It is no surprise that,
in the following centuries, the Benedictine monks
of Yuso became major promoters of vine cultivation
and wine production, helping consolidate the agri-
cultural economy of the region. In a way, it can be
said that wine and the written word were born toge-
ther in San Millán, two different ways of expressing
the same thing: the soul of a land that ferments with
time.
From the Monastery we highlight its two churches,
separated by the Choir by a door — the Parish
Church and the Monastic Church, both from the
early 16th century; its magnificent Library, who-
se access is very limited; the Sacristy, one of the
most beautiful in Spain, whose ceilings display
magnificent, richly coloured 18th-century paintings
that have never been restored; an unfinished Lower
Cloister from the 16th century and an Upper Clois-
ter that preserves two of the great treasures of this
Monastery: one of the finest collections of 18th-cen-
tury Gregorian Chant Books, and the Relics Hall or
Reliquaries (those of San Millán and those of San
Felices de Haro) contained in beautiful silver chests
covered with carved ivory plaques, some more than
one thousand years old.
TRAVEL
Lower choir of the Monastery of Yuso separating
the parish church from the monastic church
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