Monastery of San Millán de Yuso

About

There is a continuous history of Christianity at San Millán since the time of the saint. The scriptorium produced the second phase of the San Millán Beatus and remained active during the period of Muslim rule; and over the centuries, the religious community has overcome various vicissitudes which affected the monasteries (for example being sacked by the Black Prince ). However the type of monastic life evolved: the original monks living at Suso were hermits, but Yuso, the refoundation of the monastery on a lower site, developed as a Benedictine community. As the UNESCO evaluation noted, San Millán shows the transformation from an eremitic to a cenobitic community in material terms.

Suso monastery has been uninhabited since the expropriation of monastic property in the 19th century. Such expropriations were widespread in Spain, and are often called the ecclesiastical confiscations of Mendizábal, but at San Millan the process began in the 1820s during the Trienio Liberal, a decade before the government of Juan Álvarez Mendizábal. Yuso monastery was abandoned at the same time, but was reoccupied by an Augustinian community.

Today part of the monastery has been converted into a hotel. San Millán attracts pilgrims on the Way of St James (even though it lies somewhat off the line of the official route between Nájera and Burgos ).