ARCHITECT, Spanish
(active around 1057 in Navarre)

Interior view

1057
Photo
Abbey of San Salvador de Leyre (Navarre)

The most significant of the Romanesque building in the province of Navarre is the monastery church of San Salvador de Leyre. The Abbey of San Salvador de Leyre nestles in the foothills of the Pyrenees. The only old parts of the Abbey still there are the crypt and church, dating from the eleventh and twelfth centuries with a somewhat later vaulted roof which replaced the wooden original.

The church has a nave with single aisles dating from the thirteenth century, with an adjoining three-aisled chancel area consecrated in 1057. The crypt underneath counts amongst the most peculiar monuments of that epoch: it is situated exactly under the two eastern bays of the church above. Under the narrow, single side-aisles of the church the crypt also has corresponding aisles.

The church was used as the burial chamber for the kings of Navarre.

The photo shows a view of the interior of the crypt.

View the ground plan of the crypt in the monastery church San Salvador de Leyre.