Iglesia de Santa María la Real
Sangüesa's parish church of Santa María la Real boasts one of the most spectacular Romanesque portals in all of Spain, a cascade of carved apostles, kings and fantastical beasts that has stopped pilgrims on the Camino Aragonés in their tracks since the 12th century. Step inside and the soaring nave rewards you with gilded altarpieces and a quiet grandeur that the crowds of the Camino Francés rarel
The Portal That Steals the Show
The south portal is the undisputed star: four archivolts packed with over 100 carved figures arranged in a hierarchy from heaven to earth, culminating in a tympanum where Christ in Majesty presides over apostles and elders of the Apocalypse. Sculptors from the workshops of both Leyre and Tudela left their marks here, making it a rare fusion of regional styles.
Look closely at the column bases and you will find some of medieval art's most irreverent imagery — acrobats, sirens and a bishop riding a she-wolf — proof that Romanesque carvers had a wicked sense of humour alongside their piety.
Inside the Church
The interior follows a three-nave Romanesque plan later modified with Gothic vaulting, giving it a layered beauty that rewards a slow wander. The 16th-century main altarpiece attributed to Juan de Ancheta is a gilded retablo of remarkable detail, depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin in vivid polychrome relief.
A Gothic stone image of the Virgin, La Virgen de Rocamador, stands in a side chapel and has been venerated by pilgrims since the Middle Ages — pilgrims still touch her mantle today as they pass through on the Camino Aragonés.
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