The waters of the Arlanza River pierce a valley through which they flow until they merge with the Arlanzón before flowing into the Pisuerga. Pine forests, holm oaks, poplars, beeches, junipers and vineyards grow in the canyons of the Arlanza, the cradle of Castile and an enclave of Romanesque monasteries. It is in a bend in the river, in a terrain carved by erosion and near the place where Fernán González was born, is San Pedro de Arlanza, once one of the most flourishing monasticisms in Castile. Its origins date back to the year 912 when some hermits chose this place to pray. If the visitor looks up, he can glimpse the ruins of the hermitage of San Pelayo at the top of the mountain. There is evidence that the monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza was built at the beginning of the 11th century. It had three naves and three apses. The Benedictines lived in adjoining rooms. At the end of the 12th century, a square tower was built, the cloister was expanded and the chapter house was built. The passage of time and abandonment have turned the church and monastery into illustrious ruins that bear witness to a time of splendor. Here Castilla was born, here Fernán González was buried, here the birth of a nation was forged. Carelessness and destruction also live in San Pedro de Arlanza. Not only does oblivion live in San Pedro de Arlanza, today an old skeleton in the elements of winter. from Burgos. Carelessness and destruction also inhabit. The façade of the temple was transferred to the National Archaeological Museum in 1895, several tombs were taken to the Cathedral of Burgos and some frescoes to the Metropolitan Museum of New York and the Museum of Art of Catalonia. A diaspora that reflects the abandonment and contempt for signs of identity and historical heritage. A few kilometers away, the ruins of the castle of Lara de los Infantes rise above an inhospitable hill, the monastery of Silos survives despite the old age of its monks and the medieval city of Covarrubias languishes in empty Spain. From Silos, you can take a walk to the impressive La Yecla gorge, pierced by the Arlanza in the limestone rock. The gorge is so high and narrow that the sun’s rays barely reach the waters of the river, near one of the juniper forests that are still preserved in the Peninsula. San Pedro is the geographical center of this region and the place where the culture radiated which, in the following centuries, expanded along the banks of the Duero. Its dependencies grew, donations from the kings of Castile financed new works, while the Gothic merged with the Romanesque from the 14th century onwards. The monastery survived until 1835 when the confiscation of Mendizábal forced the monks to abandon the premises. Today the walls of the temple no longer exist, the pillars are stone stumps, its library was looted and the light shines through the windows, whose stained glass windows disappeared a long time ago. There is a document, not very reliable, that was preserved in the monastery’s cartulary. It is a document signed by Fernán González and Doña Sancha in which the founding of the enclave is recorded. Everything indicates that it could have been a medieval forgery, but the legend has survived the historical truth. In the absence of a hopeful future, there remain those legends that evoke the glorious past of these lands. It is difficult to know why the Italian director Sergio Leone chose a field among some hills, very close to San Pedro de Arlanza, to film the final scene of ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ in 1966. The Sad Hill Cemetery was built there, where Clint Eastwood confronts Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef to appropriate the treasure hidden in a tomb. I thought I heard the echoes of gun shots when I visited the place and someone told me on that trip that they had given me the same room where Eastwood slept in Covarrubias. Another legend.
#land #legends
