Hermitage of the Christ of Cataláin

In the fields near Garínoain, right in the heart of Navarre's Zona Media, stands the Hermitage of the Holy Christ of Cataláin, a 12th-century Romanesque church that has survived to the present day not only well preserved but still in use. Few buildings from that period can boast of having kept their function for so many centuries, and that gives the visit a special value: you are not looking at a museum piece, but at a place that is still very much alive.

Its history is bound up with one of the most powerful institutions of the Camino and of the kingdom: the Collegiate Church of Santa María de Roncesvalles, to which it belonged for a long time. That dependence came to an end with the disentailment, from which point the building came to be regarded as a hermitage and was attached to the parish of Garínoain, which looks after its worship to this day.

It is also worth taking in the church's surroundings, because Cataláin was not always a solitary church. Several dwellings once stood beside it, so much so that the 1887 gazetteer referred to the group of church and houses as a hamlet. Of that small settlement, only a few ruined buildings remain today, but they help you imagine the life that once went on around these walls.

The result is a walk that combines architecture and memory: the austerity of Navarrese Romanesque and the trace of a vanished settlement, set in an open landscape that invites you to linger at your leisure. A highly recommended stop for anyone exploring the area with an interest in lesser-known heritage.