Church of San Lorenzo

Anyone wandering through Pamplona's Old Town will sooner or later find themselves in front of the Church of San Lorenzo, and almost always for the same reason: this is home to the Chapel of San Fermín, built in the 18th century. It is by far the most remarkable part of the church and reason enough on its own to visit – a space that holds much of the building's artistic value and helps explain the city's bond with its patron saint.

The rest of the building tells a story of successive transformations. The church was founded in the Middle Ages, between the 13th and 14th centuries, but barely any traces of that original structure survive. What you see today is a neoclassical nave and a much more modern façade, dating from 1901, so visitors find a church where different eras sit side by side and where the medieval past has to be imagined rather than seen.

Its importance, however, goes beyond what survives in stone. San Lorenzo is among the oldest parishes in Pamplona: for centuries it was one of only four in the city, alongside San Juan Bautista in the Navarrería, San Saturnino and San Nicolás. Only at the end of the 19th century was a fifth added, San Agustín, also in the Navarrería.

It is therefore worth approaching it from two angles: that of the traveller seeking out the Baroque chapel dedicated to San Fermín, and that of someone keen to explore the network of historic parishes that shaped life in old Pamplona for centuries. Combining a visit here with San Saturnino or San Nicolás makes for a walk through the centre of the Navarrese capital that ties everything together.