Church of Santa María la Mayor (San Vicente de la Sonsierra)

Anyone who climbs to the top of San Vicente de la Sonsierra will find not an isolated church but an entire fortified complex in which religious and military architecture share the same space. There, within the village's old walled enclosure, stands Santa María la Mayor, the parish church, accompanied by the ruins of the castle and the small Hermitage of the Vera Cruz. It is precisely this coexistence of stones from different eras that makes a visit so special.

The church was built in the 16th century in the late Gothic style, which at that time was enjoying its final chapter before giving way to new forms. Its construction inside the walls was no accident: the church was incorporated into the defensive perimeter, so that today it is seen as one more piece of the stone belt that protected the village.

To make sense of the place, it is best to explore it like an open history book. The ruins of San Vicente Castle, dating from the 12th century, are the oldest testimony of the complex and recall the defensive origins of the site. The Hermitage of the Vera Cruz, probably built in the 13th century, provides a simple medieval counterpoint. Santa María la Mayor, several centuries later, completes the sequence with the architectural ambition of the end of the Gothic period.

It is well worth spending some time strolling unhurriedly around this enclosure in the upper part of the village, observing how its three protagonists fit together and letting yourself be carried away by the feeling of being in a place where faith and the defence of the territory went hand in hand for centuries. It is, without doubt, the best way to understand the character of San Vicente de la Sonsierra.