Our Lady of Begoña · Bilbao & Covadonga · Asturias

The hallazgo leyenda: "Bego oina! »

Between the 13th and 14th centuries - historical sources no longer allow the date to be specified - a pastor who was walking the mountains of Artagan, on the right bank of the Bilbao river, found a small image of the Virgin Mary among the weeds. When he tried to move her to a more accessible place, the image refused to move. By insisting, a mysterious voice resonated with words «Bego oina!»which in Basque literally means "Stop your foot!" or "Stay still here!"

From that moment on, the image was rooted in that point on Mount Artagan. The exclamation became the name: Begoña. And the place where the Virgin chose to stay would over time be the neighborhood that dominates the historical core of Bilbao, from whose hill the Amatxu - mother, in Basque - has always considered its sons of the vine.

The story of the finding of Begoña belongs to the genre of "images that resist" - very common in Spanish medieval Marian devotion - which expresses the conviction that the Virgin actively chooses the place where she wants to be venerated. This type of foundational legend gives the sanctuary the character of sacred space chosen by Mary herself, above any human convenience.

The Gothic image: medieval, serene and surviving

The original image of the Virgin of Begoña is a polychrome wood size of Gothic style, dating from the 13th to 14th centuries. He represents the Seating Virgin with the Child Jesus on the left arm. The preservation of the image over the centuries is remarkable given the humid climate of northern Spain. The Vizcaínos faithful have covered their Amatxu with rich blankets and jewels over time, in a tradition of popular piety that continues to this day.

The image is aureolated by a tradition of miracles attributed to their intercession, especially in the field of the storms at sea and the diseases of children. The Vizcaínos sailors - who for centuries dominated the maritime trade of the north of the Peninsular - entrusted the Virgin of Begoña to their traverses and returned to the sanctuary to fulfill their vows when they returned to port.

The Gothic Basilica: five centuries of stone on the hill

The current Gothic basilica began to be built in the first decade of the 16th century, under the design of the works master Sancho Martínez de Asego. The construction was mainly financed by the alms of the Vizcayos faithful and by the donations of the trade unions of Bilbao, as evidenced by the trade shields that crown the pillars of the central ship, instead of the nobiliary blasphons that prevail in other churches of the time.

In the middle of the 16th century, the main facade was redesigned as a magnificent triumphal mannerist arch, whose style reminiscent of the Spanish works of Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón. This facade is one of the most admired elements by art historians in northern Spain, and contrasts with the sobriety of the Gothic interior.

The set is of a severe and powerful beauty, very different from the baroque exuberance of the sanctuaries of the southern peninsular. The grey sandstone of Bizkaia, the often cloudy sky of Bilbao and the steep hill to come up to the temple create an experience of austere and authentic pilgrimage, in line with the character of the people who profess it.

Bilbao 1937: Our Lady and the Fire of War

During the Spanish Civil War, Bilbao was the scene of one of the most hard-fought military campaigns in the conflict. The city, under the control of the Basque Government, was subjected to aerial bombardment by Franco aviation, with the participation of the German Legion Condor and the Italian Aviazione Legionaria. Since the beginning of the fight, Bilbao has suffered more than fifty aerial bombardments. The attacks killed more than 350 people and injured more than 800 civilians.

On 18 April 1937, a hit bomber dropped his bombs on the popular neighborhoods of Ituri and Begoña, causing destruction and civilian casualties. The district of Begoña, where the basilica is located, was reached on several occasions during the months of siege. The basilica suffered damage in these episodes, although the image of the Virgin was preserved at all times.

On June 19, 1937, after weeks of fighting at the Iron Belt - the defensive line that Bilbao protected - the city fell into the hands of the Franco side. The devotion of the Vizcayos to their Amatxu was not interrupted during the war. The image was moved to make it safe from the bombing, and the basilica also welcomed refugees and wounded. After the war, the first solemn procession of the Virgin of Begoña on the streets of Bilbao was lived by many as a simultaneous act of thanksgiving and mourning.

The Romries and the Day of the Amatxu

Every October 11, Bilbao celebrates the Day of the Amatxu, the great feast of Our Lady of Begoña. Thousands of vizcaínos go up on foot from the center of Bilbao to the basilica, walking the stairs and alleys of the neighborhood in a Romeria that mixes devotion, music of txistularis and family encounter. The txistu - the traditional Basque wood flute, touched by the txistulari - accompanies the procession with melodies that go back centuries.

The image of the Virgin is covered in procession through the streets of the neighborhood in applause and tears of the faithful. The Bertsolaris - the Euskera verse improvisers - dedicate their stanza to the Amatxu. The feast of October 11 is one of the most intimate and emotional acts of Basque religious life: without the mass scale of other Spanish Marian parties, but with an affective and community intensity that few celebrations match.

Don Pelayo and the Battle of Covadonga (722)

In 711, Muslim troops crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and in just three years they conquered almost the entire Iberian Peninsula. Only the northern territories - Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country - resisted thanks to its orography and the tenacity of its inhabitants. Around the year 722, a noble visionary named Pelayo, who was chosen as the leader of the Astures, fought a decisive battle in the place of Covadonga, in the foothills of the Picos de Europa asturians.

The historical and religious tradition presents the battle as a miraculous victory: a small army of stars, refugees in the cave of Mount Auseva, defeated a much higher Muslim force by invoking the protection of the Virgin Mary. The ninth century Asturian chronicle shows that Pelayo and his men prayed before an image of the Virgin placed in the cave before going out to combat. The arrow fired at the stars turned against those who had thrown it, according to the traditional story.

The victory of Covadonga - whatever its true military magnitude, which historians are debating - was of great symbolic importance: it was the first point of organized and victorious resistance to Islamic expansion on the Peninsula. Around it the Kingdom of Asturias grew, which would evolve into the Kingdom of León and, finally, into the Crown of Castile. The Reconquista was considered to have started in Covadonga in the eighth century and concluded with the taking of Granada in 1492.

The sacred cave: home of the Santina

The most sacred place in Covadonga is not the basilica but the cave. The Holy Cave of Covadonga is a natural cavity on the rock of Mount Auseva where, according to tradition, there was the image of the Virgin to which Pelayo entrusted her army. Today, the cave houses the image of the Virgin of Covadonga - popularly known as La Santina- on an altar dug in the living rock.

The first construction in the Holy Cueva dates from the reign of Alfonso I of Asturias, the successor of Pelayo, who raised a rock chapel to commemorate the victory and venerate the image. This primitive chapel was the matrix of the entire complex sanctuary that grew over the centuries. The water of a spring that flows from the rock - called the "source of the king" - falls down by the altar, creating a unique atmosphere of natural beauty and spiritual recollection.

The pilgrims access the Santa Cueva by a wooden walkway that borders the waterfall. The experience of entering the cave - the living rock on the head, the rumor of water, the serene image of Santina illuminated by the cirios - is of a spiritual intensity hardly equal in any other Spanish sanctuary. The cave is the first destination of all who pilgrim to Covadonga.

The Neorromanic Basilica (1877-1901): a temple among the mountains

In 1877, a fire destroyed the ancient hermitage that housed the cult of Santina outside the cave. The magnitude of the disaster decided the ecclesiastical and civil authorities to build a completely new sanctuary. All of Spain was asked for alms, and King Alfonso XII definitely promoted the project.

The basilica was built between 1877 and 1901 according to the project of the architect Roberto Frassinelli, in Neorromanic style - the historical style predominant in the European religious architecture of the second half of the 19th century. The building, opened on September 7, 1901, is one of the best examples of the Neorromanic in Spain.

The basilica consists of a central ship and three staggered apses, with two large side towers reaching 73 meters high. The rosacea limestone with which it was built gives it a warm color that contrasts vividly with the intense green of the Asturian landscape. The situation of the building - set between mountains on a rock flask, at the foot of the Picos de Europa - is a dramatic beauty that impresses any visitor, believer or not.

Devotion, Romry and Historical Memory

The feast of Our Lady of Covadonga is celebrated on September 8, a day that coincides with the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. The Romeria brings together thousands of Assyrian pilgrims from all over Spain every year. The Mass in the open air, the procession with the Santina and the descent to the cave are the central moments of a day of Asturian faith and identity that have been without interruption for centuries.

The Spanish monarchy has had a particularly close relationship with Covadonga. King Alfonso XIII donated in 1918 the whole of the Lagos de Covadonga as Covadonga National Park - the first national park in Spain - thus protecting the natural environment of the sanctuary forever. The Lagos de Covadonga - Enol and Ercina - located a few kilometers away by a mountain road, are now one of the most photographed places in Spain and complete a visit of extraordinary natural and spiritual beauty.

The Virgin of Covadonga and the Virgin of Begoña are two different expressions of the same Marian devotion of the Cantabrian north: intimate, mountainous, tenacious as the peoples who profess it. Begoña takes care of the children of the sea and the river; Covadonga keeps the children of the mountains. Both were, in their most difficult moments, the refuge of their people.

Marine devotion: Begoña and the sea

For centuries, the Vizcaínos have been one of the most marine peoples in Spain. The whales and fishermen of the Cantabrian, the merchants of Bilbao who traded with Flanders and England, the sailors who crossed the Atlantic under the flag of Castile - all of them were entrusted to the Virgin of Begoña before being made to the sea and fulfilled their vows upon their return. The basilica conserves navigators' exvotes from the 16th to the 19th centuries: small paintings representing shipwrecks and storms from which the devotees claim to have been saved by the intercession of the Amatxu.

The connection between Begoña and the sea is so deep that the image of the Virgin was carried on several occasions to the banks of the Bilbao river to bless the new ships. The river procession of the Virgin - with the image in an ornate boat that was going through the river as the fishermen greeted it from their own boats - was a celebration that was repeated in different historical times and that connects the Vizcan devotion with the oldest traditions of the peoples of the sea.

The district of Begoña: history and devotion on the hill

The Begoña district, in which the basilica is located, is one of the most characteristic historical districts of Bilbao. Located on the hill that rises on the old town, the neighborhood retains steep streets, rehabilitated houses and a music school that honors the Basque musical tradition. To go up to the district of Begoña - on foot by the steps from the historic center, or by the elevator of Mallona - is one of the most rewarding walks of Bilbao for the visitor who wants to get away from the conventional tourist circuit.

The market of Begoña, the front and the taverns of the neighborhood create a neighborhood life environment that contrasts with the cosmopolitism of Bilbao del Guggenheim. The neighborhood's neighbors feel the Amatxu as something intimately yours, in a different way than the devotees of other neighborhoods of the city feel. The basilica is the center of a community life that goes far beyond the Sunday liturgy.

The Virgin of Begoña and the Athletic Club of Bilbao

One of the most curious and most loved ties between the Virgin of Begoña and the Vizcaine society is the one that unites it with the Athletic Club of Bilbao, the historic football club that is one of the most powerful symbols of Basque identity. The Athletic has for decades had the tradition of visiting the basilica of Begoña before the great finals of the cup and the most important parties, to be entrusted to the Amatxu. The players go up to the neighborhood in group, with their red-white T-shirts, and pray to the image of the Virgin in a manifestation of popular devotion that inextricably blends faith and identity.

This tradition - which in other cities might seem anecdotal - in Bilbao has a profound meaning. The Athletic Club is a club that from its origins can only sign players trained in the Basque Country (the so-called "quarry"), and that identity rule makes it much more than a football club: it is a collective identity project. The visit to the Amatxu before the great parties is the expression of that identity in religious key.

Covadonga and the Spanish monarchy

The relationship between the Sanctuary of Covadonga and the Spanish monarchy is of a long historical continuity. The kings of Asturias and Leon who ruled after Pelayo considered the sacred origin of their power: the place where God and Our Lady had supported Christian resistance. This foundational narrative was cultivated by medieval historiography and remains present in Spanish historical consciousness.

In contemporary times, Spanish kings have visited Covadonga with a regularity that speaks of the symbolic importance of the place. Alfonso XII promoted the construction of the Neorromic Basilica. Alfonso XIII donated the National Park. Juan Carlos I visited the sanctuary several times during his reign. Philip VI and Queen Letizia have maintained this tradition of royal visit to the Asturian sanctuary.

The Lakes of Covadonga: nature and spirituality

Seven kilometres from the sanctuary, accessible by a mountain road that ascends by landscapes of extraordinary beauty, are the Lagos de Covadonga: Enol and Ercina, two glacier lagoons located at more than 1,000 metres of altitude in the Picos de Europa massif. The lakes were declared Covadonga National Park in 1918 - the first national park in Spain - by King Alfonso XIII.

Today the whole lagos- sanctuary is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Asturias. The lakes receive over a million visitors a year in high season, which has led the authorities to establish a restricted road access system and a shuttle bus service from the sanctuary. Despite the summer massification, the lakes retain a genuine natural beauty: the quiet waters of Enol reflecting the Picu Urriellu, the flocks of Assyrian cows grazing on the alpine meadows, the fog that surrounds the tops - are images that are recorded in the memory of the one who looks at them.

The Santina as a symbol of the Asturian identity

The Virgin of Covadonga - the Santina - is perhaps the most powerful symbol of the Asturian identity. "Asturias does not give up" is a saying that connects directly with Pelayo's resistance in Covadonga. The Santina is to the Asturians what Arantzazu to the Basque or the Pilar to the Aragonese: the meeting point where religious faith and cultural identity are founded on one thing.

The anthem of Asturias - "Oh Asturias, dear country!" - makes explicit reference to Covadonga. The patron parties of many Assyrian peoples include a pilgrimage or a symbolic reference to Santina. The Asturians who emigrated to America during the 20th century carried with them the devotion to the Virgin of Covadonga, founding chapels and co-fradies in Cuba, Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela.

The devotion to Santina also survived the period of the greatest secularization of the Asturian society, in the decades following the industrialization of the mining basin. Even in the environments most marked by trade union and the workers' movement - little conducive by definition to religious devotions - the figure of Santina retained an affective and identity meaning that went beyond individual faith. The Santina de Covadonga is Asturias, for good and for evil, in all the complexity of that link.

Covadonga: the pilgrimage in the 21st century

The sanctuary of Covadonga today receives more than a million visitors a year, among pilgrims and tourists. The combination of the sacred place with the exceptional natural environment of the Picos of Europe makes it one of the most sought after destinations in northern Spain. The infrastructure of the sanctuary - hotel, restaurants, shops of religious objects and of Asturian crafts - has been expanded and improved in recent decades to meet growing demand.

The cyclist pilgrimage to Covadonga is one of the most popular sporting events in northern Spain. The rise to the sanctuary is part of the tour of the Vuelta to Spain in several editions, and has been the stage of some of the most dramatic moments in the history of Spanish cycling. The image of the cyclists ascending the steep road to the sanctuary - with the rosacea basilica at the bottom - is one of the most reproduced of the Spanish sport.

On 8 September, the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin and the main feast of the sanctuary, Covadonga is filled with pilgrims from all of Asturias and all of Spain. The liturgical acts - open-air mass, procession with the Santina, down to the cave - are celebrated with a solemnity that has not changed in essence for centuries. On that day, Covadonga is again what it was in 722: the place where resistance becomes hope.

La Santina and the Way of Santiago

The Camino de Santiago has in the Cantabrian north one of its oldest and most beautiful tracks: the Camino del Norte, which runs the coast from the Basque Country to Galicia through Asturias. The sanctuary of Covadonga is located inside Asturias, at a certain distance from the North Road, but since the Middle Ages it has been a complementary pilgrimage point for those who made the Jacobee Way.

The pilgrims who in the Middle Ages went to Santiago de Compostela on the northern route used to make a detour to visit Covadonga, thus venerating the Virgin who had protected the origin of Christian Spain before paying tribute to the apostle who had named the Way. This double pilgrimage - Covadonga and Santiago - was relatively common in the medieval centuries and created a spiritual circuit that connected the two great shrines of northern Spain.

In the 21st century, the Camino de Santiago has regained an extraordinary popularity, with over 400,000 pilgrims arriving in Santiago every year. Many of the pilgrims who travel the North Way today make the same detour as their medieval ancestors and visit Covadonga. The combination of the pilgrimage to the asturian sanctuary with the Jacobea march creates a spiritual journey experience that has very few equivalents in the sacred geography of Europe.