Our Lady of Vico

Arnedo Rock Monastery (La Rioja)

On the river Cidacos, in an ancient building of erects, the monastery of Vico keeps devotion to Our Lady of Vico, venerated as patron of Arnedo since ancient.

Origin and history

The place of Vico has been linked to eremites and caves since the Visigode era. The tradition refers that the Virgin appeared in 1045 to the so-called Khan de Vico, head of an Arab community of Arnedo, then finding the image; all this is transmitted as a pious legend, without contemporary documentation.

The present monastery is a Franciscan foundation of the 15th century: it was erected in 1456 Fra Lope de Salinas, with the support of Pedro Fernández de Velasco, lord of Arnedo. The Romanesque image of the Virgin was venerated in it until the mid-19th century, when she was moved to the parish of San Cosme and San Damian de Arnedo, where it was now venerated in a rocky altarpiece. Restored after centuries of abandonment, the monastery is now inhabited by Cistercian religious (OCSO). The devotion is expressed in the great Romany from Arnedo to the sanctuary.

Date of the party, formal canonical patronage and canonical coronation: they are not safely recorded in the sources.