Santa María de la Antigua

"The Cathedral of the Basque Hermites" · Zumarraga (Gipuzkoa)

On the hillside of Mount Beloki, on Zumarraga, Saint Mary of the Old, the first parish of the villa, rises: a Roman-Gothic temple of wood, so venerated that it is called "the cathedral of the Basque hermites."

Origin and history

The Antigua is the first documented parish temple in the interior of Gipuzkoa and was the parish of Zumarraga until 1576. His first safe mention is 1366, when Henry II of Castile granted the church, by oath of inheritance, to the Lord of Lazcano. It is a Romanesque building of transition to Gothic, from the XII-XIII centuries, expanded with an apse about 1480, famous for its splendid wooden structure; hence the popular name "La Antigua," for being the first parish before the people went down to the valley.

Inside is a Gothic size of "Andra Mari" (the Virgin with the Child) and an old group of the Piety. His feast is on July 2, with the famous Zumarraga ezpatadanza, swords dance that is danced at the main altar and on the outside in tribute to the Virgin. It is part of the Three Temples of the Ignatian Earth, along with Loiola and Arantzazu.

Canonical coronation: not found in the sources.