How to visit the Wamba church and its ossuary (Valladolid): schedules

One of the great gems that you will discover during a route through the province of Valladolid is undoubtedly the Mozarabic church of Santa María.

What's more, it can be an excursion from the capital itself. Well, you find this church in the town of Ordinary, just 17 kilometers from Valladolid, in the region of Torozos Mountains.

Surely you remember that Ordinary He was one of the Gothic kings whose list you may have learned about in school.

And precisely the name of this small town is due to the fact that the king who succeeded to the throne resided there. Receding there for the year 672.

At that time the town was called Gérticos, and acquired the name of Ordinary in honor of the aforementioned Gothic king.

As a curiosity, I will tell you that, currently, it is the only town in Spain whose name begins with W.

But what should lead to visit Wamba It is undoubtedly the aforementioned church whose origins date back to the 7th century, when it is thought that there was a Visigothic monastery.

How to visit the Mozarabic church of Wamba in Valladolid

If you are lucky enough to reach Ordinary On a non-holiday day or during the high tourist season, you will first encounter the beautiful scene outside the church.

This exterior shows a very simple Romanesque doorway which was completed in the year 1233, as you can see in the date inscribed on the tympanum, and a porticoed side through which the interior is usually accessed.

The oldest part of the current building of the church of Santa María de la O, which is what it is called, you find it in the 10th century chancel, which has three horseshoe arches.

The question is whether they are really about Mozarabic bows. or have their origin in the visigothic architecture which also uses this type of arches.

Technicians refer to this architecture as repopulation style.

The truth is that this header may remind you to a certain extent of that of a pre-romanesque church such as, for example, that of Santa Cristina de Lena in Asturias, with its characteristic iconostasis, area that separates the presbytery from the central nave.

On the back wall there are still rthese of the paintings which in their time completely decorated the interior of the church, a way to give light to a building with very small windows.

If you look at the central nave, you will see that it is the result of a reconstruction carried out from the year 1140, in late romanesque style, with wood roof, slightly pointed arches and slender columns.

The capitals of these columns are decorated with symbolic scenes of plants, people and animals.

This is the time when Ordinary they settle Knights Hospitaller of Saint John the Baptist, order born in Jerusalem, and today known as the order of maltese. that had their great religious center in the St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta.

It is also at that time that a Cistercian monastery.

In this central nave you should pay attention to the aforementioned capitals, and you will find a couple of notable tombs, one of Renaissance style.

For its part, the Chapter Room, covered with ribs, is cistercian style.

During your visit to the Mozarabic church of Wamba you will go out to the precinct of what was the monastery cloister, now almost completely disappeared, of which only its structure remains.

How to visit and what to see at the Wamba Ossuary

Now, in one of the small rooms of this cloister There is a dark corner that has made this church famous: the one known as Wamba Ossuary.

If you are not apprehensive about entering, crowded together and leaning on the walls you will find bones and skulls of about 1.500 people.

It is known that the bones date back to between the 50th and XNUMXth centuries, and in the XNUMXs they were analyzed by the Doctor Marañón, who took a large part of them to the Complutense University of Madrid.

The old people of the place remember that the grounds of the ossuary, including its barrel vault, was completely covered by bones, so at that time there were twice as many bones as you can see now.

In short, a somewhat gloomy place, where, as an anecdote, spending a night there was a prize won by some contestants on the once popular television program. One, two, three, answer again.

Wamba church visit schedules

The Visiting hours of the Mozarabic church of Wamba They are, from May to October, on Fridays from 17 to 19,30:11 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, from 13,30 a.m. to 17:19,30 p.m. and from XNUMX to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.

The rest of the week and in other months of the year you must call 679 142 730.

El price of admission It is 2 euros per adult (groups of more than 10 people, 1 euro per person).

Photos Wamba church

Here you have more photos of the Mozarabic church of Wamba in Valladolid, and its famous ossuary.