Real Colegiata de San Isidoro
The Leónese boast that “León had 24 kings before Castilla even had laws.” Eleven of them (along with 14 queens and many other nobles) are entombed here in the 12th-century burial vault, a marvelously spooky Romanesque room with fanciful ceiling frescoes of biblical scenes and court life. The church is no slouch either. The treasury has some rare finds—10th-century Scandinavian ivory, an 11th-century chalice, and an important collection of 10th- to 12th-century fabrics from Asia. The library museum contains many ancient manuscripts and rare books, including a Book of Job from a.d. 951, a Visigothic Bible, and a Bible from 1162, plus dozens of miniatures.
The Leónese boast that “León had 24 kings before Castilla even had laws.” Eleven of them (along with 14 queens and many other nobles) are entombed here in the 12th-century burial vault, a marvelously spooky Romanesque room with fanciful ceiling frescoes of biblical scenes and court life. The church is no slouch either. The treasury has some rare finds—10th-century Scandinavian ivory, an 11th-century chalice, and an important collection of 10th- to 12th-century fabrics from Asia. The library museum contains many ancient manuscripts and rare books, including a Book of Job from a.d. 951, a Visigothic Bible, and a Bible from 1162, plus dozens of miniatures.
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