Chapel of the Holy Spirit

At the exit of the village on the road leading to Santiago is the chapel of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Silo de Carlomagno (Charlemagne's Silo) due to the ancient tradition that it was supposedly built by the emperor himself to bury the Franks who died in the battle of Roncesvalles. Moved by legend, for centuries pilgrims, especially French pilgrims, have honoured the reportof the defeated here and have even taken bones from the ossuary as a pious reminder of their ancestors. It is the oldest of the buildings that currently make up the hospital complex. A date between 1170 and 1210 seems plausible.

The main purpose of the chapel was to serve as a burial place and chapelwhere to pray for the deceased, both travellers and local residents.

The 13th-century poem contained in the Codex La Preciosa describes its peculiar configuration: 'This monument is square on all sides; the highest part is rounded (or dome-shaped) and at the top is a cross, a sign of defeat for the prince of darkness'. It consists of a masonry shaft measuring 8.80 m x 8.60 m on each side and a proven depth of 9 m. It is covered with a vaulted ceiling. It is covered with a half-barrel vault. Above it rises the chapel itself, formed by the interweaving of two powerful pointed arches of rectangular section. It has an altar in its centre, as the old fountains also said. Around this nucleus is an enclosure of semicircular arcades on pillars with moulding marking the fascia line.

Its use as an ossuary connects with the tradition of centralised spaces with funerary functions, existing since early Christian times and heirs to much older works where a link was also established between the central floor and the world of death. The well and its surroundings provided a burial place that could always be reached, even in the harshest weather conditions, conveniently sectionfrom the collegiate church but not so far as to be difficult to access.