The grille

The main chapel is enclosed by a magnificent iron grille, partially gilded, which was commissioned in 1651 from Francisco Betolaza. This ironworker had his workshop in Elgóibar, one of the towns in Gipuzkoa where the best blacksmiths in the north of the country were based. With their grilles, they nourished a large part of the Baroque religious and civil architecture in the Basque Country, Navarre, La Rioja and Castile. The grille was brought to Codés on mules and was installed in 1654, replacing an earlier one. The ironwork was gilded by Diego de Arteaga, who used 5,000 gold leafs.

The grille consists of three sections, each with a different size and design . The lower section, which is taller, has a two-leaf gate in the centre, made up of ten long, chiselled wrought-iron balusters with two gilded cobs and a central plate as the main decorative motif. Around it are other gilded plates above and below. The door has a plinth formed by small balusters alternating with others in the shape of an S. On both sides of the door are similar balusters, now resting on a small pedestal. The four bars at the ends are thicker and are topped with vegetal capitals. A lintel rhythmically decorated with gilded flowers leads to the second section. Here, 24 balusters, the same as the previous ones but lower in height, flank a semi-circular motif with bars arranged in the shape of a fan around an IHS. Another lintel similar to the one mentioned above finally leads to the last body, of semi-circular profile to adapt, as a closure, to the triumphal arch. A central gilded cross is flanked by three horizontally arranged balusters on each side.