Monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla
{{Expand Spanish|topic=struct|Monasterio de San Millán de Yuso|date=November 2010}}
{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
| WHS = San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries
| image = Monasterio de Suso (2).jpg
| image_upright = 1.2
| caption = San Millán de Suso
| location = San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja, Spain
| includes = {{flatlist|
- Yuso Monastery and Monastic Kitchen Gardens
- Suso Monastery and Archaeological Sites
}}
| criteria = {{UNESCO WHS type|(ii), (iv), (vi)}}(ii), (iv), (vi)
| ID = 805
| coordinates = {{coord|42|19|33|N|2|51|54|W|type:landmark|display=title, inline|format=dms}}
| year = 1997
| area = {{convert|19.01|ha|acre|abbr=on}}
| buffer_zone = {{convert|266.24|ha|acre|abbr=on}}
| website = {{URL|http://www.monasteriodesanmillan.com/}}
| embedded = {{designation list|embed=yes
| designation2 = Spain
| designation2_offname = Monasterios de Yuso y Suso
| designation2_type = Real property
| UNESCO Region = Europe
| designation2_criteria = Monument
}}
| locmapin = Spain La Rioja#Spain
| map_caption =
}}
The monasteries of San Millán de Suso (6th century) and San Millán de Yuso (11th century) are two monasteries situated in the village of San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja, Spain. They have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since December 1997.{{Cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/805 |title=San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries |publisher=UNESCO |year=1997 |access-date=1 April 2013}}
The two monasteries' names Suso and Yuso mean the "upper" and the "lower" in archaic Castilian, respectively. Suso is the older building and is believed to be built on the site of a hermitage where Saint Emilian ({{langx|es|San Millán}}) lived. Perhaps Suso's major claim to fame is as the place where phrases in the Spanish and Basque languages were written for the first time.
UNESCO acknowledges the property "as the birthplace of the modern written and spoken Spanish language". The phrases in Spanish and Basque are glosses on a Latin text and are known as the Glosas Emilianenses. There is some debate as to whether the Spanish words are written in an early form of Castilian (Spanish), or in a similar early form of Navarro-Aragonese (ancestor to modern Aragonese). In either case, San Millán's importance as a cradle of the Spanish language is reinforced by the proximity of the village of Berceo which is associated with Gonzalo de Berceo, the first Spanish poet known by name.
History
There is a continuous history of Christianity at San Millán since the time of the saint. The scriptorium produced the second phase of the San Millán Beatus and remained active during the period of Muslim rule; and over the centuries, the religious community has overcome various vicissitudes which affected the monasteries (for example being sacked by the Black Prince). However the type of monastic life evolved: the original monks living at Suso were hermits, but Yuso, the refoundation of the monastery on a lower site, developed as a Benedictine community. As the UNESCO evaluation noted, San Millán shows the transformation from an eremitic to a cenobitic community in material terms.[https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/805 Entry on the World Heritage website.]
Suso monastery has been uninhabited since the expropriation of monastic property in the 19th century. Such expropriations were widespread in Spain, and are often called the ecclesiastical confiscations of Mendizábal, but at San Millan the process began in the 1820s during the Trienio Liberal, a decade before the government of Juan Álvarez Mendizábal.{{Cite news |last=Ayuso |first=Ana |date=2023 |title=El códice "robado" del siglo X con los primeros textos en español y euskera que La Rioja reclama al Gobierno |url=https://www.epe.es/es/cultura/20230818/rioja-glosas-emilianenses-codice-san-millan-cogolla-espanol-euskera-81148871 |access-date=22 August 2024 |language=Spanish}} Yuso monastery was abandoned at the same time, but was reoccupied by an Augustinian community.
The monasteries today
Today part of the monastery has been converted into a hotel. San Millán attracts pilgrims on the Way of St James (even though it lies somewhat off the line of the official route between Nájera and Burgos).[http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/santiago/spancmno.html route map]
File:Claustro.04.jpg|Processional cloister. Yuso Monastery.
File:Interior del Monasterio de San Millan de Suso.jpg|Mozarabic arches in the Suso Monastery.
See also
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
{{Commons category|San Millán de la Cogolla}}
- http://www.monasteriodeyuso.org {{in lang|es}}
- w:es:Monasterio de San Millán de Suso
- w:es:Monasterio de San Millán de Yuso
External links
- [https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/san-mill%C3%A1n-yuso-and-suso-monasteries-la-rioja-spain/agICzQ_6_o7SIw Explore the San Millán Yuso and Suso Monasteries (La Rioja, Spain) in the UNESCO collection on Google Arts and Culture]
{{World Heritage Sites in Spain}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monasteries of San Millan de la Cogolla}}
Category:Augustinian monasteries in Spain
Category:Benedictine monasteries in Spain
Category:Monasteries in La Rioja (Spain)
Category:World Heritage Sites in Spain