Briñas (La Rioja) (0)

Did you know that... Briñas

It is located on the left bank of Ebro, in the foothills of the Toloño mountain range. In the meander of the Ebro called Dondonón or Dondone-Tondón, next to the current Briñas, was the Roman mansion of Deobriga, where there would have been a bridge over the Ebro that communicated both banks and that allowed to continue the transit that came from the pass of the Conchas de Haro, next to which it is known that there were settlements since the Iron Age. In 1047 the town, with its cemetery and church, together with Dondón, was ceded to the monastery of Leyre by Sancho Fortúnez, after being received by García de Navarra after fighting in Tafalla against King Ramiro I of Aragón. Briñas is mentioned as Brinias and Bringa, in documents of both Leyre and San Millán, in the 11th and 12th centuries. In 1320, Briñas was bought by Haro, becoming the property of the Count and forming, together with the Jewry of Tondon, a single nucleus of population broken with the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.

A little more history

It depended on Haro until the 17th century, when the inhabitants of Briñas, seeing their village distanced from Haro by the depopulated Tondón-Dondón, caused by the expulsion of the Jews, decided to create their own council, thus filing a strong lawsuit against Haro's refusal, which was resolved in their favor by King Philip IV in 1632. In the 19th century, the Carlist wars and the disentailment of Mendizábal left their mark on the town.

What to see in Briñas?

Briñas is a charming village that really surprises with its cobbled streets, its stone masonry houses with coats of arms, many of them from the 16th and 17th centuries. Between the Plaza de la Iglesia and the Plaza de la Constitución is the beautiful baroque parish church of La Asunción, built almost all of it in the 17th century, its main altarpiece is classicist and has great artistic importance. On the south side, there is another 18th century façade called Puerta del Sol with a triumphal arch and a semicircular entrance on which the patron saints of the village, San Cornelio and San Cipriano, stand in a niche. The fountain in the square is of great interest and dates from the 12th century.​

To discover

Leaving in the direction of Labastida, a small stone building on a rock attracts attention. It is the Humilladero de Briñas, one of the two preserved in La Rioja. It was built in the mid-seventeenth century covered by a half barrel vault and contains a Christ of the same century. Next to the Humilladero there is a Crucero from the year 1569, formed by a cross that held the gallows, where the prisoner was hung, it is not in very good condition and the image of the Virgen de la Asunción that is in the capital is very eroded. In the oldest part of Briñas, at the end of Calle San Marcelo, you will find the remains of what was a semirupestre hermitage, that of San Marcelo, which preserves part of the central wall in the rock. On a hill, where today is the Mirador del Rollo or the Mirador del Ebro, with beautiful views of the river and the vineyards, small stone masonry constructions stand out as chimneys used to ventilate the cellars, as it was the solution so that the "tufo", a lethal carbonic gas that emanates from the grape during its fermentation process, would not be stored in the calaos. Briñas also offers us beautiful walks, as the Way of Saint James, known as the Interior Way, passes through here; the natural path of the Ebro GR 99, and paths and paths that bring us closer to its beautiful surroundings.

Festivities

On 15 August the festivities are in honour of the Virgin of Our Lady of the Assumption, on 16 August is celebrated San Roque protector of dogs and against epidemics and 16 September are the patron saint festivals in honour of San Cornelio and San Cipriano, saints of the third century.

Traditions

"If in a horrible prison you saw your father or mother, is it not true that you moved to the greatest compassion? For much more worthy are the souls who are grieving. Aliate them here throwing alms for this attempt that later, with great increase, they will be paying it to you". This is the inscription that reads in the Humilladero, where there is a painting of the Virgin of Carmen in the Purgatory and coins that are thrown from outside. The Humilladero was the place where the convicts confessed their faults and entrusted themselves to the Christ of the Forsaken before going up to the Cadalso which was made up of a cross that held a gallows, where they were hung.​

Curiosities

The sacristy of the church of La Asunción is a salient next to the main door and above it has a bell and belfry. It is surrounded by a 25 m high parapet, and is accessed from the Plaza de la Constitución by stairs. Under the stairs leading to the church there is an underground cellar up to the middle of the temple. Above and bordering the church is another wine cellar with two windows for the lakes, next to the bell tower door.

The Legend

According to what they tell us, following a medieval custom, in the municipalities of La Rioja there existed the "Ark of privileges" also called the "Ark of the three keys". Each town council had the obligation to keep all the documents and fundamental papers of the life of the town, prerogatives, deeds, ordinances, accounts... and for this they were obliged to have an archive, in this case an ark, where they deposited them. This ark had three locks with different keys and each one was guarded by a different personage, mayor, alderman and scribe, with which to open it the three had to meet and by rigorous order, each one with its key to open it.

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