Rabé de las Calzadas (Burgos) (0)

Did you know that... Rabé de las Calzadas

It's a villa belonging to the province of Burgos located southwest of the capital. Its municipal district is irrigated by the river Urbel and the Canal de Arlanzón. Two routes of the Way of Saint James can be distinguished passing by the zone, the primitive one, in disuse, and the one that crosses the town for more than a century. The first time the name of Rabé appears in history dates back to the year 946, but it is only the name and does not bear the surname "de las Calzadas".

A little more history

In 1.085 Alfonso VI donated it, among other places, to the hospital of the Emperor of Burgos. Later, when Alfonso VII handed over the hospital and all its possessions to the bishopric of Burgos, Rabé de las Cazadas became the lordship of the prelates of Burgos, a situation that lasted until 1675, when he again depended on the crown. In the term known as "la nevera", in Rabé de las Calzadas, there was a castle that protected its inhabitants during the Reconquest. It was the bishopric of Burgos who ordered it built in 1481 and dominated the Arlanzón valley. The fortress, due to its proximity to Burgos, was widely used in the civil struggles of the fifteenth century, being completely destroyed in the sixteenth century. It is known from writings of the year 949 that the medieval Rabé had three basilicas or churches. In the 18th century it was a royal town with an ordinary mayor.

What to see in Rabé de las Calzadas?

To enter Rabé de las Calzadas and walk through its streets is to go back to the Middle Ages, because it keeps that something of mystery that time gives. Its beautiful church of Santa Marina, very reformed, could have been built on top of one of the primitive hermitages, and it conserves a gothic front from the 13th century.

To discover

The Virgen de Monasterio hermitage, located right on the Way of St. James, is so called because it houses a carving of the Virgin that was found in this area where there was a monastery. At the entrance to the village, according to Tardajos, stands the Palace that belonged to the Count of Villariezo and that could have been built at the beginning of the 17th century. It is one of the most emblematic buildings of Rabé de las Calzadas, on both sides of the main door there are two towers and on its lintel is the coat of arms of the Count of Villariezo. The Prado Torre fountain, the pilgrim's fountain, or the stroll that in the area known as the Cotorro in the village mountain recreates the Way, are other attractions that Rabé offers us.

Festivities

Rabé de las Calzadas celebrates its patron saint festivities on the third weekend of September in honour of its patron saint, Santa Marina.

Traditions

Tradition has it that in the area called Prao Torre there was a monastery. And in what they call San Roque, oral history situates one of the disappeared hermitages, that of San Roque. In addition, graves made of stone slabs have appeared on the hillside.

Curiosities

Don Luis Osorio de Acuña, Bishop of Burgos and supporter of Juana la Beltraneja, took refuge in Rabé Castle when Burgos was besieged by the armies of Ferdinand the Catholic in May 1475, and from here attacked the Burgos loyal to Isabel the Catholic.