Old Town and the Collegiate Church of San Cosme y San Damián

Covarrubias can be walked in an hour: narrow parallel streets inside what was the ring of the wall, timber-framed houses of wood and adobe with arcades, linked squares and, at the end, beside the Arlanza, the collegiate church of San Cosme y San Damián, where Count Fernán González is buried. Add a good half hour if you go into the cloister and museum.

A walk round the old town

Begin at Plaza de Doña Urraca, the main square, with its arcades; on it is the town hall, in the building tradition holds to be Fernán González's palace, with a 12th-century Romanesque arch. The 15th-century Casa de Doña Sancha is the best example of the village's vernacular architecture: an adobe facade with timber framing, a wide porch and a balcony.

The wall, from the 10th to the 13th centuries, probably had three gates; the bridge gate lasted until 1888 and appears on the village's coat of arms. In the 16th century Dr Francisco Vallés, physician to Philip II, who was born here, had a good part of it pulled down to air the town against the plague; stretches remain beside the river. In his honour the Archivo del Adelantamiento de Castilla was built in 1575, in Herrerian style, whose documents were taken to Simancas in the 18th century; today it houses the free Book Museum on its upper floors. Look also for the church of Santo Tomás, with its 16th-century Plateresque staircase and the Romanesque font in which Vallés was baptised, and the 16th-century jurisdictional pillar, in the Arrabal quarter.

The collegiate church

The present church is 15th-century, with three aisles and four chapels, a 16th-century cloister and 18th-century Baroque altarpieces. Inside are the tombs of Fernán González and his wife, brought in 1841 from San Pedro de Arlanza, and that of Princess Kristina of Norway. The 17th-century organ is, according to the town hall, the oldest in Castile that still plays. In the museum there is a 15th-century triptych of the Adoration of the Magi, attributed to a pupil of Gil de Siloé, Romanesque capitals and works attributed to Berruguete and Van Eyck. The cloister and museum are visited with explanations by QR codes: €5 per person.

Collegiate church opening hours in 2026

• 19 March to 1 November: Mondays and Wednesday to Saturday, from 10:30 to 14:00 and from 16:00 to 19:00; Sundays and public holidays, from 10:30 to 12:30 and from 16:00 to 19:00.
• 2 November to 13 December: Mondays and Wednesday to Saturday, from 10:30 to 14:00 and from 16:00 to 18:00; Sundays and public holidays, from 10:30 to 12:30 and from 16:00 to 18:00.

It closes every Tuesday and, for the rest of the year, from 14 to 20 December, the afternoon of the 24th, the 25th and the afternoon of 31 December, and on 1 January 2027. Sunday Mass is at 13:00. Phone: 660 283 698. The town hall's information office (947 406 461) warns on its website that it is temporarily closed.

To complete the visit

A short walk away is the Fernán González tower, and about 2 km away, the Chapel of Saint Olav, built in memory of Kristina. For eating without leaving the square, Casa Galín.