Church of Sant Miquèu de Vielha and its Romanesque Christ

Vielha's main church is in the centre, on the church square. It has an octagonal bell tower that Ferdinand the Catholic ordered built in 1506 and which also served as a defence tower, a portal of the 13th and 14th centuries with five carved archivolts and, inside, the piece you come to see: the Christ of Mijaran, a 12th-century Romanesque carving from the Erill la Vall workshop, which was part of a larger sculptural group.

What to look at

The church is of a late Romanesque that already heralds the Gothic. It was built beside Vielha's old medieval castle, of which nothing remains, and that is why the 16th-century bell tower looks like a fortress: besides being a bell tower, it was a defence tower and keep. It is square at the bottom and turns octagonal above the height of the church; the windows of the top two floors were changed in later centuries to hang new bells.

The portal shows the transition from Romanesque to the first Gothic forms, with biblical scenes carved on its five arches; it has a parallel in the one at Sant Estèue de Betren. In the west wall, beside the entrance, the tympanum of the original Romanesque portal is set in, with a crucified Christ dressed in a tunic to the knees. If you walk round the building outside you can pick out its phases, from the first Romanesque chapel to the extensions of the 15th to 18th centuries.

Inside, the 13th-century baptismal font, with plant reliefs as is usual in the Aranese fonts, and the Gothic altarpiece in the apse, attributed to the Master of Vielha. And the Christ of Mijaran, one of the most representative works of 12th-century Romanesque sculpture.

Hours

The tourism website does not publish fixed visiting hours. In summer, Visit Val d'Aran has included it among the valley churches open every day from 10:00 to 19:00, except when there is a guided visit. At other times, ask at the Vielha tourist office, on Plaça d'Aran, right in the centre, or on 973 64 01 10.

A walk around Vielha

Visit Val d'Aran suggests a short loop that begins in this square: you cross the bridge over the River Nere and climb Carrer Major. Soon the Torre del General Martinhon appears, a 17th-century manor house that today is the Musèu dera Val d'Aran, at number 26: it keeps the Sies Claus cabinet, where the documents of the valley's old government were kept, and two polychrome wooden Christs of the 13th century. Further up is the Fabrica dera Lan, the old wool factory, which worked until 1960 and can be visited. You return to the church by coming down Carrer Sarriulèra.

For eating in the centre, the Tauèrna Urtau and Era Coquèla are also in the centre of Vielha. The other great Christ of the Erill workshop is in the church of Sant Andrèu de Salardú.