Cañas, La Rioja

The small town of Cañas in the province and the autonomous community of La Rioja was the home of St. Dominic of Silos.

Location

Cañas is located on the Río Tuerto in the rolling countryside of La Rioja about 40 km ( driving distance ) south-west of Logrono. The distance to Burgos is approximately 82 km in a westerly direction; the interesting neighboring towns of Nájera and Santo Domingo de la Calzada located about 15 kilometers to the east and about 12 miles northwest.

Demographics

In the 19th century the number of inhabitants hesitated for a long time between 250 and 300

Economy

The agriculture ( cultivation of potatoes, wheat, barley and turnips) still plays the most important role in the economic life of the small community; also dairy and poultry farming is operated.

History

The first documentary mention of the place dates from the year 922, and refers to the transfer of the monastery of Santa María to the abbey of San Millan de la Cogolla; whether the place at that time already existed or the small monastery was isolated, is not known. Another document from the year 1047 confirmed the ownership. In 1170, just a few years after the death of St.. Bernard of Clairvaux ( 1153 ) donated the Count Lope Díaz de Haro and his wife Doña Aldonza Ruiz de Castro, the two neighboring estates ( villae ) Cañas and Canillas the nuns from the Benedictine monastery of Las Ayuelas at Santo Domingo de la Calzada that the Order which Cistercian nuns had joined. The count's daughter Doña Urraca López de Haro y Ruiz de Castro, the beige sat in the chapter house first abbess of the monastery began in the first half of the 13th century with the construction of the church and the chapter house.

Attractions

• The Cistercian monastery of Santa María de San Salvador was founded in 1170; It stands at the northeastern edge of the village. The completed around the middle of the 13th century eastern half of the church is one of the earliest examples of Gothic architecture in Spain. The austere cloister was built mainly in the 18th century, only the Gothic chapter house was already completed in the mid 13th century. The nave of the church was not completed until the 16th century under the guidance of the Abbess Leonor de Osorio; they also gave the order for the large altarpiece, which presents both carved parts and picture boards. Other parts of the cloister and the monastery buildings are the work of the 17th to 20th centuries.
• Outside the town is the small hermitage Ermita de Santa Maria from the 16th century. The building houses a small altarpiece with two paintings (the Annunciation and Visitation ) of the 17th century.
• The single - built mainly of bricks - parish church of La Asunción looks from the outside arg pieced together. It originates in its present form to the 12th, 16th and 18th centuries. Also, the altarpiece combines parts from different eras.

Personalities

• Dominic of Silos (ca. 1005-1073 ), Holy