This town owes its name to the famous bridge with five round arches over the Arga, which, under the orders of the wife of Sancho III el Grande, King of Navarra, was built for the Jacobean pilgrims in the 11th century. Puente la Reina (The Queen's Bridge) was a point of convergence on the most important routes to Santiago de Compostela.
Church of the Crucifix
The Church of the Crucifix with an original Romanesque façade and covered by a vault that joins it to the old hospital for pilgrims, it was initially a Romanesque church (12th century) with a single nave. In the 15th century a second nave was added to allow worship of the Great Crucifix in painted wood, a gothic work from the end of the 14th century, probably of Rhenish origin.
Parish Church of Santiago
The Parish Church of Santiago is a Romanesque Church from the 12th century, with two doors having been conserved, the rest being from the 16th century and the tower from the 18th century. The main Romanesque doorway has five rows of sculptured keystones, and a poly-oval arch, i.e. an arch made up of eight small adjacent arches, inspired by Moslem architecture. The church's nave was rebuilt in the 16th century and contains a baroque altarpiece that depicts the life of Santiago (St. James). In front of the entrance stands a wooden statue of Saint James dressed as a pilgrim, with scallops in his hat and a pilgrim's staff in his hand. The Basques use the name Beltza, owing to the way in which it has been blackened by candles.
