Basilica of La Vega

The name Monastery of Santa María de Faro is mentioned as early as 1184. In 1199 it was donated by Innocent III to the Monastery of San Millán, and on 24th December 1388, Álvaro López de Puelles founded the chaplaincy by which mass was to be sung at the high altar. Over time there have been several buildings on the same site and it has undergone various alterations.
It is a 17th century building whose construction can be divided into two periods. The first period ended in 1691, when the part between the pulpits and the attached house for the chaplain’s residence was built. The second period began in 1703 and ended in 1756.
The Basilica is mostly built in ashlar stone, although it also has masonry and brickwork. It has three naves of equal height with five bays, a transept and a rectangular chancel of lesser height than the naves. The chancel has paired pilasters that support semicircular arches, the central nave is covered with groin vaults and the whole of it culminates in a semicircular vault over a lantern with eight windows. Inside, it also has a gallery on a stone corbel with an iron railing. The main altarpiece is Baroque and has a polychrome carving of the Virgin of the Vega, Gothic, from the middle of the 14th century.
The belfry doorway was built on top of an earlier doorway. Access to the Basilica is through a semicircular arch on cushioned pilasters. In the central part of the doorway there is a niche with a semicircular pediment that protects a modern image of the Immaculate Conception flanked by St. Peter and St. Paul.
It has a belfry for the bells, with three openings with semicircular arches, crowned with spheres, stipes, semicircular pediment and framed by pilasters. There is another entrance on the side of the building, with a Neoclassical doorway with a semicircular arch on paired pilasters. The part where the altar is located has four portholes and a small belfry on the outside. The Museum of the Virgen de la Vega is located at the back of the church.