Navarra: Saint-Jacque’s Way and a mysterious town called Olcoz

It is impossible to specify the number of people who, from the 8th century, when the so-called Inventio or the discovery of the supposed remains of the Apostle Saint James the Greater took place, until today, have traveled through it, feeling what we could qualify as his fireproof call effect.

People of all kinds, conditions and religious beliefs, who have felt, along those 790 kilometers that separate Roncesvalles, on the edge of the Pyrenees and the border with France, from Santiago de Compostela and even further, from that old and dreaded end of the world, which is located in one of the northernmost extremes of the Iberian Peninsula: Finisterre.

Many famous people have also embarked on the adventure of touring it, recording their experiences in authentic guides who must always provide a note of interest to those who come after, whatever the reasons that lead them to travel the Way.

Facts, details, vicissitudes and circumstances, in some cases extraordinary or at least bizarre, have made internationally acclaimed authors refer to it, possibly with all justice, with the singular qualifier of the mysterious Saint-Jacque’s Way.

This would be the case, for example, of the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho and that of the American actress Shirley McLane, who precisely, in her book entitled ‘The Way. A spiritual journey ', already manifested, among many other experiences, that of:' I had the feeling of going back in time ... '(1).

Because Saint-Jacque’s Way is precisely that: a set of situations, experiences, philosophies, mystery and unparalleled picturesqueness, which although carried out today, always offers us the possibility, not only of traveling in time, feeling ourselves protagonists of a story ancient and distant, but also to undertake the most prodigious journey for human beings: the inner journey, that fantastic and vital adventure, which is always self-knowledge.

All the itineraries, all the stages that the pilgrim follows until reaching their goal, have a life of their own, so that variety is assured: from the chromatic fields of Navarra, the fertile vineyards of La Rioja, the harshness of the Castilian Gothic Fields or The singularities of the misty Galician lands are ideal settings for pilgrims to find situations and life experiences that are difficult to overcome, but which will definitely mark their perception of the world.

But the Way is also knowledge and this is acquired as the pilgrim meets the picturesqueness of its towns, mixes with its people, lives its traditions and is carried away by the beauty and above all, the mystery of its Art. .

An important part of this Art is based on that primitive style that at the time was considered the Art par excellence of Christianity: the Romanesque, a style of religious architecture in which the medieval stonemasons' brotherhoods were leaving some keys that the pilgrim had to go on and unravel in his momentous adventure.

To this was added, in addition, the presence of some mysterious knights, the Templars, who, installed in the main points of the pilgrimage routes, not only helped and protected the pilgrims, but were also in charge of keeping Tradition alive, as well such as the preservation of ancient places of ancestral worship.

There are places, however, that even being outside the strict limits of the Way, induce the pilgrim, because of his interest and his mystery, to deviate from his route. Two of these places, closely related, are found a dozen kilometers before arriving at Puente la Reina, a key place of the pilgrimage, where all the roads that lead to Santiago meet. Such places are: the mysterious hermitage of Santa María de Eunate and the church of San Miguel, in a small town lost among the mountains, called Olcoz.

Olcoz, belonging to the Puente la Reina region and located 18 kilometers from Pamplona, ​​in the Valdizarbe Valley, draws powerfully attention, not only for the conservation of some of the old noble houses and part of the interesting medieval funerary stelae that are located in its term, but because here, in its modified church dedicated to the figure of the Archangel San Miguel, an enigmatic and most interesting portal is located, considered as 'the twin sister' of the no less enigmatic portal of the church with a hexagonal plan , from Santa María de Eunate.

At the top of the town, from where magnificent panoramic views are obtained, especially in spring, of the green mountains, generally accompanied by the showiness and deep color of the lilos, much has been speculated on this interesting cover, whose nature continues being a mystery, to the point that there are researchers who think that said cover, which can be considered as a 'mirror', was originally also part of Santa María de Eunate.

In it, its strange elements (the dog, the archer, the Templar knight, the baphometic figures or the harpy queen) could conform, according to the opinion of other researchers, beyond the typical medieval bestiaries, an allusion to certain constellations, relationship which, as is known, was generally considered, in the most remote antiquity, as models that symbolically connected the sky with the earth, so that, for example, the Egyptians oriented their pyramids towards the constellation of Orion and has been discovered that the main cathedrals, at least in France, were oriented in such a way that they reproduced on earth the figure of the constellation Virgo, since they were consecrated, for the most part, to the figure of the Virgin.

Much better preserved than the Eunate cover, the cover of San Miguel de Olcoz, also has a curious legend associated with it, between the rivalry between two master stonemasons of different origin and condition: one belonging to the Order of the Temple and the other, one one of those fantastic beings from the rich Basque-Navarre mythology, associated with the rich presence of megalithism in the area: the giants or jentillak.

In short: Olcoz, a picturesque Navarrese town and a church related to one of the great and most mysterious artistic monuments on the Camino de Santiago, such as the beautiful church of Santa María de Olcoz.

Recommended bibliography:

(1) Shirley McLane: ‘The Way. A spiritual journey ’, Editorial Plaza & Janés, S.A., Barcelona, ​​September 2000.

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