The choir loft was essential to accommodate the numerous ecclesiastics who were associated with the sanctuary in the late Middle Ages. In the monumental and deep gallery which occupies the entire western section, the fineness and elegance of the parapet or balustrade stands out, fretwork with beautiful stone tracery with double tetra-lobes and fleurons.

Aligned on the intermediate pillars of the parapet, two acolyte angels decorated the lecterns that were to bear the large books of the choir. It is a pity that these angels have lost their wings, as these are two sculptures of great virtuosity and elegance. Furthermore, these retain their original polychrome. From above, with a view of the interior and its architectural definition, we will recreate for a few minutes the history of the sanctuary, from legend to archaeology.

The legendary story of the founding of the sanctuary of Santa María de Ujué was composed, like many other similar traditions, in the sixteenth century. According to Moret, it can be summarised thus: «A shepherd was walking through the ruggedness of the mountains guarding his flocks; and he noticed several times a dove constantly entering and existing a hole in a large rock. (…)” The shepherd tried to scare it away on several occasions, but the dove did not leave the entrance of the cave. Intrigued, he approached the darkness of the grotto, discovering in its interior the image of St. Mary. It remained “hidden there, it seems, by the fugitive Christians at the first great incursion of the Moors”. After praying before the image, he came down from the cliffs to tell other shepherds and villagers of his discovery of the plain. Those villagers and shepherds climbed up to the escarpment and there they prostrated themselves before the Virgin and the dove, which was still at its feet. Some no longer came down and decided to stay and live near the large rock “where, the beautiful and sumptuous building of the temple we see today was later carved”. And the Virgin, grateful, began to favour them with so many wonders that the new foundation soon attracted all the inhabitants of the area. And the pious narration ends with the name of the new town. The new inhabitants named the place Santa María de Uxua (dove in Basque) in memory of that dove which revealed the miraculous hiding place of the Marian image.

The archaeological excavations carried out between 2007 and 2008 as part of the last restoration depicted the founding process of the sanctuary quite differently. Below the level of the Romanesque paving of the chancel, the works reached the bedrock of the sacred mountain. The sanctuary began between the fifth and seventh centuries with a small building around which several tombs dated between the ninth and eleventh centuries were placed. Later, over this building and the tombs, a church with 3 flat apses was built by the twentieth century. Finally, the current Romanesque chancel was built in the eleventh century.

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