Turieno: Architectural Heritage, Pilgrim Routes and Santo Toribio

In Turieno, interesting manor houses form part of Camaleño’s civil architecture. At the same time, the village is one of the places that preserve traditional Lebaniego architecture. Stone houses with wooden balconies and slate roofs make this traditional building style tangible as a concrete detail.

The architectural details reveal the difference between representative manor houses and village building traditions. Together with the monastery, they create a cultural perspective on Turieno that places different forms of history and design side by side.

Culture and History

In the 9th century, the monastery then known as San Martín de Turieno became the repository of the Lignum Crucis. It was a piece of the Cross of Christ brought from Jerusalem by the first Bishop of Astorga and was intended to be protected from the advance of the Arabs into the north of the Iberian Peninsula. In 1512, the monastery became an important pilgrimage centre and received the Holy Year privilege granted by Pope Julius II.

The church of Santo Toribio Monastery was built in 1256 with financial support from the faithful and follows monastic Gothic architecture with Cistercian influence. The religious tradition and the architectural style stand here as different historical perspectives side by side.

Pilgrim Routes and Hiking Days

The Camino Vadiniense is a 157.5 km-long route. It connects the Camino Lebaniego, which branches off from the Camino del Norte, with the Camino Francés. This connection describes a wide-ranging pilgrimage route between several historic routes.

The La Hermida–Monasterio de Santo Toribio hiking stage also passes through Turieno and is 25 km long. It can be completed in a long hiking day of around seven hours or divided over two days with a break in Potes.

After the monastery, the Camino Vadiniense can follow a road through Turieno, Argüebanes and Congarna.

For planning purposes, the two route formats can be considered separately: the long-distance connection places Turieno within a network of pilgrimage routes, while the La Hermida–Monasterio de Santo Toribio stage describes a limited time frame with a possible break. Distance, duration and route therefore provide different scales for classifying a hiking day.

Landscape

The Santo Toribio complex is situated on a slope of La Viorna mountain, surrounded by forests and overlooking the high peaks of the eastern massif of the Picos de Europa. The hillside setting, forest and high-mountain panorama form the landscape surrounding the complex.

When choosing your own travel itinerary, the different priorities can be weighed separately: architectural heritage and the history of the monastery represent historical perspectives, the two route formats represent stages of different lengths, and the hillside setting with forest and mountain views describes the landscape. These perspectives complement one another without repeating the same aspect.

Other Places

Pembes, Pido, Espinama, Cosgaya, Fuente Dé, Lon

For the overview of the wider area: Camaleño.