Its origin is linked to the Roman Legio VII Gemina, settled towards the year 68 AD in a permanent military camp that gave rise to the city of León.
King Sancho I ‘El Gordo’ (‘The Fat one’; d. 966), Ramiro II’s son, founded here a monastery to shelter the mortal remains of the boy-martyr San Pelayo (St Pelagius). For the occupation of this monastery, Sancho asked her sister, the nun Dª Elvira Ramírez, to move her community here, forging a bond between this place and the celebrated institution of the Infantado, which held control over several monasteries and abundant possessions adding up to the dowries of the unmarried infantas (daughters of the monarch).
The city of León was razed -and with it, the Leonese monastery- by Almanzor’s troops around the year 1000.
HISTORY OF THE ROYAL COLLEGIATE CHURCH (REAL COLEGIATA)
King Alfonso V (999-1027) commissioned the reconstruction of the monastery, mainly by means of clay and bricks, on the site of an old church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist and established a nunnery in it. The remains of the monarchs of León that were scattered all over the kingdom in different churches were brought here by this king, among them those of his parents, King Vermudo II and Queen Elvira, creating the funeral chapel of the monarchs of León. This is how the ensemble emerged, consisting of St John the Baptist’s Church, San Pelayo’s monastery and the one that which will be called Royal Pantheon some centuries later.
The church was consecrated on the 21st December 1063 and to mark the occasion, Saint Isidore’s relics were transferred to it; this resulted in the ensemble’s enrichment through donations of jewels and liturgical ornaments, which have been preserved to the present day and can be found and admired under the name of Treasure of León.
Fernando I and Sancha’s daughter, the infanta Doña Urraca“ La Zamorana” (Magpie ‘the Zamora-born’; d. 1101), domina (ladyship) of the Infantado, extended her parent’s church and made magnificent donations. Thus, she had the agate bowl of Roman origin encrusted with gold and precious stones, making up the so-called ‘Doña Urraca’s Chalice’ whose original –which recent researches point at as the Chalice of the Last Supper- can be contemplated in the museum.
Following her family’s steps, Sancha Raimúndez (d.1159) and her brother, the Emperor Alfonso VII continued the works of the new church that will be consecrated in 1149.
By then, the community of Benedictine nuns had been replaced by a Chapter of Canons who ruled the temple and the abbey till 1956, when their custody went to a community of priests who, since then, take care of the liturgical and intellectual life of the Collegiate Church, its basilica and the Museum-Pantheon open to thousands visitors every year.
Nowadays, the visit to the museum includes five areas: The Chalice room, the Royal Pantheon, the Library, the Treasure room and the Cloister. In addition, the ensemble comprises the Basilica and the Royal Collegiate Church Hotel-Restaurant.