The Museum of the Royal Collegiate Church of San Isidoro includes the visit to this unique jewel of medieval art, the Royal Pantheon, known as the ‘Sistine Chapel of Romanesque Art’. 

 

The former vestibule of the palatine church turned into the Royal Burial Vault: here lie 33 members of the Leonese Court, 11 kings, 12 queens, 10 infantes (princes) and 9 counts, together with a number of nobles. 

 

Its square ground plan is divided into three vaulted naves and its arches are sustained by columns crowned with rare Romanesque capitals, charged with symbolism through overelaborate floral and zoomorphic designs, and among which we find the earliest and most striking representation of New Testament scenes in Spain, such as Lazarus’s Resurrection and the leper’s healing. 

 

But, indeed, what make this place be really unique are the mural paintings on the six vaults that led it to be renamed as the ‘Sistine Chapel of Romanesque Art’. They are a succession of early 12th-century frescoes on stuccowork. The iconography is displayed through three cycles related to Mozarabic liturgy. 

 

The first cycle traces the birth of Christ and comprises the Annunciation to the Virgin, the Visitation, the Annunciation to the Shepherds and the very lifelike and expressive Slaughter of the Innocents. The Annunciation to the Shepherds stands out as a milestone in Romanesque painting; it is a bucolic scene in the medieval Leonese mountains where the painter reveals priceless information about León in that period, about how they dressed or about the animals that could be found in the area, such as goats and even a Leonese mastiff dog. 

 

The second cycle is related to Christ’s Passion, with the Last Supper taking place in a palatial setting -and where the character of French origin Marcial, the cupbearer, is represented-, the scene of Christ’s Capture with the black rooster of Passion at the corner and the Crucifixion, with the monarchs of Leon praying at Christ’s feet.

 

The third cycle is the Glorification according to Saint John’s Revelations: Christ is depicted here as Pantocrator (‘all-powerful’) in all His Majesty and with a gesture of blessing, within the mandorla (almond) mistica or vesica piscis and surrounded by the tetramorfos (the four evangelists represented as an angel, a bull, an eagle and a lion). The most famous painting is the Agricultural or Farming Calendar running along the archway, where Christ appears as the Ruler of the Cycle of Life. The 12 medallions show Leonese people’s activities during each month of the year at that time; for instance: in February, the man warms himself by the fire; in March, he prunes the vine; then, getting ready for the war, reaping wheat, harvesting and so on.