Nuestra Señora de la Soterraña

Nuestra Señora de la Soterraña is a Gothic church and monastery located at Santa María la Real de Nieva, Province of Segovia, Spain. It was built between late 14th and early 15th centuries.In 1920, two of its elements, the facade and the cloister, were designated as national monuments. Its present designation is Bien de Interés Cultural.HistoryIn 1392, a wooden sculpture of Mary was discovered buried, probably hidden since Muslim invasion, in a piece of open ground at the municipality of Nieva, where the village of Santa María de Nieva sits now. This fact was considered a miracle, and the Queen Catherine of Lancaster ordered the building of a sanctuary there and a village around it, to the worship of that Virgin’s image, called Soterraña, an old Spanish word that means 'subterranean'. She did it against the opinions of the priest of Nieva, that wanted to bring the image to his village, and nobility of Segovia that preferred moving it to the town. However, the Queen aquieved two papal bulls from Clement VII, in February 1393, to released the sanctuary from the Nieva’s priest jurisdiction, and getting indulgences for the visitors in certain days.