After its creation in 574, the Monasterio de Suso met with three styles; Visigoth, Mozarabic, and finally, Romanesque. The great horseshoe arches are conserved from the first two stages. The building, which you can currently see, is a temple attached to the rock and divided into two naves and five transepts. It retains architectural elements of the Visigothic stage from the 6th century and a Mozarab portico from the 10th century.
The monastery was also built as a cemetery. In addition to the sepulchers of the various hermits from the first community of San Millán, there are the Sepulcros de los Siete Infantes de Lara, Castilian nobles who were captured in the 10th century, taken to Córdoba, and beheaded. However, the main attraction of the monastery is undoubtedly the Cenotafio de San Millán, an impeccable, alabaster, recumbent tomb from the 12th century in which the saint appears dressed in the priestly robes of the Visigoths and with a portapaz with a cross with equally long arms resting on his chest. The tomb is located in the cave where the saint lived, the second of the vomplex, known as Oratorio de San Millán. In the same room, you’ll find an altar, considered by some as the oldest in Spain.
After its reconstruction in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, nothing but the old Romanesque building from the 11th century of the Monasterio de Yuso remained. It is currently an impressive monumental compound, commonly known as the Escorial of La Rioja, which combines Renaissance and Baroque. Its church, from the 16th century, is the first to be built in the whole monastery. It is divided into three naves, and its interior is distinguished by a main altarpiece, complete with eight paintings by Fray Juan Ricci (17th century), as well as a baroque gate enclosing the chorus. In the library, there are still more than 300 original documents that strengthen its title as the birthplace of Castilian. The area that displays the paintings by Fray Juan Ricci depicting Fernán González, Sancho el Mayor, García of Nájera, and Alfonso VII of Castilla, four of the monarchs who were the most connected to the church, is known as the Hall of the Kings. The wall paintings of the sacristy, which are from the 18th century, are an ensemble that is perfectly preserved, thanks to the limestone walls which efficiently absorb humidity. The cloister has two sections: The lower from the late Gothic period, and the upper from the Classical period. Finally, the entrance door to the monastery stands out with a relief showing San Millán in the Batalla de las Hacinas.