Real Colegiata de San Isidoro

Top choice in León


Attached to the Real Basílica de San Isidoro, the stunning Panteón Real houses royal sarcophagi, which rest with quiet dignity beneath a canopy of some of the finest Romanesque frescos in Spain. Colourful motifs of biblical scenes drench the vaults and arches of this extraordinary hall, held aloft by marble columns with intricately carved capitals. The museum, where you can admire the shrine of San Isidoro and a mummified finger(!) of the saint, was undergoing a major expansion we visited.

Abutting the southwestern corner of the basilica is a fragment of the former muralla (old city wall).