Puntos de Interés
Culture
Escanduso
Escanduso is a small village located between Villarcayo and Santelices, crossed by the river Nela. This is why it has good bathing areas and spots of singular beauty. Despite this marvellous natural setting, the village is known for one thing: the small church of San Andrés. Its peculiarity is that it is considered one of the smallest Romanesque churches in the world.
The small church is located to the west of the town centre and close to the fertile plain of the river Nela. It can be seen from the BU-561 road from Villarcayo to Santelices. It has one single nave and a semicircular apse, and from the outside, its thick walls, made of limestone masonry with mortar, and the enormous buttresses, which are unnecessary due to the small dimensions of the infrastructure, are very striking. Next to the side façade, on the north wall, there is a small belfry which, together with the façade, are the only elements where masonry has been used.
It is striking how the lack of marked decoration, a characteristic of the Romanesque style to which it belongs, has led experts to believe that, due to the numerous restorations carried out on the church, it has been progressively lost. Visitors are often surprised by a small monolithic keystone-shaped opening which is actually a window with two horseshoe arches separated by a column, and which may belong to the Mozarab style of Visigoth origin. In addition, if attention is paid, it is possible to recognise several engravings of religious crosses along the façade.
When standing at the foot of the church, it is possible to observe the existence of a cemetery, mentioned by Madoz in the 19th century, which follows the same proportions as this structure, which had to be restored by the locals.