Iglesia de Santa María de Lebeña

Picos de Europa


The fascinating Lebeña church, 9km northeast of Potes, dates back to the 9th or 10th century. The horseshoe arches are a telltale sign of its Mozarabic style, rare this far north in Spain. Its columns bear Visigothic floral motifs, and a Celtic engraved stone supports the 18th-century altarpiece, with its 15th-century image of the breastfeeding Virgen de la Buena Leche (Virgin of the Good Milk).

Outside the church stands the stump of a beloved, centuries-old yew tree destroyed by a storm in 2007. A sapling grown from a cutting from the tree was planted beside it in 2017.