St. Nicholas Images in the High Altar of Iglesia San Nicolas

Burgos, Spain

The Burgos Church of St. Nicholas dates from before 1163. After falling into ruin, it was completely restored in 1910 and named a National Monument in 1917. The church, on the route of the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James), is highly ornamented Gothic with many Saint Nicholas images.

The main altar was carved in 1505 of stone from Hontoria de la Cantera (Burgos). It covers the entire front wall. Eight scenes from the life of Nicholas surround the central Saint Nicholas figure.

Burgos High Altar
Eight scenes of Saint Nicholas' life and miracles surround the central St. Nicholas figure
St Nicholas carving
The central figure of Saint Nicholas
St Nicholas carving
Charity of St. Nicholas: giving dowry gold
St Nicholas carving
Selection to be Bishop of Myra
St Nicholas carving
Calming of the storm
St Nicholas carving
St Nicholas carving
St Nicholas carving
Patron Saint of Sailors
St Nicholas carving
Resuscitation of Three Boys
St Nicholas carving
Burgos High Altar
The carved stone High Altar

More photos of the church


All photos: J M Rosenthal/SNS, used by permission
Complete high altar photo: AeroCap, Wikimedia Commons, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license

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