Convento de San Anton

Convento de San Antón is a ruined Gothic convent complex in the province of Burgos, Castilla y León, situated on the Camino Frances between Hontanas and Castrojeriz. The convent was founded in the medieval period by the Order of Saint Anthony, a hospitaller order that specialised in treating ergotism, known as Saint Anthony’s fire, a disease caused by contaminated grain that was rife among pilgrims.

The roofless ruins of the Gothic church and conventual buildings are impressive in their scale and state of preservation, and the route passes directly through a surviving arch of the building, creating one of the most atmospheric architectural moments of the entire Camino Frances. The stone arch over the road is a powerful symbolic threshold.

A small shelter has been established in the ruins, and the niches in the remaining walls were historically used to leave bread for pilgrims who arrived after the gates were locked.