Santo Domingo de la Calzada

Santo Domingo de la Calzada is a municipality in La Rioja, founded by Saint Dominic of the Causeway in the eleventh century specifically to improve the Camino Frances route through the region. The saint built bridges, cleared forest, and established a hospital and hostel for pilgrims, giving the town its name: santo referring to the saint and calzada to the paved road he constructed.

The cathedral of Santo Domingo is one of the significant medieval churches on the entire Camino Frances, with a detached Gothic tower that is the tallest in La Rioja. Inside, a gilded hen house containing a live white hen and cockerel is permanently installed, commemorating the miracle of a young pilgrim falsely hanged who was found still alive on the gallows by his parents returning from Santiago.

The miracle legend, among the most celebrated on the Camino, has made the cathedral a major pilgrimage destination in its own right, and the town retains a well-preserved medieval character with arcaded streets and a functioning hospital that continues the hospitaller tradition.