Ermita de San Román de Moroso

The hermitage of San Román de Moroso is a Catholic temple of pre-Romanesque style located in Bostronizo, hidden in one of the mountains of the municipality Arenas de Iguña.

It is believed that this small Mozarabic style building was built in the 10th century and was part of the monastery of Moroso, of great importance in the High Middle Ages.

The type of construction is noble and of a certain quality formed by perfectly squared ashlars in the corners and rows of ashlars in the rest of the building. The walls have a thickness between 60 and 70 cm.

It consists of a nave with a main entrance to the north, something unusual, in horseshoe arch, which lacks the columns and capitals, and a rectangular apse preceded by a horseshoe triumphal arch with stepped crests, which also lacks the columns. The apse has a small monolithic opening in the centre in the shape of a horseshoe eye and framed by a kicked cross. The decoration includes large floral modillions crowning the walls, with four and six petals and swastikas. The belfry with a double semicircular arched belfry is of later construction, probably from the 18th century.

Around the hermitage was discovered during the restoration work an early medieval necropolis with slab tombs and sarcophagus burials.