Biurrun - Olcoz - Navarra Media

It is the northernmost and highest municipality in the Valdizarbe Valley

The municipality of Biurrun-Olcoz is made up of two councils.

Olcoz lies on a plain protected by the medieval tower which is its best known landmark.

This magnificent tower, an example of civil architecture and whose construction can be traced back to 1400, has withstood the passing of time and different uses, including as a sheep pen. The ramparts and the odd lobed pointed window still survive and the entrance is a centred semi-circular arch with large voussoirs and a coat-of-arms on the keystone. It is finished with machicolations on the four sides.

Biurrun stands quietly between the Alaiz and El Perdón mountain ranges.Its hamlet is mainly made up of ancestral white-painted stone houses with gabled roofs that give it a traditional appearance. Its quintessential urban area is mainly made up of ancestral stone houses painted white with gable roofs.

They include the Gothic House from the end of the 15th century, which is noted for its huge gateway with a quartered coat of arms. Special mention should be made of the three pairs of gemel windows with lancet arches, lobed with balls and ogees.

Reasons to visit Biurrun – Olcoz

The Church of San Miguel is another example of the medieval origin of Olcoz. The 13th-century tower and the portal from the second half of the 12th century are further proof of that origin. The current building is in a rather standard style of the 18th century. The portal of the original church, which is still part of the northern wall of the church, is a nearly exact replica of the one in Eunate.

In fact, thanks to its good state of conservation, the decorated capitals can be seen, one of which has the famous bearded figure and two squatting naked women with their ankles knotted, on either side of a small head. Inside, there is a 17th-century statue of St. Michael in a niche open to the outside wall of the crossing.
The finesse of the polychrome depicting the Holy Family on the door panel is noteworthy on the altarpiece of the Virgin.

Its patron saint’s festivities are celebrated on 29 September.

In Biurrun you can see Church of Nuestra Señora del Rosario; this 13th century Gothic parish church was previously dedicated to St. John and closely linked to the Commanderies of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John of Jerusalem, to which the village belonged until the 19th century. Its current layout is the result of the expansion work in the 16th century. It has a five-aisle nave plus a high chapel.

There is a building, today in ruins, to the north of the village and which was a bustling centre for a time. It is the Ondarra Foundation which was a hospital for people with tuberculosis and which became a summer camp attended by thousands of school children from Navarre.

Its patron saint’s festivities are celebrated on 8 September.

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