Church of Santa Coloma

Santa Coloma is the oldest surviving church in Andorra, a small single-nave building from the ninth or tenth century with a round bell tower of the twelfth added beside it, one of very few round towers in the Pyrenees. Romanesque murals covered the interior; they were removed and sold in the twentieth century, ended up in Berlin, and have since been returned and reinstalled as a projection reconstructing what was there.

What you actually see

• The pre-Romanesque nave - the ninth or tenth-century core of the building.
• The round bell tower - the twelfth-century Lombard tower, rare in the Pyrenees.
• The mural reconstruction - the projection restoring the removed paintings to the walls.
• The wooden Virgin - the Romanesque carved figure associated with the church.

When to go

Year round; guided visits run at set times and the church is otherwise locked. Winter hours are reduced. Booking is advised in season.

Honest expectations

The church is locked outside guided visit times, so turning up unannounced usually means seeing only the exterior. The original murals are not on the walls; the display is a projection. The building is very small.

Nearby

Andorra la Vella is north, and Sant Julià de Lòria is south.