This site, a former pilgrims’ hospital and church named for Saint John of Acre, is located in northeastern Spain on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail and near the village of Navarrete.
A view of the village of Navarrete, located on a hilltop a short distance from the ruins of the hospital complex and about halfway between the cities of Pamplona and Burgos.
Following is a translation of the historical marker at this site (a photograph of which appears at right):
“The hospital and hostel of San Juan de Acre was founded by Doña Maria Ramirez around 1185 as a place for pilgrims to gather and receive medical care while on their way to Santiago de Compostela.
Its church was probably built by Bishop Martin, the son of Doña Maria, and is predominantly 13th century Gothic in style with some lingering characteristics of earlier Romanesque architecture.
Its apse is semi-octagonal and has four sides, with three attached columns in the interior corners and buttresses in the exterior corners.
The gallery of the building might have been connected with the hospital via a semi-embedded spindle staircase in the wall.
It was in poor shape by the end of the last century and, after its front entrance and windows were moved to and preserved at the cemetery in Navarrete, it was demolished.”
Iglesia del Hospital De San Juan de Acre
El hospital y el albergue de San Juan de Acre fue fundado por Doña Maria Ramirez hacia 1185 para curar y recoger a los peregrinos que pasaban hacia Santiago de Compostela. La Iglesia debió ser construida por el Obispo Martin, hijo de Doña Maria. Es obra gótica con recuerdos románicos de avanzado el siglo XIII. El abside es semiochavado y tiene cuatro lados con tres columnillas adosadas en los ángulos interiores y contrafuertes en los ángulos exteriors. El edificio constaba de tribuna que posiblemente comunicaba con el hospital, servida por la escalera de husillo semiempotrada en el muro. A finales del siglo pasado y dado su estado se demolió transladandose la portada y ventanales al cementerio de Navarrete donde se conserva en la actualidad.
Archaeological excavations began on the site in 1990. Findings include the main walls of the old hospital, a large church with a floor plan in the shape of a Latin cross, a cylindrical tower with a spiral staircase, and four burial sites.
Today, the front entrance and windows of the church are at the nearby cemetery of Navarrete rather than at their original location.